Chris Sale is Sorry/Not Sorry for Cutting Up Chicago's Throwback Jerseys

Chicago White Sox ace Chris Sale is a man of action. He proved as much last Saturday when he made the decisive move of cutting up the throwback uniforms the Sox were set to wear for that evening's game because he thought they felt uncomfortable. Sale made his point and got sent home for his troubles. Case closed, right?

Sadly, in today's P.C. culture, a man can't simply destroy a bunch of uniforms without making some sort of public mea culpa. And so Sale, who is in the midst of a team-imposed five-game suspension, sat down with MLB.com's Scott Merkin to clear the air and to apologize for all the drama he caused.

Well, sort of:

"I have regret, because I play 33 times a year at most in the regular season. So I put a lot of emphasis on when I play and I take a lot of pride in work that I do," Sale said. "When I can't or don't do that, yeah, I have disappointment in myself for not being there for my guys.

"Do I regret standing up for what I believe in? Absolutely not. Do I regret saying business should not be first before winning? Absolutely not."

According to Sale, the collared, untucked 1976 throwbacks (pictured here, in all their glory) are "uncomfortable and unorthodox" and interfere with his mechanics. I'm no expert in biomechanics, but they certainly look pretty weird. When Sale, the scheduled starter for that evening arrived at the clubhouse and found the dreaded throwbacks in the locker room, he went to manager Robin Ventura and pitching coach Don Cooper and asked to use different uniforms. They refused, and the pitcher had no choice but to grab his pinking sheers and do what his manager would not: take a stand!

"Robin is the one who has to fight for us in that department," Sale said. "If the players don't feel comfortable 100 percent about what we are doing to win the game, and we have an easy fix — it was as easy as hanging up another jersey and everyone was fine. For them to put business first over winning, that's when I lost it."

Not only is Sale not sorry for standing up for his beliefs, he lays the blame on Ventura for refusing to stand up for his players. This apology is starting to run off the rails here.

Robin Ventura in need of a life vest and Chris Sale is just tossing cinder blocks to him.

— Write Sox (@WriteSox)July 26, 2016

The lanky lefty isn't the first professional athlete to make a public demonstration against uncomfortable uniforms. LeBron James once famously ripped the sleeves off his Cavaliers alternates. Unlike Sale, however, James didn't go around tearing up his teammates' jerseys as well. That would have been weird.

Saturday's incident marks the second time this season Sale has made headlines by butting heads with the organization. He publicly chastised team president Ken Williams during spring training after the White Sox informed teammate Adam LaRoche that he could no longer bring his son Drake to the locker room every day. LaRoche retired, and Sale hung LaRoche's jersey in his locker in protest. Symbols are important in the protest movement: Gandhi had his spinning wheel, Chris Sale has other people's jerseys.

As for Ventura, he stressed that he never put promotion above winning. Does he plan to pull his pitcher aside and clear the air?

"We'll find out when he gets back," Ventura said.