Orioles broadcaster Brian Roberts apologized for a joke he made on the air that took a dig at Canadian baseball fans during Baltimore’s weekend series with the Blue Jays. 

Roberts, a former two-time All-Star infielder, questioned the “baseball IQ of some Canadians” during the MASN telecast on Saturday. But by Sunday, he had a bit of a mea culpa and walked back what he said just a day earlier. 

“I do want to apologize to Toronto fans for something I said on the air the other day. Definitely never ever meant to cause anyone to feel like I was disrespecting them at all,” Roberts said. “I have always enjoyed coming to Toronto. I have always enjoyed playing here. … I hope they will accept my sincere apology for what I said on the air the other day.” 

Roberts, who played 14 MLB seasons and spent 13 of those with the Orioles, took a shot at Canadian baseball fans on Saturday after fans at Rogers Centre started booing a pickoff attempt by Baltimore pitcher Shawn Dubin. 

The Orioles were down 3-1 in the bottom of the eighth at the time. 

“I gotta be real, real careful what I say, but sometimes we had some major questions about the baseball IQ of some Canadians here and there,” Roberts said. “At times it felt like maybe they knew a little bit more about hockey than baseball.” 

While Roberts apologized Sunday, he didn’t seem as regretful in a story published by the Toronto Star earlier that day. 

“It was not meant to be an insult,” Roberts told the outlet. “It was meant to be like, to me, it’s what I just voiced when it comes to my own life. I would not have as much hockey IQ as everyone in this town that I would talk to. And I would say that most Canadians — and maybe that’s a generality, but I would say that there’s a decent amount of Canadians who would come to America that wouldn’t know a lot about baseball compared to a general amount of Americans that play baseball.

“And those are all generalities and I don’t even know if they’re true or not.”