MLB warned an umpire one day after he chastised a Cardinals rookie
On Saturday, umpire Doug Eddings took the rare step of apologizing to a player whom he embarrassed on the field during his major league debut one day earlier.
According to a new report, that apology came at the urging of the league itself.
Eddings was the home plate umpire in Friday’s game between the Colorado Rockies and St. Louis Cardinals in Denver. When Cardinals rookie Hancel Rincon took the mound for his first MLB appearance, Eddings stopped to tell him to turn the bill of his hat facing forward.
Manager Oli Marmol was among those who took offense to the request. When he came onto the field to change pitchers after Rincon faced four batters, Marmol got into an argument with Eddings and was ejected.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, citing two anonymous sources, reported that “the league viewed Eddings’ admonishment of Rincon as going too far.” He also noted that it’s unclear whether Eddings will face further discipline from MLB.
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Some players on the Cardinals wore their hats to the side in an apparent rebuke of Eddings when the teams played each other again Saturday. So did some members of the Rockies, according to the Cardinals’ broadcast.
Eddings when he was the third-base umpire for Saturday’s game at Coors Field when he apologized to Rincon.
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Eddings began his career as a major league umpire in 1998. Rincon was born three years later.
The umpire told a pool reporter after Friday’s game that he was prompted by something Colorado Rockies catcher Hunter Goodman said to him about Rincon’s hat. But Goodman said Saturday that he “never once mentioned the hat” to Eddings.
“I didn’t like seeing that my name was a part of it today when I didn’t say anything like that,” Goodman said. “You watch baseball growing up. There are a lot of guys who have had their hat crooked or however. Honestly, before today, when I went back and looked, I didn’t even notice the hat was messed up or looked like that when I was hitting.”
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