A bizarre ejection in the Yankees-Athletics game has had the MLB world talking all afternoon. The umpire’s explanation sparked even more discussion.
Home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt decided to toss Boone five pitches into the game. Wendelstedt heard heckling coming from the Yankee dugout area and made the quick decision to eject the Yankees manager.
Boone ripped the “embarrassing” decision to eject him after the game. The Yankee manager also appeared to indicate that he would contact MLB about the situation. Umpire accountability has been a persistent issue that the sport has dealt with.
Wendelstedt was ready to explain himself after the game.
“This isn’t my first ejection,” the umpire explained. “In the entirety of my career, I have never ejected a player or a manager for something a fan has said,” Wendelstedt said despite clearly doing exactly that.
The umpire acknowledged that a fan wormed his way into the discussion but he dismissed the idea he had anything to do with it.
“I heard something come from the far end of the dugout, had nothing to do with his area but he’s the manager of the Yankees. So he had to go.”
With all that said, cameras clearly showed that a fan’s heckling is what led to the dismissal. Wendelstedt may think he was in the right, and may be saying he’s in the right… but that opinion is not consensus at all.
Stand-up umps like Jim Joyce take responsibility for their mistakes. Hunter Wendelstedt is . . . not that. https://t.co/zXxnoq9V7s
— Craig Calcaterra (@craigcalcaterra) April 22, 2024
About Chris Novak
Chris Novak has been talking and writing about sports ever since he can remember. Previously, Novak wrote for and managed sites in the SB Nation network for nearly a decade from 2013-2022