The New York Yankees and the Oakland Athletics squabbled in a Monday matinee game in The Bronx. Controversy arrived earlier than the bats ever did for the pinstripes, as the Yankees’ 2-0 defeat to the A’s wasn’t the only thing that soured them.
Home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt became the topic of conversation among Yankee fans and otherwise on Monday. Wendelstedt ejected manager Aaron Boone very early in Monday’s contest. Like. Very early. Like five pitches into the game early. Why?
Wendelstedt overheard heckling coming the way of the Yankees dugout. So, he tossed Boone right away.
But there was just one problem: It wasn’t Boone that heckled the umpire. It was a fan.
"We're not going to need a Jomboy breakdown of that one"
YES Network crew captures Yankees manager Aaron Boone ejection after umpire Hunter Wendelstedt hears a fan heckling from the seats
When Boone explains, YES mics pick up Wendelstedt responding: "I don't care, you're gone" pic.twitter.com/YQ0VAoRflV
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 22, 2024
The YES Network crew later picked up that a fan did, indeed, heckle at Wendelstedt. As a video later revealed, that set him off and inspired the ejection.
https://twitter.com/JomboyMedia/status/1782468401790693724
Despite all the overwhelming evidence, Boone still had to ride this one out in the clubhouse. Brad Ausmus, the Yankees’ bench coach, took over for Boone in what proved to be a futile effort. The A’s racked up a stunning victory over the Yankees, who went cold at the plate. After the game, Boone was anything but cold. The Yankee manager addressed the situation with the media and deemed it “embarrassing.”
"It was not right."
– Aaron Boone on his ejection pic.twitter.com/PV732hHxfB
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) April 22, 2024
Boone answered a question from YES Network’s Meredith Marakovits, who asked the Yankees manager how he could wrap his head around what happened. A befuddled Boone just shrugged.
“Hard to,” Boone said. “I didn’t even go after Hunter.” He then elaborated, saying, “I was more upset, you know, on the appeal. I said, Hunter, you can call it too. He came back at me pretty hard. To which I didn’t respond. I just said, ‘Okay.’ Went down. It’s embarrassing. It really is a bad … it’s embarrassing.”
Marakovits asked Boone if this situation is one that would lead to him contacting MLB. “Yes,” Boone responded.
Wendelstedt later explained the rationale behind his call to eject Boone. The umpire cited Boone’s “control over the dugout,” but of course, that doesn’t make sense when you consider the noise actually came away from the dugout.
Home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt said he heard something from the area of the dugout, and rather than determine who said it: "Aaron Boone is the manager of the New York Yankees and is responsible for everything that happens in that dugout. … I don’t want to eject a…
— Bryan Hoch ⚾️ (@BryanHoch) April 22, 2024
Considering MLB’s approach to umpire accountability, you wonder what the outcome will be here.
