Getty Image / mike stobe
It’s been a rough start to the year for Major League Baseball umpires, and it didn’t get any better Monday afternoon.
What should’ve been a run-of-the-mill Monday matinée in the Bronx between the New York Yankees and Oakland Athletics turned into an ump show very quickly.
Just two batters into the game, Yankees manager Aaron Boone was ejected. But, it wasn’t even because of something he did! It was actually heckling from a fan sitting just above the Yankees dugout that home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt mistakenly thought was Aaron Boone!
Aaron Boone got ejected 2 batters in to the game for something a fan in the stands said pic.twitter.com/pHSZaJe10b
— Bad Sports Refs (@BadSportsRefs) April 22, 2024
Here’s another look from the reverse angle that clearly shows the fan heckling.
OH MY GOD that fan in blue got boone in trouble this is the funniest thing i ever seen pic.twitter.com/o4W0VAUo46
— chris kreider respecter (@jonmoxIeys) April 22, 2024
Finally, this look gives you great audio of the whole situation.
Volume up. Aaron Boone gets ejected in 1st inning, mics pick up everything between him and ump. Tremendous audio here. pic.twitter.com/RUhsUXVWLU
— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) April 22, 2024
And, the fan knew he had screwed up, and Aaron Boone knew exactly what fan it was. Take a look at this hilarious picture.
https://twitter.com/jonmoxIeys/status/1782459212003512406/photo/1
It seems to me that Major League Baseball should quickly be remedying this situation by reviewing the footage and alerting the umpire crew that it was not Aaron Boone making those comments. Boone should be allowed to come back and manage the remainder of the game.
The odds of that happening seem pretty low, though. Considering that MLB refuses to take action against terrible umpires like Angel Hernandez, I’m not keeping my hopes up.