New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone was ejected just one batter into Monday’s game against the Oakland Athletics by home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt.
Boone was ejected for saying something from the Yankees dugout directed at Wendelstedt. Only problem? It wasn’t Boone who said it.
Television cameras clearly showed a fan yelling at Wendelstedt, who proceeded to throw Boone out of the game. Boone was extremely unhappy with Wendelstedt’s decision, which led to one of the greatest hot mic exchanges in recent memory.
When Boone went up to Wendelstedt to plead his case and say it wasn’t him who said something, Wendelstedt responded, “I don’t care.”
His stance didn’t change after the game when speaking to reporters.
Wendelstedt said he heard something from the Yankees’ dugout, and elected to have Boone ejected (via Bryan Hoch on X):
“Aaron Boone is the manager of the New York Yankees and is responsible for everything that happens in that dugout,” Wendelstedt said. “I don’t want to eject a ballplayer. We need to keep them in the game. That’s what the fans pay to see. Aaron Boone runs the Yankees. He got ejected.”
Wendelstedt then addressed the notion that the comments came from a fan:
“Apparently what he said was there was a fan right above the dugout. This isn’t my first ejection. In the entirety of my career, I have never ejected a player or a manager for something a fan has said. I understand that’s going to be part of a story or something like that because that’s what Aaron was portraying. 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’s the one that had to go.”
His final comments:
“He said that ‘A fan said it, a fan said it.’ I said, ‘I don’t care who said it.’ … It’s foolish to throw out a player if you don’t know who did it. The manager’s there, Aaron took the hit and he probably you know is not the one who made the comment but once again, he’s the manager of the Yankees and he’s responsible for the team.”
Wendelstedt is making it sound like he heard something from the dugout, which is possible. However, this camera angle clearly shows a fan yelling at Wendelstedt, and him immediately ejecting Boone after:
Wendelstedt suggested bygones would be bygones. Yet after the game, Boone called the ejection “embarrassing,” and said he would be reaching out to Major League Baseball. The Yankees ended up losing 2-0 to the A’s, dropping to 15-8 on the season.
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