{"id":838771,"date":"2026-09-06T20:22:51","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T20:22:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/838771\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T20:22:51","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T20:22:51","slug":"mlb-tells-veteran-umpire-he-went-too-far-by-policing-a-rookies-tilted-cap-sources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/838771\/","title":{"rendered":"MLB tells veteran umpire he went too far by policing a rookie\u2019s tilted cap: Sources"},"content":{"rendered":"

The apology umpire Doug Eddings issued to St. Louis Cardinals rookie reliever Hancel Rincon<\/a> on Saturday came after Major League Baseball told the veteran ump that he acted inappropriately the previous night<\/a> when he told the rookie reliever to straighten his cap.<\/p>\n

Umpires have broad discretion to determine whether a player\u2019s actions are distracting. But according to two people briefed on the matter who spoke under condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly, the league viewed Eddings\u2019 admonishment of Rincon as going too far.<\/p>\n

Eddings stopped Rincon on the field in the middle of the first inning of Saturday\u2019s game as Cardinals relievers were walking to the bullpen. Rincon took the exchange as an apology for the incident, which drew intense attention throughout the sport, with the umpire\u2019s actions triggering a wave of backlash.<\/p>\n

\u201cSaturday\u2019s gesture of apology by Doug on the field speaks for itself,\u201d a league spokesperson told The Athletic.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear whether MLB will discipline Eddings further.<\/p>\n

Rincon, 24, was making his major-league debut Friday night when, on a 2-0 count with one out in the sixth inning, Eddings instructed Cardinals catcher Leo Bernal, another rookie, to tell the pitcher to adjust his cap.<\/p>\n

Eddings, the crew chief and plate umpire in that game, told two reporters afterward that he acted after a Rockies hitter asked if Rincon was allowed to wear his cap tilted. A Rockies staffer, who spoke under condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, disputed that account, saying none of the team\u2019s hitters mentioned Rincon\u2019s cap.<\/p>\n

Eddings also acknowledged that no rule exists requiring players to wear their caps a certain way.<\/p>\n

Regardless of how it began, the incident led to the ejection of Cardinals manager Oli Marmol, who contended that Eddings exerted his authority in an extreme and unnecessary fashion.<\/p>\n

The strong feelings spilled over into the following night. Before Saturday\u2019s game, both Marmol and Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer engaged in lengthy conversations with Eddings, and many Cardinals players wore their hats askew.<\/p>\n

This included Rincon, who surrendered four runs on two hits in one-plus innings, all while wearing a tilted cap, though this time he was not asked to straighten it.<\/p>\n

Rincon, a native of the Dominican Republic, told reporters he did not understand everything Eddings said<\/a> during their brief conversation on the field between innings, which was captured by the Cardinals\u2019 broadcast. Spanish is Rincon\u2019s first language, and the two spoke without an interpreter. But the pitcher said he was under the impression that Eddings was sorry, and appreciated the umpire\u2019s good wishes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understood a couple words, and it looked like he apologized to me for what happened last night,\u201d Rincon said. \u201cHe also told me good luck with the rest of my career as a big leaguer. I told him, don\u2019t worry, it\u2019s nothing personal, and everything stays here.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the Cardinals optioned Rincon to Triple-A Memphis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The apology umpire Doug Eddings issued to St. Louis Cardinals rookie reliever Hancel Rincon on Saturday came after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":838772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99,1231],"class_list":["post-838771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-sports","tag-st-louis-cardinals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=838771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/838772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=838771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=838771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=838771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}