New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone called his first-inning ejection “embarrassing” following the team’s 2-0 home loss to the Oakland Athletics on Monday.
Boone added that he plans to follow up with MLB regarding home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt’s questionable decision to toss him.
“It’s embarrassing. It really is a bad … it’s embarrassing,” Boone said.
Boone explained what happened before he was ejected and continued to give his take on the situation.
“Again, (Wendelstedt) came at me hard and I really didn’t have issue him other than saying, ‘You can make that call too,’ to which he made his point of ,’Hey, I gotta see this’ and I said, ‘OK, good.’ I kind of gave him a thumbs up and stood down. I mean, look, I think everybody saw what happened,” Boone said, adding that, “Obviously, it was not right.”
The situation began just moments into the top of the first inning after Boone questioned if A’s leadoff hitter Esteury Ruiz checked his swing after getting hit by a pitch. Wendelstedt responded with, “You’re not yelling at me, I did what I was supposed to do … You got anything else to say, you’re gone.”
The camera stayed focused on the Yankees’ leader while the broadcasters talked about the heated warning. The broadcast showed Boone giving Wendelstedt a thumbs up and standing quietly when the microphones picked up the ejection.
Boone came out of the dugout, telling the umpire that whatever barking had happened was said from a fan in the stands.
Soon after, the YES network broadcast showed a replay of a fan in question yelling something at Wendelstedt right before Boone’s ejection.
“I didn’t (hear what the fan said). I heard somebody yell, but again, I was standing down and I heard, ‘You’re gone, Aaron.’ That’s when I was like, I couldn’t believe it,” Boone said.