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The crooked cap saga continued on Saturday, Sept. 5 when the St. Louis Cardinals showed solidarity with rookie pitcher Hancel Rincón.
A handful of players wore their caps tilted on top of their heads in the dugout ahead of their matchup against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.
The MLB’s Cardinals broadcast team pointed out the caps and said that members of the Rockies were joining in the “silent form of protest” and wearing their hats tilted, too.
Also before first pitch, umpire Doug Eddings had a small conversation with Rincón where the two nodded at each other. The Cardinals broadcast team suggested Eddings apologized for his role in the events a day prior when Rincón’s cap was a subject of scrutiny in his MLB debut.
Rookie’s hat causes polarizing ejection
On Friday, Sept. 4, St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol was ejected from the Cardinals’ 7-6 win over the Rockies. He was arguing with Eddings, who was the home plate umpire, about whether Rincón’s cap was improperly tilted.
Eddings said after the game that a Rockies batter asked him if Rincón could wear his hat tilted. The Cardinals broadcast team said Eddings identified Hunter Goodman as the batter to a pool reporter.
Goodman denied being the one to call out Rincón.
“I never once mentioned the hat,” he said, per MLB.com. “It doesn’t matter who’s pitching. I don’t care how they wear the hat. I’m trying to find out where the ball is coming out, and I’m trying to worry about what I’m doing in the box. I’m not worried about how his hat looks.”
He commented on how being brought into the controversy has affected him.
“I’ve been getting online stuff about me that I didn’t appreciate for something I didn’t say,” he said.
Regardless of how the hat was brought to Eddings’ attention, he waited until a few batters after Goodman to do anything.
While Cole Carrigg was up to bat in the sixth inning, Eddings had Cardinals catcher Leo Bernal ask Rincón to straighten out his hat. Bernal lifted his mask and shouted the directive to the pitcher, who shimmied his hat to comply.
After Rincón allowed a triple, an inside-the-park home run and a single, he was taken off the mound and replaced by Justin Bruihl.
Marmol chirped at Eddings, who then gave St. Louis a pitch clock violation. The manager’s emotions flared even more and he walked up to the umpire and started moving his cap around on his head, implying he was upset about the situation with Rincón’s hat.
“I had an issue with Doug,” Marmol said after the game. “Just Doug. He took it upon himself to tell our rookie pitcher the kid’s ‘not going to wear his hat on my field that way.’ You got Dontrelle Willis, CC Sabathia, Pedro Strop – plenty of guys that have worn it way more tilted. I have an issue with that. That’s just a power-hungry move, in my opinion.”
Eddings noted that Rincón did not necessarily break a rule with his cap, but the umpire spoke up to prevent distractions.
“I guess it’s a little unwritten rule,” he said. “They can’t wear (their cap) backwards like a catcher. If it’s a distraction, like anything on the field, like a glove or something, and someone makes you aware of it, then you kind of address that.”
– Contributing: Cesar Brioso