Kyle Gibson didn’t mince words when he weighed in on the hat controversy that erupted during Hancel Rincon’s major league debut for the St. Louis Cardinals at Coors Field over the weekend.
What should have been a feel-good night for Rincon quickly turned messy after umpire Doug Eddings told the right-hander to fix his hat. That led to an argument from Oli Marmol, then a pitch clock violation on Justin Bruihl, a missed call at home plate, and finally Marmol getting ejected.
The reaction around the league has been quick. Players across MLB have backed Rincon, and the Cardinals answered in their own way by wearing their hats sideways the next day. Gibson, speaking on the Cardinal Territory podcast, went a step further and said Eddings crossed a line.
"Very, very weird way for Doug Eddings to approach it that way, very much of a power trip way when he says 'this is my field,"' Gibson said. "Even worse that he makes up a story to pin this on somebody else and not just be his deal.
If there's a situation where MLB can reel this in and show a little bit of support with the players and work together, there needs to be a penalty here in my mind. He took it too far and lied to the media.
That can't happen."
Gibson was pointing to Eddings’ apology to Rincon the next day, along with the umpire’s attempt to place the blame on Hunter Goodman by saying Goodman had complained about the hat. Goodman denied that he said anything.
The whole episode seems to be cooling off, but the larger issue remains. Umpires can go too far, and in this case, Eddings turned attention away from the game and onto himself.
That’s exactly the kind of thing Gibson objected to. Fans aren’t showing up to watch umpires make themselves the story.
They’re there for the teams on the field. And in Denver, Eddings made sure the spotlight shifted in the wrong direction.
Whether MLB decides to review the incident and hand down any punishment to Eddings is still an open question.
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