Umpire apologizes to Cardinals Hansel Rincon after bizarre hat warning during MLB debut

A day after telling Hancel Rincon to straighten his hat, and subsequently ejecting Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol, umpire Doug Eddings apologized to the pitcher over the incident.“He apologized for what happened [Friday] night,” Rincon told Derrick Goold of the St.Louis Post-Dispatch via the team’s interpreter.

“He also told me good luck for the rest of my career as a big-leaguer.”Rincon, per MLB.com, told Eddings not to worry and that it wasn’t anything personal.Eddings asked Rincon to straighten his hat before he pitched to Hunter Goodman to start the bottom of the sixth on Friday night in an eventual 7-6 Cardinals win over the Rockies.It was Rincon’s MLB debut.Rincon allowed a triple, an inside the park home run and a single before being removed from the game for Justin Bruihl, and while Bruihl warmed up, Marmol got in Eddings’ face and was ejected.“He took it upon himself to tell our rookie pitcher, the kid’s ‘Not gonna 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,” Marmol told reporters Friday.

“I have an issue with that.That’sjust a power-hungry move, in my opinion.”“I had no idea why he told me to do that,” Rincon told reporters Friday.

“It’s fine.”Eddings told reporters after the game that Goodman had asked if the hat could be worn that way, an account which Goodman himself denied.During batting practice on Saturday, most Cardinals players wore their hats crooked in protest.A number did so during the game, too, as did a handful of Rockies players.“I felt big support from my teammates,” Rincon said.

“Obviously when you are together, like this group, we’re gonna be so much better.”...