Baseball has a way of finding new ways to be weird. Umpire Doug Eddings became the latest example this week when he tried to shift blame onto Colorado Rockies outfielder Hunter Goodman for what everyone in the ballpark saw as a self-inflicted hat controversy.
Here is what happened. Eddings made a show of asking Goodman to straighten his hat during a plate appearance against the Cardinals. It looked petty on the broadcast, the Rockies dugout got animated, and Cardinals fans started booing the whole scene because it was slowing the game down.
Fine, weird moment, everyone moves on. Except Eddings did not move on. In his postgame explanation to a pool reporter, he pointed the finger at Goodman, essentially saying the player forced the issue by wearing his hat crooked to begin with. That is the kind of answer that lands with a thud in a clubhouse.
Rockies manager Bud Black was diplomatic but clearly annoyed. His point was simple. Players wear their hats how they want. Umpires are not supposed to be fashion police. If there is a rule being broken, cite the rule. If not, let the guy hit.
Eddings has been a big league umpire since the early 2000s and has been involved in a handful of these moments before. He is not a rookie. He knows how the optics play. That he chose to double down instead of just saying he was trying to enforce a uniform rule is what has this story alive two days later.
The Cardinals responded to the whole scene with a bit of petty flair of their own the next day, but that is another article. This one is about how umpires keep finding ways to insert themselves into games that fans already think are officiated too tightly.
MLB has made a legitimate effort in recent years to speed up games with the pitch clock, defensive shift rules, and larger bases. All of that has worked. Game times are down, action is up, and fans have generally responded well.
Then you get a moment like this that reminds everyone that umpires still have too much power over the vibe of a game. One guy in a chest protector deciding to nitpick a batter’s hat can derail an entire inning and become the story instead of the actual baseball.
Goodman will not get suspended. Eddings will not get suspended. The whole thing will fade in a week. But the umpire union is not helping its case here, and the calls for robot umps in the strike zone will get one degree louder because of it.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
