The New York Yankees have run afoul of umpires more than most teams have this season, and there’s a growing sense among some within the game that it’s not coincidental.
According to Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News, there is a “growing opinion” among MLB umpires that the Yankees are singling out younger umpires and trying to intimidate them. The Yankees’ last three major umpire-related incidents have all involved younger umpires, including Ben May on Saturday against Cleveland.
Manager Aaron Boone denied any campaign when asked Sunday.
“Not necessarily,” Boone said. “I don’t think Ben (May) handled necessarily anything wrong yesterday. I was never that irate. I was more trying to take the attention off some of our players. … I don’t think he had a short fuse or anything like that. I thought he tried to defuse the situation as best he could and unfortunately it got a little away.”
The Yankees certainly haven’t held back when talking about umpires after these incidents, which is always going to rub umpires the wrong way. Perhaps it’s the youth angle, or perhaps there’s not as much to it, but umps are going to take notice of repeated behavior like this.
