Cincinnati Reds pitcher Graham Ashcraft was left a bit frustrated Saturday after umpires forced him to remove his wedding ring in the first inning of his outing.
Ashcraft was subjected to a routine foreign substance check at the end of his first inning of work. He was clearly told that he couldn’t keep wearing his wedding ring during his outing, which seemed to confuse him quite a bit.
An umpire asked pitcher Graham Ashcraft to take his wedding ring off of his glove hand pic.twitter.com/D5h2oFQVjA
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) June 18, 2022
After the game, Ashcraft blamed a new rule that was suddenly being enforced. The rule isn’t new, but manager David Bell confirmed he received a memo during the week that the league will begin stricter enforcement of a rule on the books prohibiting pitchers from wearing any sort of attachment on their hand, finger, or wrist. That apparently includes wedding rings.
“He goes, ‘you have to take your ring off,'” Ashcraft said, via Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer. “I was like, ‘no, why do I have to take my ring off? I shouldn’t have to.’ Apparently, it’s some new rule they came up with yesterday.”
Ashcraft had been wearing the ring on his glove hand. He wore it as a necklace for the remainder of the start, in which he gave up six runs over five innings of work.
The intent of the rule is understandable, though a wedding ring on one’s glove hand is hardly going to give a pitcher any sort of advantage. Still, maybe it’s for the best, as some players are well aware of the potential consequences of wearing jewelry during games.
