St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jack Flaherty seemed to take issue with Joe West’s umpiring in the Giovanny Gallegos hat controversy on Wednesday.
West had Gallegos’ hat confiscated during the bottom of the seventh inning of the Cardinals’ 4-0 win over the Chicago White Sox. West felt Gallegos had illegal foreign substances on the hat that violated league rules. West ejected Cardinals manager Mike Shildt for good measure.
Shildt complained about the situation following the game. He said he did not understand the reasons for West’s actions when there are so many other matters in baseball to police instead.
Flaherty seemed to feel similarly to his manager and wondered on Twitter “what are we doing…”
Pitchers are not supposed to use foreign substances, but the argument from Shildt (and likely Flaherty) is that so many pitchers use them every game without the umpires addressing it. So why now, why this situation, was someone picked on about it? And is MLB finally taking a stand on the matter? The league was supposed to be cracking down on the matter. So it’s weird for them to allow foreign substances all year and then selectively enforce in this instance.
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