Yankees manager ejected 5 pitches into game: ‘It’s embarrassing’

Aaron Boone was minding his business in the dugout in the first inning when he was suddenly ejected from the game. The New York Yankees manager immediately came out to plead his case to home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt, but the decision was made.

“I didn’t say a (expletive) thing,” Boone was heard on camera saying. It all began when Oakland Athletics’ Esteury Ruiz fouled a ball off his foot, but Boone thought he swung at it. He made his disapproval known, and Wendelstedt could be heard on the broadcast telling the manager, “You got anything else to say, you’re gone.” Wendelstedt heard something in the general area where Boone was and assumed whatever was said that offended him came from his mouth. However, cameras show a fan near Boone yell something at Wendelstedt, which prompted the ump to turn around and toss Boone.

“I don’t care who said it,” Wendelstedt said. “You’re gone.”

The A’s ending up winning, 2-0. And after the game, Boone voiced his frustration with the decision to wrongfully eject him five pitches into the game.

“It’s embarrassing,” Boone told reporters. “It really is a bad. I couldn’t believe it. It’s embarrassing.”

Speaking to a pool reporter, Wendelstedt said the fan didn’t have anything to do with the ejection.

“This isn’t my first ejection,” Wendelstedt said, via ESPN. “In the entire of my career, I have never ejected a player or a manager for something a fan has said. I understand that’s going to be part of a story or something like that because that’s what Aaron was portraying. I heard something come from the end of the dugout, had nothing to do with his area. But he’s the manager of the Yankees. So, he’s the one that had to go.”