Yankees manager Aaron Boone was ejected for the sixth time this season in a 5-1 loss to the White Sox Monday night. Boone is no stranger to ejections, but this one in particular had extra star quality to it. Boone’s mockery of Laz Diaz’s strike three call, along with his 32 ejections in six seasons as a manager, call for a ranking of his six ejections this year.
6. July 2 vs. St. Louis Cardinals
Boone’s fifth ejection wasn’t particularly interesting. DJ LaMahieu popped out after a ball well above the zone was called a strike, which resulted in a full count instead of a walk. It was an obvious missed call, and even LaMahieu had some words for umpire Dan Merzel. Later, pitch graphics would confirm the pitch was a ball. Boone waited on the issue and then stepped out of the dugout to voice his complaints. He was immediately ejected, but he obviously wanted to get his money’s worth in typical fashion. The sassy hands-on-hips pose upon exiting the dugout, the lengthy tirade and a pitch call so horrible that even DJ said something are the core of this ejection. Oh, not to mention that Boone had already been thrown out four times before this one.
5. April 12 vs. Cleveland Guardians
I almost made this one last because the ejection comes from confusion and miscommunication rather than missed calls.
Aaron Hicks (there were/are too many Aaron’s on this team) made a play that was ruled a catch, which would have gotten the Yanks out of the inning. The umpires then conferred and decided they wouldn’t change the call, after which the Guardians challenged. Boone thought this was Cleveland challenging outside the allotted time limit. However, Guardians manager Tony Francona had indeed signaled for a challenge prior to the umpire conference. The umps stuck with their original decision and told Francona, who then challenged. This is all allowed, but it didn’t appear that way to Boone, who then ranted to the umps about it. The arguing and subsequent ejection now seem preventable in hindsight, but the length of Boone’s tirade push his first ejection of the season up into the five spot. This all took place in the first inning, and the Yankees came out with a 4-3 win.
4. May 21 vs. Cincinnati Reds
The umps needed an earful from Boone after making a mess of this foul/fair call.
Jake Bauers attempted to field a flyball very close the foul line, but it was a fair ball. He failed to make the catch and the first base umpire called it foul. The umpires then reviewed and overturned the call, allowing runner from first base to score and putting the batter at second base. Managers aren’t allowed to argue replay reviews, which leads to immediate ejection. But Boone just had to let Brian O’Nora know that the runner should not have been allowed to score. We could go back and forth all day about if the runner would’ve made it home if the correct call was made in the moment. The real beauty of this story though is that Aaron Boone not only received another first inning ejection, but this time he was ejected before the clock struck noon. Reds manager David Bell was also ejected later in the same game. Regardless of it all, the Yankees took the game and completed a sweep of Cincinnatti.
3. May 25 vs. Baltimore Orioles
This was Boone’s third ejection in the span of ten days, and it’s a good one.
Boone was back to arguing balls and strikes after believing home plate umpire Edwin Moscoso missed four calls. The number four is really important here because, after the inning ended, Boone launched into his argument while holding up the number four (on both hands) directly in Moscoso’s face. Boone was ejected, but then continued to let Moscoso know how he feels. The broadcast catches Moscoso telling Boone that he spit into his mouth. It was a disgusting moment for Moscoso, but a hilarious moment for viewers. Yes, I feel bad, and I would be disgusted if someone spat in my mouth. But as someone not involved, I have to point out the humor in the sequence of events. Boone’s intention was not to spit in the umpire’s mouth, but the fact that he was (literally) spitting with rage, rage that actually projected inside the umpire’s face, is pure baseball entertainment.
2. May 15 vs. Toronto Blue Jays
This was the first of Boone’s three May ejections, and it had one of the most satisfying endings.
Aaron Judge received a strike call in the bottom of the eighth inning with two outs that was well below the strike zone. Booney then did what Booney does: chirp at the ump from the dugout. Once he was ejected, Boone came storming up to umpire Clint Vondrak and gestured with his hands to demonstrate exactly how far out of the strike zone the ball was. Boone got his money’s worth and more, doubling back to argue with Vondrak a second time, tossing out his gum once he was finished to satisfy his love of theatrics. Whatever his thought process was, it was the ultimate way to start his May ejection streak. Judge, who patiently waited to finish his at bat, put the cherry on top with a slam to center field.
1. August 7 vs. Chicago White Sox
Obviously, this Boone ejection is number one. Oh, it’s so great if you haven’t seen it.
It’s been a frustrating season, and this was a frustrating game which the Yankees lost 5-1. Boone later stated there were a number of missed calls before he started arguing about this third strike call on Anthony Volpe. Boone pretty much told Diaz he stinks in-between expletives, eventually devolving into a demonstration of how far outside he thought the pitch really was. In a classic move that will live on for generations, Boone actually drew a line three inches off the plate and then stood and mimicked Diaz’s strike-three call. The imitation is so emphatic, and the still picture of Boone’s face as he executes it makes me smile every time I see it. I don’t have to say anything more … the picture really sells it.
MLB has tried to admonish Boone to curb his behavior, but that didn’t stop him from setting an American League ejection record that probably won’t slow down in the future. MLB may have a point, we can’t just let coaches go around verbally abusing the umpires. However, that’s the league’s problem. We spectators should just consider ourselves lucky that we get to watch and enjoy all these outbursts.
I might frame that picture of Booney.