NEW YORK, July 20, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone
was suspended for one game on Friday, a day after erupting in a foul-mouthed
rant at rookie plate umpire Brennan Miller in a game against the Tampa Bay
Rays.
The Yankees swept a double-header against the Rays to stretch their lead in
the American League East to eight games on Thursday, but it was Boone’s in-
your-face reaction to Miller’s calls of balls and strikes early in the first
game that was the lasting impression of the day.
A statement from Major League Baseball’s chief baseball officer Joe Torre
said Boone was suspended one game and fined for “inappropriate actions,
including contact with the home plate umpire,” in the 6-1 win over the Rays.
Boone had already been ejected for arguing calls when he stormed from the
dugout, shaking his finger in Miller’s face as he delivered a tirade that
featured a string of F-bombs and repeated references to his hitters as
“savages” in the batter’s box.
It quickly went viral, and Boone said Friday he wasn’t surprised by the
suspension.
“I knew I made contact with my hat, and (Brennan) said it right when it
happened,” Boone said. “That happened to me last year and I knew it, so I
figured I’d be getting the call at some point from Mr. Torre — and I did.”
Miller, working his fifth game behind the plate in the major leagues,
remained stony faced as Boone concluded by urging him to “Tighten it up”.
Umpire crew chief Gerry Davis told reporters after the game that Boone
“absolutely” went too far with his profanity.
Boone had been ejected for arguing from the dugout after Miller called a
third strike on New York’s Brett Gardner.
A frustrated Gardner was caught on camera pounding his bat into the wall
and ceiling of the dugout.
“I felt like players, coaches could have been ejected in that game,
especially early in the game, and I didn’t want that to happen, so I felt
like it was right to stand up,” Boone said, although he added that “some of
the foul language, I’m not real proud of.”
He said Brennan “certainly handled the situation with a lot more class than
I did, but also, I thought turned in a really good game.
“I respect the job that they have to do,” Boone said.