Skip to content

Showalter: Girardi's tarp comments 'insulted' groundskeeper

G Fiume / Getty Images Sport / Getty

As far as Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter is concerned, New York Yankees skipper Joe Girardi insulted a valuable member of his team.

That valuable member would be Oriole Park at Camden Yards' head groundskeeper, Nicole McFadyen.

The issue stems from before Tuesday's game, when the Orioles brought the tarp out in anticipation of rain (which never came) and scuttled Yankees batting practice. Girardi implied the Orioles did this on purpose to slight their visiting rivals.

"They hit and (now) they're covering the field," Girardi told reporters before Tuesday's game.

Showalter immediately took exception to Girardi's accusation, which he said upset McFadyen.

"(It) bothered me because it insulted her integrity and she's the best in the business I think," Showalter said Wednesday. "So she's not real happy about it.

"When you insult her integrity, that bothers a lot of people here. She's really good. … That someone would let themselves be told what to do for something they're responsible for? I don't think so."

Showalter, who began his big-league managerial career with the Yankees, went on to say he believes the media may have blown Girardi's comments out of proportion, and expressed hope that the issue wouldn't become anything bigger than it already is. Still, he continued on in defense of his groundskeeper, about whom he had nothing but praise.

"She takes a lot of pride being the best in the business and that's really an insult to her, that a writer or someone would insinuate that," Showalter said. "We have a lot more important things to worry about than that."

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox