St. Louis Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol was ejected from Friday's game against the Colorado Rockies for arguing with Doug Eddings after the home plate umpire instructed Hancel Rincon to straighten his hat during the reliever's MLB debut.
Eddings paused the game in the sixth inning to address the situation while Rincon was facing Cole Carrigg. Carrigg proceeded to hit an inside-the-park homer later in the at-bat following the incident. Rincon was pulled one batter later for Justin Bruihl. During the pitching change, Eddings called a pitch-clock violation on Bruihl after Marmol spoke to the ump about Rincon, which escalated things.
Home plate umpire Doug Eddings called time to tell Hancel Rincon to fix his hat.
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) September 5, 2026
Oli Marmol was later ejected after sticking up for Rincon, who was making his MLB debut. pic.twitter.com/UXY2zEA7JE
"Some words exchanged there. Quite honestly, I thought it was pretty embarrassing on his end," Marmol said postgame after the 7-6 win, according to Steve Berman of The Athletic. "We have a kid making his debut, and in between an at-bat, he tells him that he needs to fix his hat and, 'The kid's not going to wear his hat like that on my field.' Last I checked, this is Coors Field, so I took issue with it."
The skipper added: "And then the pitch violation while I'm out there having a discussion, that's also stupid, in my opinion."
Eddings acknowledged the Rockies took issue with Rincon's cap first.
"The batter (Hunter Goodman) said, 'Hey, can he wear his hat like that?'" Eddings said, according to Owen Perkins of MLB.com. "I really didn't know, but it was really, really crooked. I asked the catcher to tell him to straighten his hat out, and the pitcher did. Nobody said anything until he gave up a couple runs."
The 57-year-old ump added there is a certain decorum to follow in the majors.
"It's not (a rule)," Eddings said. "I guess it's a little unwritten rule. They can't wear (their cap) backwards like a catcher. If it's a distraction, like anything on the field, like a glove or something, and someone makes you aware of it, then you kind of address that."
Marmol disagreed with that notion.
"You got Dontrelle Willis, CC Sabathia, Pedro Strop - plenty of guys that have worn it way more tilted," Marmol said. "I have an issue with that. That's just a power-hungry move."
