A glittery ear stirred up controversy at a Major League Baseball sport Sunday. Mets supervisor Buck Showalter asked San Diego Padres beginning pitcher Joe Musgrove’s ear be checked as it seemed glossy, CBS Sports studies.
When umpires tested Musgrove’s ear, they cleared him of any wrongdoing. Still, Mets lovers discovered the ear suspiciously sweaty and voiced theories {that a} foreign substance used to be on his ear.
Earlier this 12 months, the MLB up to date its steerage on foreign substances, which states umpires will check up on pitchers’ gloves, hats and belts for sticky substances which may be transferred to the ball as some way to cheat. They may also read about their palms and palms at random issues during the sport.
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“Any pitcher who possesses or applies foreign substances will be subject to immediate ejection from the game and suspended automatically in accordance with the rules. If a player other than the pitcher is found to have applied a foreign substance to the ball, both the position player and pitcher will be ejected,” the MLB says.
MLB reporter AJ Cassavell tweeted in protection of Musgrove, pronouncing he “is generally a sweaty dude when he pitches.”
“Umps checked him out. Specifically, they checked the sweat on his ear. They’re satisfied with what they saw, evidently. No sticky stuff. The game goes on,” he wrote.
The Mets’ season ended with the Padres’ 6-0 win within the wildcard sport. Musgrove allowed just one hit and one stroll in seven innings, in accordance to CBS Sports.
Mets announcer Gary Cohen mentioned Showalter is “completely within his rights to ask the umpires to check a pitcher for foreign substances,” however “considering the circumstances, 4-0, sixth inning, season on the line, it smacked of desperation and was fairly embarrassing.” The reside observation used to be met with boos from Mets lovers on the stadium.
Musgrove referred to as the Mets’ strive to throw him out of the sport “desperate,” CBS Sports social media supervisor Danny Vietti studies.
Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Andrew McCutchen mentioned he promises “Musgrove has Red Hot on his ears.”
“Pitchers use it as mechanism to stay locked in during games. It burns like crazy and IDK why some guys thinks it helps them but in no way is it ‘sticky.’ Buck is smart tho. Could be trying to just throw him off,” he tweeted.
Still, pictures of the glossy ear circulated on social media, with many nonetheless skeptical. “They just checked Joe Musgrove and found nothing. I’m shocked. No one’s ear sweats that much,” tweeted Jordan Moore, who covers social media and sports activities at The Atlantic.
