Two Major League Baseball (MLB) players were ejected and fined this weekend over a national anthem standoff.
The standoff took place on Saturday between Boston Red Sox reliever Kutter Crawford and Philadelphia Phillies left-hander Matt Strahm as the two players stared each other down in a game to see who would be the last one off the field following the national anthem. This has occurred in multiple sports.
“MLB’s new pitch clock requirements, umpires had to eject both players after receiving a warning they would be thrown out if they didn’t go back into their respective dugouts,” reported Fox News. “Being that Crawford is on the 15-day injured list at the moment, his fine for being ejected is much higher than Strahm’s.”
The amount of the fines remains unknown.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora said that Kutter Crawford would be getting help from another teammate, most likely Chris Sale, who attended Florida Gulf Coast University with him.
“I know there’s a guy that went to the same school as him that’s probably going to take care of that,” he said.
Strahm told WEEI’s Rob Bradford that neither had planned the standoff, even though he and Crawford used to be teammates.
“Zero of it was planned,” he said. “Just, anthem was over, and I looked across, and Kutter kind of gave me a grin, and I knew exactly what that grin meant, so [I] just stood there.
“If you know me, you know competition is everything to me, so kind of felt like I was being called out right there. Looking back on it, probably not the wisest decision I’ve made in my big-league career,” he added.
Paul Roland Bois joined Breitbart News in 2021. He also directed the award-winning feature film, EXEMPLUM, which can be viewed on Tubi, Google Play, YouTube Movies, or VIMEO On Demand. Follow him on Twitter @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.