Thursday’s contest between the New York Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds started with a different contest, one of wills, between a pair of each team’s pitching staffs as the national anthem played.
Ahead of the game, as the anthem played, Reds pitchers Graham Ashcraft and Carson Spiers walked out to the third base line and stood at attention at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. At the same time, Yankees pitchers Ian Hamilton and Cody Poteet took their stand on the first base line.
But the standoff continued after the anthem, too. In fact, the pitchers held their ground, refusing to be the first to leave the field even as the umpires tried to get them to return to their respective dugouts.
The Yankees even took the field as the pitchers continued their standoff. Then, third base umpire Jim Wolf walked out to confer with the patriotic players, according to the New York Post.
After the ump spoke to them, the four finally left the field.
After the game, Cincinnati’s Ashcroft insisted, “It wasn’t even planned.”
“All of us, we’re glancing over. We saw they weren’t moving. One of the guys told Carson to stay. I was like, ‘I’m staying with you because I’m not moving. I don’t have anything to do today.’ I’m staying until I win, get ejected, or both,” he added.
“There wasn’t much thought to it,” Poteet explained. “It wasn’t a normal anthem since they had the color guard, so we were standing there a little extra anyway. We noticed they were still standing, so we wanted to see who could outlast each other. We took it all the way to the last bit, close to the game starting. Just a little fun.”
“It’s something that happens naturally, I guess,” Poteet added. “It’s a little competition within the game. It’s probably the first one I’ve been a part of.”
Eventually, the Reds’ Spiers returned to the dugout first, followed by Hamilton and then Poteet. Ashcroft finally left, pumping his fist in the air.
The Reds ultimately won the game, 8-4.
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