Rule of thumb: It's a bad thing when you notice an umpire during a game, and Doug Eddings made sure he was noticed Friday night at Coors Field. Eddings, the home plate umpire, instructed Cardinals reliever Hancel Rincon to wear his cap straight in the sixth inning of St. Louis' win over the Rockies (STL 7, COL 6). Rincon, making his MLB debut, entered the game with his cap tilted slightly to the left.
Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol came out to defend his player and was later ejected for arguing with Eddings, calling it a "power-hungry move" to tell Rincon to straighten his cap. Both Marmol and Eddings indicated it was a directive, not a suggestion.
"I had an issue with Doug. Just Doug," Marmol said after the game (via MLB.com). "He took it upon himself to tell our rookie pitcher the kid's 'not going to wear his hat on my field that way.' You got Dontrelle Willis, CC Sabathia, Pedro Strop, plenty of guys that have worn it way more tilted. I have an issue with that. That's just a power-hungry move, in my opinion."
"I've been pitching with my hat like that," Rincon said through an interpreter (via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch). "It's not an excuse. But I had no idea why he told me to do it."
It is neither uncommon nor against the rules for a player to wear his cap slightly tilted. Eddings admitted much after the game.
"It's not (a rule)," Eddings said (via MLB.com). "I guess it's a little unwritten rule. They can't wear (their caps) 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."
MLB Rule 3.03 covers player uniforms and does not contain any specific standards for caps. Rules 3.03(g) and (h) cover potential distractions, specifically forbidding any "pattern that imitates or suggests the shape of a baseball" and "glass buttons and polished metal." Rule 3.07 prohibits certain patterns and colors for the pitcher's glove, though that was not the issue Friday.
"The batter said, 'Hey, can he wear his hat like that?'" Eddings said after the game (via 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 answer is yes, the pitcher can wear his hat like that, and Eddings, who has umpired MLB games since 2000 and been a crew chief since 2025, should know that. If the batter, Hunter Goodman, wanted to get in the rookie pitcher's head during his big league debut, he succeeded, in part because Eddings "really didn't know" whether a pitcher can wear his cap slightly askew.
Also, if Eddings did say that Rincon is "not going to wear his hat on my field that way," as Marmol said, that's incredibly weak. It is the players' field, not the umpires'. No one turns on a game to watch Doug Eddings. The umpires are there to call balls and strikes, safe or out, fair or foul. Not to tell a player to wear his hat straight. Umpires should be part of the background, not front and center.
Rincon, 24, surrendered three runs and recorded one out Friday. When Rincon was removed from the game for Justin Bruihl, Marmol voiced his displeasure to Eddings. As the back-and-forth continued, Eddings gave Bruihl a pitch clock violation, leading to Marmol's ejection.
The Cardinals came back to win the game in the ninth inning. At 71-71, they are 3 ½ games behind the third wild card spot, albeit with three teams ahead of them. The Rockies have the National League's worst record at 54-87.
