MLB tells umpire Doug Eddings he made a mistake in demanding Cardinals pitcher straighten his hat

It's not often you see Major League Baseball criticize umpires or an individual umpire, as the league office prefers to downplay any mistakes or poor calls. But what veteran umpire Doug Eddings did on Friday during the Colorado Rockies-St. Louis Cardinals game apparently warranted such unusual treatment.

Eddings inserted himself into the game, apparently believing that fans buy tickets to see umpires, when entered the game to make his major league debut. Rincon had his had tilted to the side, obviously not the traditional way to wear a baseball hat, but hardly anything exception or unusual in the modern game. Bizarrely, though, Eddings felt it necessary to instruct him to fix it.

Cardinals manager Oli Marmol was unsurprisingly furious, rushing out to defend the 24-year-old pitcher. Marmol could be seen telling Edings to "grow the f*** up" before getting tossed from the game, then went off about Eddings behavior afterward.

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"I had an issue with Doug," he said to the media after the game. "Just Doug. He took it upon himself to tell our rookie pitcher the kids 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. Thats just a power-hungry move, in my opinion."

Eddings then defended himself by telling reporters that he'd made the decision to step in after a hitter from the Rockies complained about the hat.

"The batter said, Hey, can he wear his hat like that?" he explained after the game. "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."

Except only one Colorado player had been up to the plate when the warning was issued, Hunter Goodman, who promptly denied he'd said anything.

"I never once mentioned the hat," Goodman told reporters. "It doesnt matter whos pitching. I dont care how they wear the hat. Im trying to find out where the ball is coming out, and Im trying to worry about what Im doing in the box. Im not worried about how his hat looks.

"It was one of those situations — its kind of a wild, wild thing that happens in the game. But I didnt like seeing that my name was a part of it today when I didnt say anything like that. You watch baseball growing up. There are a lot of guys who have had their hat crooked or however. Honestly, before today, when I went back and looked, I didnt even notice the hat was messed up or looked like that when I was hitting. Anyway, I dont pay attention to that stuff."

From Rincon's perspective, he addressed it by saying that Eddings had "apologized" to him and that he'd put the incident behind him.

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"I understood a couple words and it looked like he apologized to me for what happened last night, and he also told me good luck the rest of my career as a big leaguer," Rincon said. "I told him don't worry, it's nothing personal, and everything stays here."

Still, in a very obvious gesture, many Cardinals players wore their hats purposefully tilted in the dugout before Saturday's game, and seemingly added a celebratory helmet tilt when reaching base.

On Sunday, the Athletic