Yankees manager touches umpire, squats like catcher during epic tirade

Yahoo Sports Contributor

Sat, Sep 1, 2018, 4:28 AM

New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone was ejected from Friday night’s game against the Detroit Tigers game after taking out some frustrations on home plate umpire Nic Lentz.

Boone’s Yankees were being no-hit by Tigers right-hander Jordan Zimmermann into the fifth inning when he interrupted a Gleyber Torres at-bat to take issue with Lentz’s strike zone. That led to an epic tirade that resulted in Boone making the slightest possible contact with Lentz’s hat.

Aaron Boone just got tossed. He bumped home plate umpire Nic Lentz's hat. Lentz calmly said, "That's contact." Then Boone went into a catcher's crouch behind the plate.
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) September 1, 2018

Regardless of how light the contact was, it was enough to justify the umpire tossing Boone out of the game. But that was only the beginning of Boone’s tirade.

If an effort to demonstrate how he felt Tigers catcher James McCann was fooling Lentz by framing pitches, Boone channeled his father, Bob Boone, a former major league catcher and manager, by squatting down behind home plate and imitating a catcher. The amusing visual immediately became the buzz of baseball fans on social media.

Aaron Boone out here putting on a clinic! 😂 pic.twitter.com/GxXVcCRjUd
— Cut4 (@Cut4) September 1, 2018

Aaron Boone's tirade contained some choice language…but it also had a pretty good catching tutorial! #YANKSonYES pic.twitter.com/KS8sigUxxU
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) September 1, 2018

That’s outstanding.

Boone was clearly very frustrated by a number of things, including his team’s performance to that point. But it seems his anger ended up sparking his squad.

Lighting a fire

Though the Yankees would remain hitless through the fifth inning, they came out smoking in the sixth. New York not only broke through in the hit column, it muscled up for three home runs in a span of five batters. Brett Gardner started it with a two-run homer. Then Miguel Andujar and Aaron Hick followed with solo blasts. That turned a three-run deficit into a one-run lead.

The Yankees would go on to win the game 7-5 after rallying again for three runs in the eighth.

New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone goes face-to-face with umpire Nic Lentz. (AP)

Will Aaron Boone be suspended for his actions?

It’s possible, but it doesn’t seem warranted.

Major League Baseball tends to be very strict when it comes to players, managers and coaches making contact with an umpire. Even when the contact is minimal or incidental, the league will take a close look to determine whether a suspension is the proper action.

In Boone’s case, it shouldn’t be that extreme. The contact was slight. It was literally the bill of Boone’s cap brushing the umpire’s. It might be worth a fine, but a suspension would suggest an act of real aggression. We simply don’t see that on the video. Then again, sometimes the league doesn’t need to see much.