David Ross, 45, Ejected From Game After Explosive Meltdown on Field

David Ross, 45, Ejected From Game After Explosive Meltdown on Field

David Ross, former professional baseball catcher and current general manager for the Chicago Cubs, was ejected from a game after exploding on the umpire. 

Tensions were high when the Cubs took to the field to face off against their rival team, the Cincinnati Reds.

Matters were particularly strained by the eighth inning when Chicago’s reliever Rowan Wick walked Cincinnati’s Joey Votto, causing the Reds player to begin yelling at the opposing team. When given the chance to explain his side of the story, Votto shared that he was provoked. 

“He had something to say and I answered,” the Cincinnati player said of Wick, according to Fox News. “You’re competitive, and clearly he [Wick] was competing and locked in on performing well. And I’m pulling on the opposite end of the same rope. And if someone says something to me, sometimes I don’t answer, but I wasn’t in the mood to keep my mouth shut. It’s part of the game. It can be one of the more enjoyable parts of the game.” 

However, the rivalry between Wick and Votto was perhaps the tamest moment of the game. In the following inning, tempers boiled over and caused a disruption so severe that Ross was ejected from the game.

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During the top of the ninth inning, Reds relief pitcher Hunter Strickland hit Cubs’ third baseman Patrick Wilson, which caused Ross to emerge from the dugout and question the validity of Strickland’s pitch. Believing the hit was intentional, the general manager quickly made his way onto the field to discuss with home plate umpire Dan Merzel before benign ejected from the game. 

David Ross explains his side of the story following his ejection from the game

“​​Joey (Votto) walking toward Wick, them hitting Wisdom, two umpires wanting to discuss whether they thought it was intentional or not, and nobody doing that, I just wanted to know why,” Ross explained after the game. “Pretty commonplace when there’s a lot of jawing going on, that the umpires get together. They usually err on the side of warning.”

David Ross, 45, Ejected From Game After Explosive Meltdown on Field – David Ross, former professional baseball catcher and current general manager for the Chicago Cubs, was ejected from a game after exploding on the umpire. 
Keeton Gale / Shutterstock.com

Giving his thoughts on the matter, Voto relayed that Strickland purposefully hitting WIsdom would not have been in his team’s best interest. 

“That was absolutely unintentional. We are trying to win a baseball game and our closer’s coming in, and he just misfires a ball. We don’t get paid for retribution,” he commented. “We get paid to complete games, to perform well. The idea that he did that on purpose … In the ninth inning with two runs, what?”

Cincinnati went on to win the game 4-3.

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