I prefer to live in a world where the action that got Keon Broxton ejected from Monday night’s Yankees-Mariners game was 100 percent intentional. What’s more, I prefer to live in a world where Broxton becomes the Homer Simpson of the no-look glove-slap, and goes around flinging gloves across the faces of everyone who pisses him off, all the time.
Broxton struck out looking on an outside fastball in the bottom of the second to end the inning. The pitch missed its mark by a good 10 inches, but may have clipped the edge of the zone; either way, Broxton was disgusted. He flipped his bat in disgust; he tossed his helmet in disgust; and he flung away his batting gloves in disgust. His left glove, frisbeed back toward home plate, hit umpire Manny Gonzalez right in the face. Gonzalez, who’d been watching Broxton’s helmet and removing his own mask, perhaps failed to notice that Broxton was throwing these items more-or-less blind:
Here’s an excellent frame-by-frame breakdown of the moment, which shows a rewarding zoomed-in view of Gonzalez’s startled response to having a sweaty batting glove crash into his cheek:
I believe by rule these men are now committed to a duel, perhaps at sunup.