A Major League Baseball general manager was thrown out of a game on Sunday after not wearing a face covering and yelling at officials while standing in an empty box suite.
Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo could be seen not wearing a mask throughout the game as he sat in a private suite overlooking the diamond. During the seventh inning, umpire Hunter Wendelstedt was heard yelling, “You’re out,” as he pointed to Rizzo above the field.
Lead umpire Joe West, who later said that Rizzo had been shouting at the crew throughout the game, called security to eject Rizzo from the suite.
“I wouldn’t take that from a player,” West said. “I wouldn’t take that from a manager. If it was Donald Trump, I’d eject him, too. But I’d still vote for him.”
Umpire Joe West called security to apparently eject Nationals GM Mike Rizzo for not wearing a mask. pic.twitter.com/9fCYJOWJaI
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 7, 2020
It was initially reported that Rizzo was thrown out for not wearing a mask, but officials pointed to his arguing with umpires.
West himself has been outspoken about his lack of concern for catching the highly contagious virus, which has shuttered businesses across the United States in the past six months.
“If this game hasn’t gotten me by now, no virus is going to get me,” West said in July. “I’ve weathered a bunch of storms in my life. I’ll weather another one.”
During a postgame interview, Nationals manager Davey Martinez said that he was confused about why Rizzo had been ejected.
“Somebody screamed. Honestly, I didn’t even hear it,” Martinez said. “They stopped the game. Joe West went over. I know MLB is going to take a look at what happened. I don’t know the details of anything.”
The outbreak of COVID-19 in the U.S. occurred just as baseball teams were preparing to begin the 2020 season, and the league has struggled to contain the virus among some teams.
