The Cardinals were able to avoid a sweep at the hands of the White Sox yesterday. Behind five shutout innings from starter John Gant and a two-homer day for Tommy Edman, St. Louis won 4-0, keeping their lead in the NL Central and improving to 27-22.
But at the center of yesterday’s game was, wait for it…… Giovanny Gallegos’ hat?
As Giovanny Gallegos entered the game in the bottom of the seventh, with the Cards up 1-0, umpire Dan Bellino noticed something on the stalwart relievers’ hat.
Bellino summoned crew chief Joe West and alerted him to what he saw. West then approached Gallegos and informed him that he needed to change his hat.
St. Louis’ skipper Mike Shildt was not amused, and came out to the mound to give Gallegos his hat, as well as argue with West. Shildt was subsequently ejected from the game, and the hat Gallegos had entered the game wearing was taken to the umpire room at Guaranteed Rate Field for further inspection.
Gallegos later claimed that the substance on his hat was sunscreen, and Shildt did everything in his power to defend his pitcher during his postgame interview.
“This is baseball’s dirty little secret, and it’s the wrong time and the wrong arena to expose it,” Shildt said. “First of all, Gio wears the same hat all year, okay? Hats accrue dirt. Hats accrue substances, you know just stuff. We’ve pitched him in a day game. So did Gio have some sunscreen at some point in his career to make sure he doesn’t get some kind of melanoma? Possibly. Does he use rosin to help with that? Possibly. Are these things that baseball really wants to crack down on? No, it’s not. I know that completely first hand from the commissioner’s office.”
Shildt went on to say that whatever substance was on Gallegos’ hat had no effect on the way he pitched, which was made clear when Giovanny Gallegos struck out sluggers Jose Abreu and Yermin Mercedes with two runners on to preserve the Cardinals lead, all while wearing a new hat.
“Major League Baseball’s got a very very very tough position here, because there are people that are effectively, and not even trying to hide, essentially flipping the bird at the league with how they’re cheating in this game with concocted substances,” Shildt added. “There are players that have been monetized for it, there are players that are obviously doing it, going to their glove, there’s clear video of it, you can tell the pitchers that are doing it because they don’t wanna go to their mouth which Gio does off the rubber, and understandably, and I know comfortably, Major League Baseball is trying their best to do it in a manner that doesn’t create any black eye for the integrity of the game that we love. But speaking of integrity, how about the integrity of the guys that are doing it clean? How about the guys that are pitching their tails off in Major League Baseball, and doing it clean that have an unfair competitive advantage for the guys that are clearly loading up with concoctions that they actually advertise, don’t do anything to hide, even in plain view? That’s the guys I’m speaking for.”
Shildt also vouched for hitters who have to face such tough pitching already, and cited spin rates as a way to tell how pitchers are advancing their careers with substances.
“Is our house 100% clean? I certainly hope so. Am I creating more of an opportunity because I just spoke to our pitchers, am I creating more of an awareness to our group? Potentially. But let’s go check the guys that are sitting there going to their gloves everyday with filthy stuff coming out, not some guy before he’s even stepped on the mound with a spot on his hat.”
Shildt has a point. Baseball isn’t really doing anything to police pitchers on what substances they use, especially not the ones who do it on a regular basis, so it’s interesting that West and his crew chose to check Gallegos over one spot on his hat.
It’ll be interesting to see what comes of this. The hat in question is being taken to New York for official review. It wouldn’t be fair for Gallegos to be punished for this. But if he is, then baseball had better begin checking pitchers who go to their gloves all the time and make it so blatantly obvious.
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