Major League Baseball ruled that Doug Eddings overstepped his bounds when demanding that Cardinals reliever Hancel Rincón straighten his tilted hat on Friday night, prompting Saturday’s exchange where the veteran umpire apologized to the rookie reliever, per a report by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.

MLB umpires have the discretion to determine whether players are distracting to others – with their actions or their equipment – but the league office determined that Eddings went too far in making the 24-year-old pitcher straighten his slightly askew hat.

Eddings, the crew chief working the Cardinals-Rockies series in Colorado over the weekend, had an extended conversation with Cardinals’ manager Oliver Marmol and Rockies manager Warren Schaffer before Saturday’s game after admonishing Rincón a night earlier during his MLB debut. Then, when Cardinals’ relievers were making their way out to the bullpen in the middle of Saturday’s first inning, a Cardinals TV camera caught the cordial exchange between the veteran ump and the reliever.

Despite the language difference between the Spanish-speaking Rincón and Eddings, the umpire was believed to have apologized for the incident.

MLB has yet to announce whether it will take disciplinary action against the 58-year-old veteran umpire, who made his MLB debut in 1988 and has umpired World Series in 2019 and 2024 and four League Championship Series.

Rincón, who was promoted from Triple-A Memphis to the Cardinals on Tuesday when MLB rosters expanded from 26 to 28, was called upon to enter Friday’s game for his MLB debut in the sixth inning and the Cardinals leading 4-1. He retired his first batter, but then surrendered a triple to TJ Rumfield, who drove the ball off the wall in right field. Then, after the right-handed spiked a curveball for a wild pitch that scored a run, Eddings stepped from behind the plate and instructed Cardinals’ catcher Leo Bernal – also a rookie – to tell Rincón to straighten his tilted hat.

Rincón allowed the next two batters to reach, and Marmol didn’t find out about the exchange between the umpire and pitcher upon removing the pitcher from the game. While barking at Eddings over the interaction, the umpire charged the Cardinals a pitch timer violation before Justin Bruihl threw a pitch.

Marmol, bench coach Daniel Descalso and pitching coach Dusty Blake objected from the dugout, and Marmol was ultimately ejected for a fourth time this season and the 25th time in his five-year career as a manager.

The incident between the Dominican-born Rincón and the veteran umpire drew intense social media backlash and morphed into a national sports story. Marmol voiced his displeasure over the umpire telling the young pitcher how he should be wearing his hat during his first MLB game.

"Some words were exchanged there and, quite honestly, I thought it was pretty embarrassing on (Eddings') end," Marmol said to Cardinals TV. "We have a kid making his debut and in between an at bat (Eddings) tells (Rincon) to fix his hat and 'the kid's not going to wear his hat like that on my field.' So, I told him, 'The last I checked this is Coors Field,' I took issue with it and then the pitch timer violation while I'm out there having a discussion, that's also stupid, in my opinion.”

In a show of support for their rookie teammate, Cardinals’ players playfully wore their hats tilted to the side throughout Saturday’s game. Rincón pitched a perfect sixth inning and recorded his first MLB strikeout when he got Zack Veen to chase a changeup below the strike zone. However, Rincón’s second inning of work didn’t go as well as he surrendered two hits, a walk and four earned runs in the 10-7 loss.

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On Sunday, Rincón was optioned back to Triple-A Memphis so that the Cardinals could get a look at 2022 first-round draft choice, Cooper Hjerpe. The rookie left-hander, who worked scoreless innings in the fourth, fifth and sixth and struck out four, became the 13th Cardinals rookie to make their MLB debut in 2026.