New York Yankees star Jazz Chisholm Jr. has always been known to be a player who wears his emotion on his sleeve during games. But on Friday, Yankees fans got their first taste of Chisholm’s emotion backfiring on him and negatively impacting the team.
In Thursday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Chisholm was called out on strikes by home plate umpire John Bacon on a pitch that was clearly below the strike zone. Instead of walking to the dugout, Chisholm gave Bacon a piece of his mind and promptly got ejected for his troubles.
Jazz Chisholm was ejected after this strike three call pic.twitter.com/qfBB5m49q0
— Talkin’ Yanks (@TalkinYanks) April 18, 2025
Just minutes after being ejected, Chisholm took to social media while the game was still going on to further voice his frustrations about the strike call from Bacon, expressing how the pitch was not close to being a strike in his eyes.
We don’t think Jazz Chisholm has changed his mind. https://t.co/3fJg3zj6Ta pic.twitter.com/d40QWKDmoj
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) April 18, 2025
Both posting on social media during games and openly criticizing umpires in social media posts is prohibited in the MLB’s social media policy. So predictably, the league decided to take action against Chisholm on Friday, issuing him both a one-game suspension and a fine for an undisclosed amount.
By the letter of the law, Chisholm did indeed break the league’s protocol. But after seeing the news on social media, a number of fans are taking issue with the social media protocol, seeing that it effectively makes umpires exempt from fair criticism.
But nothing happens to the umpire of course. https://t.co/ywGVZrlAVd
— ✭Besse✭ (@BesseBoy) April 18, 2025
Bad policy. Fix your umpires and players wont complain. People want to see Jazz. Not being able to do that because he tweeted is weak https://t.co/hPpjBxByy5
— Dylan MacKinnon (@DylanFMackinnon) April 19, 2025
This is stupid. https://t.co/WqybRwhDQo
— Rob aka R0bSkii 🇭🇳 (@R0bSkii) April 18, 2025
Get with the times. Give us automated balls and strikes today!! Nobody goes to a game to see the Umpires.
— Boots17 (@Boots173) April 18, 2025
Even if fans may be on Chisholm’s side, he will have to manage his frustrations much better in the future to avoid situations like this in the future, a fact that he acknowledged in an apology after Thursday’s game.