Rule of thumb: It's a bad thing when you notice an umpire during a game, and Doug Eddings made sure he was noticed Friday night at Coors Field. Eddings, the home plate umpire, instructed Cardinals reliever Hancel Rincon to wear his cap straight in the sixth inning of St. Louis' win over the Rockies (STL 7, COL 6). Rincon, making his MLB debut, entered the game with his cap tilted slightly to the left.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol came out to defend his player and was later ejected for arguing with Eddings, calling it a "power-hungry move" to tell Rincon to straighten his cap. Both Marmol and Eddings indicated it was a directive, not a suggestion. 

"I had an issue with Doug. Just Doug," Marmol said after the game (via MLB.com). "He took it upon himself to tell our rookie pitcher the kid's 'not going to wear his hat on my field that way.' You got Dontrelle Willis, CC Sabathia, Pedro Strop, plenty of guys that have worn it way more tilted. I have an issue with that. That's just a power-hungry move, in my opinion."  

"I've been pitching with my hat like that," Rincon said through an interpreter (via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch). "It's not an excuse. But I had no idea why he told me to do it."

It is neither uncommon nor against the rules for a player to wear his cap slightly tilted. Eddings admitted much after the game. 

"It's not (a rule)," Eddings said (via MLB.com). "I guess it's a little unwritten rule. They can't wear (their caps) backwards like a catcher. If it's a distraction, like anything on the field, like a glove or something, and someone makes you aware of it, then you kind of address that."

MLB Rule 3.03 covers player uniforms and does not contain any specific standards for caps. Rules 3.03(g) and (h) cover potential distractions, specifically forbidding any "pattern that imitates or suggests the shape of a baseball" and "glass buttons and polished metal." Rule 3.07 prohibits certain patterns and colors for the pitcher's glove, though that was not the issue Friday.

"The batter said, 'Hey, can he wear his hat like that?'" Eddings said after the game (via MLB.com). "I really didn't know, but it was really, really crooked. I asked the catcher to tell him to straighten his hat out, and the pitcher did. Nobody said anything until he gave up a couple runs." The batter, Rockies catcher Hunter Goodman, refuted what Eddings said, telling reporters on Saturday that he never brought up the tilt on Rincon's hat. Even if he did, it's irrelevant. The pitcher can wear his hat askew.

"I never once mentioned the hat," Goodman said (via MLB.com). "It doesn't matter who's pitching. I don't care how they wear the hat. I'm trying to find out where the ball is coming out, and I'm trying to worry about what I'm doing in the box. I'm not worried about how his hat looks."

Also, if Eddings did say that Rincon is "not going to wear his hat on my field that way," as Marmol said, that's incredibly weak. It is the players' field, not the umpires'. No one turns on a game to watch Doug Eddings. The umpires are there to call balls and strikes, safe or out, fair or foul. Not to tell a player to wear his hat straight. Umpires should be part of the background, not front and center.

Rincon, 24, surrendered three runs and recorded one out Friday. When Rincon was removed from the game for Justin Bruihl, Marmol voiced his displeasure to Eddings. As the back-and-forth continued, Eddings gave Bruihl a pitch clock violation, leading to Marmol's ejection. 

Cardinals, Rockies players wear tilted hats the next day

On Saturday night, players from both the Cardinals and Rockies tilted their caps before the game in a show of support for Rincon and as a protest against Eddings. 

Per the Associated Press: "Most of the Cardinals' players had their hats tilted during pregame warmups, and many continued to tilt them in the dugout during the game. Some even tilted their batting helmets to celebrate reaching base. At least some Colorado players also wore their caps to the side."

"We've had a few rough stretches here, but the one superpower that we've had through this whole season is our ability to unify and really stand up for all the guys we have in the clubhouse and have each other's backs," Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore said after Saturday night's loss.

The Cardinals, after splitting the first two games of the series, are 71-72 and four games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks for the third and final NL wild-card spot.

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