Major League Baseball umpire Brian Walsh, who was ridiculed by New York Yankees fans on Wednesday night, has been outed as a fan of one of the team’s main rivals – the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Walsh was behind the plate for Wednesday’s Yankees loss to the Houston Astros, where the team blew a three-run lead in the bottom of the eighth inning, with blame from the New York fan base pointed directly at the umpire.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone called Walsh’s strike zone ‘inconsistent’, with Houston reaping the benefits on the way to an 8-7 victory, in a game that could be a playoff preview.
Angered New Yorkers did not settle for playing again later in the week. They searched the internet for excused and found Walsh’s personal Facebook page.
On the page, which now appears to be deactivated, Walsh is pictured from Opening Day in 2013, wearing a Red Sox shirt at Fenway Park, only angering Yankee fans more.
In the comments of the post came the admission of his lifelong fandom, which belongs to the team Vin Scully called for decades, where he is ‘still a Dodger fan for life.’
Major League Baseball umpire Brian Walsh has been outed as a Los Angeles Dodgers fan
New York Yankees fans found his personal Facebook page after frustrations from Wednesday
Walsh’s strike zone, and a complaint from New York pitcher Devin Williams, led to the first ejection of the reliever’s professional career.
‘I already looked at [the replays],’ Williams said after the game. ‘[Walsh] definitely missed four [pitches] and I told him, and he threw me out for it.’
Boone, in a more-typical move, was also later tossed from the game, speaking out in favor of his team from the Houston clubhouse.
‘I thought [the strike zone] was maybe a little inconsistent,’ Boone said. ‘This is more we had a lead, had a couple of chances to add on and the Astros put some good at-bats together. They were squaring up good pitches against us in the second half of the game. Outlasted us.’
After the photo made the rounds on social media, some Yankees fans want Walsh punished.
‘Wow the Yankees need to report this. It was obvious. Like he had money on the game. #MLB. You can’t have that many strikes for one team and the other team not get them. @MLB @Yankees #Yankees I own a company that can find out. It is definitely biased. He definitely had an agenda,’ one social-media user said on X.
Walsh and the Yankees will again see each other on Thursday night, as he rotates to become the third-base umpire for the contest.
