San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
OFF THE WALL
Slap heard ’round baseball was over fantasy football
When fights occur in professional sports, it can sometimes take years for the facts to come out. Rumors will swirl, tidbits will be attributed to anonymous sources and, years later, the people involved will finally explain what happened, writes Benjamin Hoffman of The New York Times.
In the case of Friday’s slap heard around baseball, though, fans just had to wait for Joc Pederson to get to the clubhouse after the San Francisco Giants’ 5-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds.
Pederson, an outfielder for the Giants, confirmed what social media had been buzzing about: Tommy Pham, an outfielder for the Reds, had slapped him before the game over a fantasy football transaction that Pederson says he made more than a year ago.
No, really.
“Yeah, that happened,” said Pederson (pictured) when asked directly about the slap.
On Saturday, MLB responded to the incident by suspending Pham for three games, retroactive to Friday. Pham told reporters that he will accept the suspension, saying that Pederson had made “disrespectful” comments about the Padres, Pham’s former team, and that he felt he needed to do something, plus cash was involved.
“We had too much money on the line, so I look at it like there’s a code,” Pham said.
Asked what happened, Pederson said he and Pham participate in a fantasy football league together. More than a year ago, Pederson said there was a disagreement about a transaction he had made in which he moved a player who was listed as out to injured reserve. He said a text message sent to a group chat for the league accused him of cheating for “stashing” players on his bench.
“I looked up the rules and sent a screenshot of the rules, how it says when a player is ruled out you’re allowed to put them on the IR, and that’s all I was doing,” Pederson said.
Pederson expressed confusion that Pham was upset about the move; he said Pham had executed a similar transaction with his own roster, going as far as to offer who the player in question was with Pham’s team.
“It just so happened that he had a player, Jeff Wilson, who was out, and he had him on the IR,” Pederson said. “I said, ‘You literally have the same thing on your bench.’ ”
Pederson said Friday’s incident did not have much lead-up. Pham approached him and asked if he remembered the issue, and Pederson confirmed he did and Pham slapped him across the cheek.
Trivia question On this date in 1989, future Hall of Famer retired. What was his batting average in his rookie season?
Mike Schmidt
They said it
From former player Kevin Millar during a Red Sox game on NESN-TV, on all the shin guards, elbow pads and the like worn by today’s hitters: “If you’re a firstbase coach you need a wheelbarrow these days.”
From Warriors guard Klay Thompson, on the secret to his recent success: “I play with Rocco and maybe some Nintendo. … I have to keep this routine going for the next series.” Rocco is his bulldog.