JUPITER, Fla. — The St. Louis Cardinals officially started their spring training season against the Washington Nationals on Saturday afternoon, but the biggest controversy in the Grapefruit League opener came before a single pitch could be thrown.
Before the game began, Cardinals manager Oli Marmol and Nationals manager Davey Martinez went to home plate for a routine meeting with the umpire crew. It’s a common practice that’s sometimes met with minor fanfare — like on Saturday, when Cardinals photographer Taka Yanagimoto waved to the group, which included umpires Carlos Torres, Ron Kulpa, Angel Hernandez and CB Bucknor, to huddle together for a souvenir photo.
But things didn’t go as usual: According to Marmol, Bucknor declined to reciprocate when the skipper greeted Bucknor at home plate and reached out for a handshake. Bucknor and Marmol have a contentious relationship that dates back to the 2022 season.
“I wanted to shake hands with CB,” Marmol told reporters in St. Louis after the Cardinals lost 3-2. “He didn’t renew his. I went into that game pretty confident about my opinion of him as a referee. They weren’t very good. It just shows his lack of class as a man. That is the bottom line.”
“I don’t think he’s good at his job and it just shows a lack of class as a man,” Marmol added. “These are my thoughts on it.”
Marmol and Bucknor engaged in a hostile interaction last August when Bucknor was the home plate umpire for St. Louis’ away game against the Diamondbacks. Marmol, then a rookie manager, was ejected in the top of third for battling balls and shots.
The ejection resulted in an enraged Marmol charging to home plate, where Bucknor was seen initially grinning before yelling at Marmol. Another referee, Jeff Nelson, eventually had to restrain Marmol and help guide him off the field.
“I didn’t like (his) grin coming out,” Marmol told reporters after the game. “And then he questioned my time in the league, so I retaliated and questioned his time in the league.”
Despite this, Marmol approached Bucknor on Saturday afternoon with an outstretched hand as a sign of respect, he said.
“It wasn’t an (extended) olive branch,” Marmol said. “It’s just respect. You can have disagreements, you still go to home plate. Every time I got kicked out of a game, I went to home plate the next day for that very reason.”
Torres, Kulpa and Hernandez all shook hands with Marmol and apologized for Bucknor’s behavior, Marmol said.
“It’s super easy,” Marmol said. “I repeat myself. I went home to shake his hand. He did not want. He has zero class.”
MLB and the MLB Umpires Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Athletic.
(Photo: Jim Rassol / USA Today)