Aaron Boone can’t help but get kicked out.
Just 61 games into this MLB season, the Yankees manager was already sent off from four league-leading games.
His most recent dismissal came on May 25 when he argued with umpire Edwin Moscoso about his strike zone in New York’s 3-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.
Since taking over as manager of the Yankees in 2018, Boone has been sacked a whopping 30 times — giving him the third fewest games per sacking in MLB history (25.53), according to Sports Illustrated.
But while Boone is a repeat offender, we’ve certainly seen worse things over the years than him holding four fingers (for each perceived miss call) to Moscoso’s face, for example.
In this millennium alone, we’ve seen an infamous brawl, a shocking clothesline, and a slew of bats and balls thrown at a baseball field in anger.
Here, Mail Sport guides you through some of the wildest US sporting events of recent memory.
Aaron Boone leads MLB in eliminations this season as he was eliminated from four games
Bob Knight throws a chair
The first ejection on this list is the oldest – and arguably the most notorious in American sports history.
In 1985, hot-tempered college basketball coach Bob Knight stood on the sidelines when his Indiana Hoosiers took on Purdue.
As a series of fouls were called out on his players, Knight lost his composure.
First, Knight was awarded a technical foul by referee Fred Jaspers while arguing with the referee about the final foul.
Bob Knight (left) is seen with Isaiah Thomas at Indiana’s Assembly Hall in February 2020
Then, as Purdue’s Steve Reid was on the line to take a technical free throw, Knight hurled a chair across the field, sending the seat flying over the hardwood by the baseline.
Knight continued to scream before Jaspers’ athletic director Ralph Floyd was called to the court and the head coach was banned from the competition.
Ultimately, there was a method behind Knight’s (literally) insanity, as he finished his career with three national championships and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991.
Andrew Bynum elbows JJ Barea
Sticking with basketball, Andrew Bynum was sent off for a nasty foul on JJ Barea in the 2011 Western Conference Semifinals.
With Bynum’s Lakers losing 30 about eight minutes from the end of the contest — and close to ending the series at 3-0 in Dallas — the center took out his anger on the much smaller Barea.
The 5’7″ guard pulled into the lane and made a floater, but the shot came at a cost as the 7’1″ Bynum threw his opponent into the air by elbowing him.
Andrew Bynum was sent off and suspended in the 2011 playoffs for his elbow against JJ Barea
Bynum was immediately thrown out of the game by the umpires, and broadcaster Mike Tirico called the game “one of the greatest Bush League things I’ve ever seen.”
The center was suspended for the first five games of the next season and fined $25,000.
And Barea got the last laugh as his Mavs won the NBA title in the postseason.
Andre Johnson fights Cortland Finnegan
Seven-time Pro Bowler Andre Johnson has had many highlights throughout his career, but his fight with cornerback Cortland Finnegan in 2010 is certainly one of his most memorable moments.
The wide receiver and Finnegan went neck and neck in the AFC South division, and things simmered between the two in the eighth minute of the fourth quarter as the Texans defeated the Titans 17-0.
With Finnegan marking the normally stoic Johnson for most of the game, tension was already building between the two, but it crossed the point of healthy competition when the cornerback smacked Johnson close to the face with both hands.
The normally quiet Andre Johnson blew up Cortland Finnegan in this 2010 division game
Finnegan’s helmet was ripped off from there, but he managed to deliver a punch to Johnson.
Shortly thereafter, the wide receiver’s helmet also came off before landing on Finnegan and punching him.
The cornerback applauded sarcastically after they were separated, but both players were sent off and subsequently fined $25,000 as the Texans won 20-0.
Myles Garrett swings his helmet at Mason Rudolph
The fight between Johnson and Finnegan actually looks mild compared to Myles Garrett’s dangerous helmet swing in 2019.
Similar to other entries on this list, the game was largely out of reach when violence erupted, as the Steelers were 21-7 to Garrett’s Browns with just 15 seconds left in Thursday Night Football.
Pittsburgh backup quarterback Mason Rudolph grabbed the ball and passed it to running back Trey Edmunds before being defeated by Garrett.
But Rudolph seemed to have trouble with the way Garrett tackled him, and the former Oklahoma State quarterback grabbed the defensive end’s helmet while the two were tangled on the ground.
Myles Garrett ripped Mason Rudolph’s helmet off before throwing it at him in 2019
Once on his feet, Garrett retaliated by ripping Rudolph’s helmet off and hitting him with it before the quarterback was shoved from behind by Cleveland defensive lineman Larry Ogunjobi.
Garrett was then knocked out by Rudolph’s teammates and kicked in the head by Pittsburgh offensive player Maurkice Pouncey.
Pouncey, Ogunjobi and Garrett were all eliminated from the game, with all three also suspended.
Ogunjobi got off the lightest with a one-game suspension, Pouncey received a two-game suspension and Garrett missed six games after an indefinite suspension.
Rasheed Wallace stares at Ron Garretson
Not all expulsions involve violence. In fact, some of them don’t even contain words.
Rasheed Wallace’s Blazers faced the Lakers in the 2000 Western Conference Finals when umpire Ron Garretson kicked him out for his penchant for staring — yes, staring.
Wallace had already incurred a technical foul for saying something to Garretson from the touchline when he was not in the game, but his second indiscretion was purely due to his behavior.
Ron Garretson didn’t like the way Rasheed Wallace looked at him and threw the forward out
The big Portland man converted a 1-1 dunk – followed by an LA time-out – and stared at Garretson after the play, with audio recordings of the moment providing hilarious insight into the action.
“Coup out!” Garretson is heard saying as he announces a second technical foul on Wallace.
As Wallace walked away in silence, his teammate Steve Smith argued that he had said nothing, which the referee agreed.
‘He didn’t say anything… I asked him three times to stop staring at me to intimidate me, I’m done.’ He’s gone.’
The Blazers lost the game 109-94 while the Lakers eventually won the series in seven games.
Wally Backman has a garage sale
Wally Backman played in MLB for 14 years and won a World Series with the Mets in 1986.
But in 2007 he became coach of the minor league South Georgia Peanuts – captured in the documentary series Playing for Peanuts – and he wasn’t happy when Doc Brooks was kicked out of a game by his team.
After the outfielder was sent off over discussions about the location of a called strike, Backman stormed from the dugout onto the field and fired expletive after expletive at the umpire.
Wally Backman hilariously tossed a bucketful of balls onto the field during this 2007 throw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOZxT9MHAJU
After telling the referee, among other things, that he had a “horse zone” all day, Backman was also thrown off the field and then got really angry.
The former Mets second baseman called the umpire a “little friggin’ runt,” scraped home plate with his cleat, and initially refused to leave the field.
But things got even crazier when Backman finally left the rhombus as he headed to the dugout and threw 22 racquets (according to the show’s YouTube channel) and a bucket of balls onto the field before finally leaving.
He then hilariously suggested to Brooks that the two should have a beer – but was banned for three games for confronting the opposing team’s radio play-by-play announcer and general manager in the press box after the game.
Dru Yearwood shoots a ball into the stands
While Backman’s bat-throwing was a victimless crime, the same cannot be said of Dru Yearwood’s actions last summer.
The New York Red Bulls midfielder was frustrated during the 2-0 home loss to the Philadelphia Union and kicked the ball into the stands at a dead ball in a moment of anger.
Dru Yearwood was snubbed by a fan as he tried to apologize for stepping into the stands
Yearwood immediately recognized the seriousness of his mistake and went into the stands to apologize, but a fan brushed him off as he ceremoniously walked back onto the pitch.
That’s where he got his marching orders, as he received a red card – and it wasn’t just Yearwood’s usual one-game ban.
The MLS extended his ban for a further three games, thus ruling him out of four games in total.
(Dis)honorable mention: The “Malice in the Palace”
While there were technically no sackings on “Malice at the Palace,” we’d be remiss not to mention that ugly brawl between the Pacers and Pistons in 2004 that resulted in suspensions and charges galore.
The fight took place on November 19 at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Detroit, with less than a minute remaining when Pistons big man Ben Wallace was dealt a hard but fairly common foul by Ron Artest (now known as Metta Sandiford-Artest) teased by the Pacers), with Indiana leading by 15 points.
Wallace retaliated with a vigorous shove at Artest and the two teams began a scuffle, which seemed to calm down as coaches from both sides got involved.
Ron Artest was suspended for the remainder of the 2004–05 season for his role in this brawl
The situation escalated when Artest, lying on the scorer’s table, was hit by a mug of beer thrown by a fan.
Artest then broke out and went into the stands to attack the man he believed had thrown the trophy at him. He was followed by his teammate Stephen Jackson and Detroit’s Rasheed Wallace.
The scene descended into chaos, with fans pouring onto the pitch, players fighting them, and coaches and security guards trying to defuse the situation.
Technically, no player was left out as the entire game was abandoned with just 45.9 seconds left, but Artest was suspended for the remainder of the season (73 games), Jackson received a 30-game suspension and seven other players also received bans.
In addition, five Pacers players (including Artest and Jackson) and five Detroit fans were charged with assault and assault.