On Friday night, the entire Rogers Centre got loud when the New York Yankees manager entered the field to get things straight with home plate umpire Vic Carapazza after his ejection. So loud that even the announcers’ voices were diminished under it. Just moments earlier, Trent Grisham belted a crucial home run to give the Yankees the lead. But then, from the bottom of the 6th inning, the team had to rely on bench coach Brad Ausmus for the 50th time this season. And in a typical Boone fashion, he believes the umpire may have overstepped in ejecting him for complaining. 

Apart from hoping that the New York Yankees finally snap their World Series drought since 2009, the Bleacher Creatures also hope that their manager stops getting ejected. It’s just August, and Aaron Boone has already recorded his 50th career ejection during the series opener against Toronto. Now, as Carapazza has been identified as the one who ejected Boone the most, the Yankees manager didn’t leave a chance to take another dig at the umpire, while hoping that the count ends now. 

“Hopefully it ends at 50 this year,” Boone said in a podcast with Jomboy Media’s Jimmy O’Brien.

In the top of the sixth inning, Carapazza called a low first-pitch knuckle curve from Shane Bieber a strike against Yankees batter Luis García Jr. The Yankees dugout chirped about the low call. Boone yelled, “We can’t challenge everything,” referring to the automated ball-strike challenge system. Carapazza seemed to be baiting Boone by asking him to challenge the call instead of complaining. The situation got escalated further.

Carapazza removed his mask, walked toward the dugout, and repeatedly asked, “What’d you say? I couldn’t hear you. What’d you say?”

“I think it was down,” Boone responded, prompting Carapazza to immediately toss him, and Boone gave a smirk, while the whole ballpark erupted.

“That’s exactly what I thought you said,” the ump snapped back.

Aaron Boone then came to the field, at first, trying to clarify things. But then, it turned into an argument that went on for a good 1-minute, as second base umpire Hunter Wendelstedt led the skipper out of the field.

After the game ended with a 3-1 loss for the Yankees, Boone called it a “tired toss” and later stated he felt he was blatantly baited into the ejection by Carapazza, who was visibly struggling with a season-worst 14 missed calls during the game.

“I agree,” Boone said when O’Brien asked if he thinks he got baited by the home plate umpire.

Nevertheless, the best thing is that even the Yankees manager is hoping that his ejection list will end here. Boone reportedly recorded his 5th ejection this season, while MLB.com notes the number to be 4. And Carapazza has ejected him the most, 5-times so far, per Jomboy Media. 

• In September 2018, Carapazza ejected Boone alongside pitcher CC Sabathia. The ejection happened after Sabathia intentionally drilled Rays batter Jesus Sucre in retaliation for Tampa Bay pitching up and in toward Yankees hitters earlier in the game.

• In August 2020, Boone was tossed in the 5th inning of a doubleheader. He fiercely protested Carapazza’s decision to eject Yankees hitting coach Marcus Thames. This stemmed from the dugout aggressively chirping about high-and-tight pitches thrown at New York hitters.

• In September 2022, tensions flared in the 5th inning when Carapazza made an incorrect catcher’s interference call against the Yankees. Just as the Yankees had already run out of manager’s challenges, Boone could not formally review the play. As a result, he was tossed for aggressively arguing the ruling.

• In May 2024, Carapazza executed a rare double-play ruling by calling infield fly interference. It was called after Juan Soto made contact with Angels shortstop Zach Neto. Boone stormed onto the field to dispute the call and was immediately thrown out.

• The last one is what happened on Friday against the Blue Jays. 

There were even instances when the Pinstripes got a kick out of Boone’s ejection.

Back in 2019, Boone stormed out to defend his players amid home-plate umpire Brennan Miller’s tight strike zone against the Rays. He was ejected, but it electrified the Yankees bench. They immediately rallied to win the game 6-2. However, repetition of the same approach may not be effective for long.

• April 16 against the Los Angeles Angels: Boone was ejected for arguing a balk call, but the team lost 11-4.
• May 19 against the Blue Jays: Argument over a disputed safe/out call led to his ejection. The team won 7-6.
• July 8 against the Tampa Bay Rays: Both Boone and Ausmus were ejected, arguing over a denied video challenge, and the Yanks lost 6-4.
• Then, the August one, which also ended in a loss.

So, clearly, his strategy to fire up the dugout won’t always end on a ‘kick,’ especially if that happens almost every alternate month.

On average, managers get ejected 4 to 6 times in a season, which comes down to roughly one in every 75 to 80 games. But by now, Boone is already at 4, and last season, he was at a league-high 7.   

Just as the Yankees are still 4 games behind the Rays in the Division, Boone’s presence in the dugout may impact more than his absence. And after his Friday’s game, even Aaron Boone himself noted, “Those things happen, and at the end of the day, we’ve got to find a way to score.”