JUPITER, Fla. — Whatever chance his irritation with umpire C. B. Bucknor had of cooling over the winter ended before Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol returned to the dugout for the first game of spring training.
In the first meeting since a biting exchange last August in Arizona, Marmol approached home plate to meet with the umpires before Saturday’s Grapefruit League opener at Roger Dean Stadium. From the press box, it was possible to see Marmol extend his hand toward Bucknor for a handshake. Marmol said Bucknor refused the offer, and the Post-Dispatch confirmed that Bucknor did indeed decline to move his hand.
“He didn’t extend his. He didn’t,” Marmol said when asked by the Post-Dispatch about the exchange with the umpire. “The thing is when I think about it, I went into that game pretty certain of my thoughts on him as an umpire. Weren’t very good. And it just shows his lack of class as a man. That’s bottom line.
“I don’t think he’s good at his job, and it just showed a lack of class,” Marmol continued. “That’s my thought on it.”
When the Post-Dispatch showed Marmol’s quote in writing to him, the manager nodded.
“Put it in all caps,” he said.
A message left for Bucknor was not immediately returned.
The other three umpires did shake Marmol’s hand. The Cardinals manager said at least one apologized for their colleague.
The friction between the longtime umpire and the second-year manager erupted publicly during a Cardinals game in Arizona. The dugouts on both sides of the field had issues with Bucknor’s strike zone. Arizona starter Merrill Kelly fumed at the ump as did his manager, Torey Luvollo. With two runners on base and a tie score, Bucknor called a pitch off the inside edge of the plate a strike on Nolan Arenado.
Marmol voiced his complaint from the dugout.
Bucknor ejected Marmol with a theatrical point.
“I didn’t like his smirk when I got out there,” Marmol said that night after a 6-4 victory at Chase Field. “And then he questioned my time in the league. And so I returned the favor and questioned his time in the league.”
During the argument on the field with the umpire, Marmol suggested that Bucknor retire. The umpire responded by telling the first-year manager that he “just got here.”
That game was the last of a series in Arizona, so Marmol did not get the chance to do in August what he usually would after being ejected. So, as the Cardinals prepared for the first exhibition game of spring, Marmol had a purpose that was more than ceremonial for going out to exchange lineup cards and talk to the umpires.
He went to shake Bucknor’s hand after their previous meeting.
“Just respect,” Marmol said. “You can have disagreements. Any time I get thrown out of a game, I will go to home plate the next day for that very purpose. It shows it’s unfortunate.”
And it’s not over.
Bucknor lives in the Palm Beach County area and will umpire many exhibition games along the Atlantic coast during spring training. The Cardinals will draw him often and on consecutive days unless he declines or Major League Baseball and the umpires step in to adjust his schedule.
Marmol will be fined for his comments.
He said the other umpires, including crew chief Ron Kulpa and Angel Hernandez, did shake his hand and were present for the entire exchange with Bucknor. Marmol told Bucknor at the plate what he thought about the choice not to extend a hand.
The umpires had departed the ballpark before they could be reached for comment.
There is a keepsake from the awkward moment Saturday at home plate. As Marmol and Bucknor continued their exchange, Washington manager Dave Martinez began to walk away only to have a photographer rush after him to pose for a photo. The first game of spring, the first game with a handful of new rules, and the last spring for the current look of Roger Dean all gave the Cardinals reason to get a photo.
So there Marmol was posing near the umpire who would not shake his hand.
Everybody smile.
“It’s super simple,” Marmol said. “I went out to home to shake his hand. He didn’t want to. He has zero class.”
