Joba really said to Mo, “Don’t ever shush me?” Behold from the NYT…
Yankees’ Chamberlain Gives Rivera a Dugout Rebuke
By DAVID WALDSTEIN
Published: May 12, 2013
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Mariano Rivera has been the focus of adoring affection everywhere he has gone in baseball since announcing that this would be his final season. As part of his farewell tour, he has been meeting with fans and team employees in each city he visits.
On Saturday, however, he was the recipient of an admonishment, from a teammate, Joba Chamberlain.
Rivera was conducting a dugout interview after he had finished meeting with local families that have endured hardships. During the interview, Chamberlain was standing on the railing of the dugout signing autographs and speaking loudly to be heard above the public address system to members of his family in the stands.
At one point Rivera called out, “Joba, suave,” and used a hand gesture for Chamberlain to keep the volume down. Rivera continued to speak with the reporters, but once the interview ended Chamberlain said to Rivera, “Don’t shush me.”
Rivera initially thought Chamberlain was joking, but Chamberlain reiterated the point twice more with a stern expression, saying: “I’m serious. Don’t ever shush me.”
Rivera said he explained to Chamberlain that he was not telling him he could not speak with his family members, only that Rivera was not able to hear the questions he was being asked.
After Saturday night’s game, Chamberlain acknowledged the exchange was unusual but said, “It’s between me and him.”
The exchange between Rivera and Chamberlain, Yankee teammates since 2007, lasted only seconds, but happened in full view of reporters and fans. Nevertheless, it did not stop Rivera from continuing his interactions with fans.
Before the verbal scuffle with Chamberlain, Rivera met with a local family who lost a 10-year-old son in an accident at an airport in Alabama. Also present at the 45-minute event was a boy in a wheelchair who started a backyard baseball league for children with disabilities and another boy with Ewing’s sarcoma cancer.
“This one was touching,” Rivera said. “Emotional.”
Rivera said the event was motivating because the families continued to move forward, and he said he would keep praying for them.
“It was amazing,” he said. “I was in tears.”
Before today’s game, all the beat writers asked Joba to elaborate. He did not apologize. In fact, he said he had no reason to apologize. Furthermore, he said he didn’t regret anything he had ever done in his life. That said, he told reporters he and Mo were fine and the incident was closed and all is well.
But still. Who mouths off to the great Mariano Rivera, the classiest guy in the game?
I’ll tell you who: the pitcher who may not finish the season as a Yankee.
Today’s finale in KC was efficient, tidy and satisfying. Kuroda was great, as was Mo. Somebody suggested on Twitter that, given the Joba flap (see previous post), Mo’s new entrance music should be “Enter Shushman” instead of “Enter Sandman.”
