The Yankees and A's might want to check to see if they have any gum on their cleats.
Trying to catch a foul ball at Yankee Stadium while the two teams played on Tuesday certainly could have become a very sticky situation. Some of the Yankees in the dugout threw chewed-up pieces of gum at what appeared to be a targeted sprinkler head a few feet away in foul territory, competing in what apparently is known as "The Bubble Gum Game."
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Nestor Cortes, Jordan Montgomery and Matt Carpenter were caught on camera during the bottom of the first inning launching the gum onto the field from the corner of the dugout. And even with two pitchers competing, hitting the bubble gum strikezone was a challenge, with far more of the rolled-up pieces of pink gum scattered across the green grass than on top of the sprinkler head.
"That’s kind of gross," Yankees announcer Michael Kay said on the YES Network.
"It's like golf, it's like frisbee golf," Yankees analyst Cameron Maybin responded. "They find a little marker on the field and they toss the gum, almost as if they're playing frisbee golf."
Even if the players managed to avoid the mess during the Yankees' 2-1 victory over the A's, it certainly made for an unusual cleanup for the grounds crew.
"And that's all chewed gum," Kay said. "I'm sure Danny Cunningham, the groundskeeper, loved it."
"I'm sure Danny will be excited to put somebody else on that job," Maybin said.
Oddly enough, it was the second "bubble gum shower" of the week at Yankee Stadium.
Just two days earlier, a bucket full of gum was tossed into the air at home plate during the celebration for Aaron Judge's walk-off home run against the Astros. That gum, however, was unopened and unchewed.
