Really, we all knew this would be the case with Rob Manfred. The commissioner of MLB all but unilaterally decided that an existing rule on foreign substances be enforced by umpires in the middle of the season in 2021. Technically, the commish will say that other persons participated in the decision. Mainly he’s pointed to MLB consultant Theo Epstein as a contributor. But, as Washington Nationals’ pitcher Max Scherzer perfectly put it, it’s a “Manfred rule.”
Rob Manfred decided it was an issue.
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Rob Manfred enacted a change that makes umpires who are not trained in determining what exactly a foreign substance is decide what a foreign substance is and give said umpire the power to remove a player from a game.