Umpire Doug Eddings stopped Hancel Rincón’s MLB debut in the sixth inning of the Cardinals–Rockies game on September 5 to tell him — through the catcher — to straighten his cap. Rincón had it slightly tilted. No written rule prohibits it. Eddings himself admitted as much after the game. The fallout: manager Oliver Marmol came out to argue, got ejected, and the whole thing racked up over 4 million impressions on social media by the end of the night.
What Happened in the Sixth Inning
Rincón, 24 years old and from Los Llanos in the Dominican Republic, walked out to the mound at Coors Field for his first major-league appearance. His cap was slightly cocked to the side — the way a lot of Caribbean players wear it. Eddings stopped him before he threw a single pitch, relaying a message through catcher Leo Bernal: fix the hat.
According to Eddings, the whole thing started because Rockies catcher Hunter Goodman asked him whether the pitcher was allowed to wear his cap that way. That question apparently was enough for Eddings to intervene.
Marmol came out of the dugout to defend his rookie. The argument dragged on, and while it was still going, Eddings hit reliever Justin Bruihl with a pitch-clock violation. Marmol was eventually ejected — his fourth ejection of the 2026 season. At that point, St. Louis led 4-2, with the team sitting at 71-71 and 3.5 games back of the third Wild Card spot in the National League.
The «Unwritten Rule» Eddings Couldn’t Back Up
After the game, Eddings acknowledged what was already obvious: MLB Rule 3.03 covers uniforms and equipment but says nothing about the angle of a player’s cap. The only visual restrictions in that rule involve specific distractions — like patterns that mimic a baseball or glass buttons. A tilted cap isn’t mentioned anywhere.
Eddings called it an «unwritten rule,» pointing to the fact that catchers can’t wear their caps backwards. Then he admitted that’s not the same thing.
Marmol was more direct. He named Dontrelle Willis, CC Sabathia, Pedro Strop, and Fernando Rodney as players who wore their caps tilted for years without any umpire ever stopping play. Eddings himself admitted he had let Sabathia do it. There is no record of any pitcher ever being stopped mid-debut — or at any point — for this reason before.
The real question isn’t whether Rincón broke a rule. He didn’t. The question is what accountability looks like when an umpire exercises discretionary authority over something he openly admits isn’t in the rulebook.
Rincón’s Debut, Herrera’s Heroics, and How the Night Ended
The incident cast a shadow over Rincón’s outing. He allowed three runs and recorded just one out in the sixth before being pulled. In Triple-A Memphis this season he posted a 4.04 ERA with 88 strikeouts in 71.1 innings — enough to earn his call-up on August 31. Those aren’t the numbers you want attached to a first big-league appearance.
But the Cardinals didn’t let the night end that way. In the ninth inning, with Colorado leading, Iván Herrera hit a three-run home run to flip the score. St. Louis won 7-6.
Cardinals broadcasters Chip Caray and Brad Thompson had called the Eddings situation «embarrassing» on air. The comeback gave their words a different kind of punctuation.
The incident has been circulating under the name «Hat Gate» in English-language coverage. For Rincón, the debut has two separate stories: what happened on the mound, which wasn’t what he hoped for, and what happened before he threw a pitch, which was entirely out of his hands.
