SF Giants Manager Bob Melvin Ejected Before Game Even Starts

If you're going to get tossed from a baseball game, you might as well get it over with early. At least, that seemed to be the thought process for Bob Melvin on Sunday.

The San Francisco Giants manager was ejected from the series finale against the Colorado Rockies before the game even started. Prior to first pitch, Melvin was delivering the lineup card at home plate when he decided to give Chris Conroy and his umpire crew an earful.

"I just talked too much," Melvin explained after the game, which the Giants won 3-2. "Umpiring’s a hard job, I’m aware of that, just probably said too much. I didn’t plan that, it wasn’t choreographed. I probably went too far."

The content of the exchange wasn't clear, but it seemed to be the result of growing frustrations throughout the weekend. Through the first two games — which the Giants both lost — Melvin had already conveyed his irritations multiple times, whether he was hollering from the dugout or complaining during interviews.

Melvin griped about a "phantom hit-by-pitch" for Rockies catcher Elías Díaz in Friday's 7-3 Colorado win. Díaz himself appeared to claim that the pitch hit his bat and not his body, but the umpiring crew awarded him first base after inconclusive replay didn't overturn the call. Díaz went on to score on a two-run Brenton Doyle home run.

"I haven’t seen an umpire talk a guy into going to first base on a hit-by-pitch," Melvin said in the post-game press conference Friday.

Melvin also complained about the strike zone throughout the series.

Bob Melvin Has A Premature Ejection

Believe it or not, Melvin isn't the first coach to get tossed before first pitch. He joins former hot-headed Baltimore Orioles skipper Earl Weaver for the earliest MLB manager ejection in history.

In a doubleheader against the Texas Rangers on August 15, 1975 — while changing lineup cards prior to the game — Weaver was ejected by Ron Luciano. He was still angry about a call in the fourth inning of the series opener.

Earl Weaver collected 96 ejections in 17 seasons.

(Getty Images)

And in June 2022, Toronto Blue Jays hitting coach Guillermo Martínez was ejected prior to a game against the Chicago White Sox. Martínez, too, was delivering the lineup card when a heated argument broke out with the umpiring crew.

And earlier this season, New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone was thrown out of the game after just one batter. In fairness, it wasn't actually Boone's fault. A fan behind the dugout yelled, and home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt mistook the fan for the Yankees' skipper.

As for Melvin, Sunday marks his 63rd career ejection as a manager — ranking him 16th all-time. Only 99 more to catch up with the all-time leader, Atlanta Braves legend Bobby Cox!