Watch: MLB Umpire Pauses Game To Make Horrifying Extraction from His Ear
They say you see something new in baseball every day at the ballpark, and that couldn’t be more true for those who watched Wednesday’s Yankees-White Sox game in Chicago.
It seemed like a typical baseball game until the bottom of the ninth inning when second-base umpire Bruce Dreckman jogged over to a Yankees trainer.
Dreckman was pointing at his ear and the trainer took him to the dugout to look at it. The trainer then started digging in the ump’s ear with a tool, and all of a sudden, Dreckman pulled out something that will gross people out and give them nightmares at the same time.
Oh nothing, just an MLB umpire pulling A GIGANTIC LIVE BUG OUT OF HIS EAR. pic.twitter.com/wDvLDVVdu9
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) August 9, 2018
A living, breathing, fluttering moth was extracted from the umpire’s ear! Dreckman then casually returned to the field with a smile on his face, undoubtedly relieved that bug was gone.
Second base umpire Bruce Dreckman returns to field after having large moth removed from ear by Yankees training staff. Didn't expect to tweet that tonight.
— Daryl Van Schouwen (@CST_soxvan) August 9, 2018
Hockey players have a reputation as being the toughest athletes in sports, but baseball umpires must be the toughest officials if they have to deal with not only players and managers yelling at them, but living beings flying into their ear canals.
Somewhat surprisingly, this isn’t the first instance of a living being going into someone’s ear on a baseball field.
In 2011 another moth (hopefully not the same one) flew into Matt Holliday’s ear while he was playing left field for the St. Louis Cardinals.
But while Dreckman’s moth was able to be removed via tweezers, Holliday’s was deep, deep into his ear canal.
“He had a moth fly into his ear, deep into his ear. I don’t even know what happened to it,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said at the time, according to The Associated Press.
It was so deep that simple tweezers alone couldn’t extract it on the field. The team’s trainers had to take Holliday to a dark room and shine a light by his ear to try to lure it out.
When that didnt’ work, the AP reported, they turned to a utensil and were able to remove it. As in Dreckman’s case, the moth was still alive.
A Cardinals spokesman would later say that Holliday kept the moth, but it’s unknown if he kept it as a pet or if he kept it for revenge.
As for the result of Bruce Dreckman’s moth game, the Yankees prevailed over the White Sox 7-3 to complete a three-game series sweep.
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