On a hot summer Friday night in Cincinnati, they were facing division foes, the St. Louis Cardinals. Pitching for St. Louis was rookie pitcher Genesis Cabrera. Cabrera entered the game in the eighth inning and successfully retired the side. He returned to pitch the ninth inning for the Cardinals, with the Cardinals winning 7-3, up by four runs. Cabrera immediately allowed two straight singles as the ninth inning opened.
Manager Marmol wanted to preserve a victory so he did what many managers would do. He made a pitching change. As Marmol strolled to the mound and was almost there, Cabrera would up and smashed the ball into the ground of the mound. It bounced upon impact and manager Marmol caught the rebound. Almost at the same time he grabbed the revolting rookie player and proceeded to have a confrontational discussion, right in his face. You can bet respect was mentioned during that scold.
“Your ego can’t get in the way of being a professional,” Marmol later said. “I’ve known him (Cabrera) a long time. He’ll be just fine. We have a good, veteran group that will address it. The kid’s a competitor, he wants to be in there. You can’t fault him for that.”
Later, one of the more famous veterans of the team did in fact address it. Veteran slugger Albert Pujols spoke to Cabrera as the pitcher sat, with arms crossed, on the bench. It’s not sure exactly what words were said but knowing the respect of Pujols and Cabrera being a fellow Dominican, you can bet his words of wisdom were heard.
Pujols finished, tapped Cabrera on the top of his cap and walked away. Lesson taught; lesson learned. Baseball Confidential or unwritten rules, the game still revolves around respect.