The Yankees-Reds game on July 4 was delayed by a few minutes due to performative patriotism.
A pair of Yankees — injured pitchers Ian Hamilton and Cody Poteet — and a pair of Reds — pitchers Graham Ashcraft and Carson Spiers — were locked in a national anthem standoff Thursday in The Bronx, refusing to leave the field until they could be the final ones to remain in salute.
The two pairs of teammates stood tall, at the edge of the dirt, long after the anthem had been sung.
The Yankees took the field to begin the top of the first inning, but the players remained in an anthem pose.
Home-plate umpire Alan Porter gestured to both sides asking them to get off the field, and neither budged.
Third-base umpire Jim Wolf also had a talk with the two groups.
Finally, Yankees manager Aaron Boone asked his players to return to the dugout, and first Hamilton and then Poteet trudged off in defeat.
The Reds’ dugout celebrated a win that preceded the actual game being played.
