A pitcher for the Chicago Cubs was forced to change out his glove with an American flag decal on one of its fingers during Wednesday's game after umpires decided that the decal could represent a "distraction" for batters.
The Major League Baseball umps told Cubs reliever Luke Little to leave his black glove with the decal in the dugout during their routine review at him before he headed out to the mound during the Cubs' win against the Houston Astros.
Little was preparing to go in as a reliever in the seventh inning of the game before the umps intervened.
“The issue was the American flag was on his glove," said Cubs manager Craig Counsell, according to the Associated Press.
"Pitchers’ gloves, they’re pretty strict about not having white on the pitchers’ gloves. Apparently, the flag had what could be a distraction to the hitter," the manager added.
Counsell also told the media that they looked for a replacement glove, but the only one available for the six-foot-eight pitcher was a brand-new glove that had not been broken in and was still stiff.
"I had to beat it a little bit, try and get it flexed out. Of all the things to do is breaking in a glove during a game," Little confessed after the game.
The player also noted that he has been using the original glove with no issues since his days back in Single-A minor league baseball.
Seeming to be referencing the issue, after the game Little jumped to his social media and told fans he was "Proud to be an American" in a post to X.
Proud to be an American 🇺🇸 Go Cubs Go pic.twitter.com/iKCPSvt8Gy
— Luke Little (@Luke_L23) April 25, 2024
A spokesman for Major League Baseball told the press that they had, indeed, warned Cubs management about the glove before.
The 23-year-old pitcher added that he was told his team "got an email from MLB that I’m not allowed to wear it."
"But I just didn’t assume that they were just going to just cut me. It’s not like it has an advantage in the game. It’s not like it blinds the hitters. Just representing my country," he added.
"Just a whole debacle. Got to get ready without it and throw through it," Little said of the demand by the umpires.
The Cubs have beaten the Astros in two of the three-game series thus far, 7-2 on Tuesday and 4-3 on Wednesday. The Cubs were set to face the Astros for the final game of the series Thursday.
Little made his big-league debut just last year, in September of 2023, against the San Francisco Giants, WBTV reported
The reliever recorded his second hold of the 2024 season in the win on Wednesday, and has recorded a 2.16 ERA in nine games this year, according to the MLB website. He only played seven games for the team in 2023.
