Joba Chamberlain disses Mariano Rivera after Yankees closer asks him to quiet down
'Don’t ever shush me again,' Chamberlain told Rivera in full view of reporters and fans.
KANSAS CITY — Apparently the Joba Rules didn’t include a chapter on class.
Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera exchanged tense words in the dugout before Saturday night’s game, as Chamberlain took exception to Rivera instructing him to quiet down while the closer chatted with reporters about an emotional event he had held earlier in the day with several local families.
“Don’t ever shush me again,” Chamberlain told Rivera in full view of reporters and fans.
Asked after the game about the exchange, Chamberlain said, “I’m not talking about it.” Chamberlain said he hadn’t spoken with Rivera since the spat. Asked whether he felt the two needed to talk, Chamberlain sniped, “That’s between me and Mo.”
Rivera was far less snippy about the situation, although he seemed surprised that Chamberlain had barked at him in such a public setting.
“It’s amazing,” Rivera said before confirming that he and Chamberlain had not spoken since. “We’ll take care of it. We’re grownups and I know better than that. We’ll take care of that.”
Before the game, while Rivera sat in the dugout speaking with reporters, Chamberlain was standing by the railing at the top of the dugout signing autographs for fans, shouting as he interacted with people in the stands.
Rivera paused during one answer and joked to reporters, “Is this guy always loud like this?”
Rivera chuckled before proceeding with his answer, but Chamberlain’s shouting continued — and may have grown even louder. Rivera seemed to lose his train of thought as Chamberlain’s voice rose, prompting the closer to call out to his younger teammate to ask him to be quiet.
“Joba! Yo! Bro!” Rivera shouted. “Shhh. Stop it.”
Chamberlain quickly replied, telling Rivera that he was talking with family.
“You do this every day,” Chamberlain said, referring to Rivera’s meeting with the media. “I don’t get to see my family every day.”
Rivera finished his five-minute session while Chamberlain continued signing autographs, though Chamberlain could be heard telling people in the stands, “I look at it every day. I have to be quiet. . . . They’re doing an interview.”
As Rivera wrapped up his interview, he began to stand up from the dugout when Chamberlain looked into the dugout.
“Don’t ever shush me again,” said Chamberlain, who started his career as a reliever before becoming a starter for the Yankees and is now in the bullpen again. The Yankees employed the so-called Joba Rules earlier in his career when they monitored his inning and pitch counts.
Rivera nodded with a bit of a smile, at which point Chamberlain — looking stone-faced without a trace of a smile — said, “Seriously. Don’t ever shush me again. I don’t get to see my family very often.”
Rivera opted not to get into an argument, telling Chamberlain, “I didn’t say not to talk to your family. That’s all right. You can talk to your family any time you want.”
Before the incident with Chamberlain, Rivera was recounting his experience during Saturday’s stop on his farewell tour. The session was an emotional one for Rivera, who sat down for 30 minutes with several families, each of which had an extraordinary story.
One family lost its 10-year-old son in an accident at an airport back in March, while another had a 14-year-old son fighting cancer while trying to pitch for his school’s baseball team. A third family built a baseball field in its backyard with the help of the Dream Factory at the request of their wheelchair-bound son, providing a place for special-needs children to play baseball. “We came up with this idea, but I’ll tell you what, it’s something that every player should experience because it’s wonderful,” Rivera said. “The things you get from it, it will change your life.”
Rivera has met with different people at each stop, taking time to salute long-time stadium and club employees and local fans and others with their extraordinary stories.
“I just wanted to say thanks,” Rivera said. “I’m learning so much from this. I’m getting so much from this. It’s amazing.”