Prior to Sunday’s game between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, nationally televised on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball, Boston’s rookie starting pitcher was quoted in a Boston Herald story saying that he would rather retire than sign a contract with the Yankees.
On Wednesday, however, an article in the New York Post tabloid accused Dobbins of telling “a series of lies” in his anti-Yankees story. Dobbins was made aware of the charges, according to a MassLive report, but on Wednesday morning said that he needed time before responding.
But meeting with the media in the Red Sox Fenway Park dugout prior to Wednesday’s Red Sox game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Dobbins offered his response.
What Did Dobbins Say to Cause Controversy?
First, the backstory.
Dobbins a 25-year-old from Bryan, Texas, who was a Red Sox eighth-round 2021 draft pick out of Texas Tech, most likely had little idea of the storm of controversy that his remarks would create. ESPN’s announcers on the telecast discussed them repeatedly, and even asked Yankees superstar Aaron Judge to respond to Dobbins’ remarks before the game.
Judge said he was “a little surprised” by Dobbins’ remarks, and Yankees third baseman Jazz Chisholm — interviewed while playing his position during the game by ESPN — remarked, “I love competitiveness. But to say that, being a rookie, is kind of crazy to me, to say that you’re going to rule out one out of 30 teams to be a professional athlete.”
In the Herald story, Dobbins explained why he felt such animosity toward the Yankees, saying that it stemmed from his father, Lance Dobbins, a “die hard Red Sox fan,” but one who had some experience with the Yankee organization.
“He was actually drafted twice by the Yankees,” Hunter Dobbins told Herald reporter Gabrielle Starr. “Signed with them his last year and then he got traded over to the Diamondbacks.”
Dobbins also said that his father was good friends with longtime Yankees lefty ace Andy Pettite.
New York Tabloid Accuses Dobbins of ‘Lies’
But the New York Post story alleged that those claims were false, that there was no evidence to show that Lance Dobbins was drafted by the Yankees, or that he played in the Arizona organization either.
The Post also called Pettite who, according to the report, said that he had no recollection of Lance Dobbins.
On Wednesday, Dobbins said that the controversy, “doesn’t faze me … my focus is performing for the guys here in the locker room, for the fans.”
“Doesn’t faze me … my focus is [on] performing for the guys here in the locker room, for the fans.”
Quoted by MassLive reporter Christopher Smith, Dobbins also said he was simply repeating what his father had told him.
“The whole backstory it’s something that I had heard growing up and seeing pictures of from my dad. At the end of the day, it’s just from my dad and what I kind of grew my love for the game,” Smith quoted Dobbins as saying. “At the end of the day I don’t go fact check my dad or anything like that.”
In the Sunday night game, Judge homered off Dobbins in the first inning and later admitted that he had the Red Sox rookie’s comments in mind when he entered the batter’s box to face him.
But when the game was over, Dobbins had the last laugh. The Red Sox defeated the first-place Yankees 11-7. Dobbins, who allowed three runs and four hits in five innings pitched, was credited as the winning pitcher.
Red Sox Rookie Pitcher Breaks Silence on New York Tabloid ‘False Claims’ Charge