MLBWeird But True

Baseball Managers Will Be Able To Bring Interpreters To The Mound Starting This Season

Though the large majority of baseball players are native English speakers, or at the very least passable in English as a second language, the growing globalization of Major League Baseball means dugouts are filled with foreign tongues. We’re thinking of guys like Yu Darvish, who still haven’t quite mastered English all that well yet. But nearly every MLB manager is American and not bilingual, therefore hindering possible on-field communication.

According to ESPN’s Jayson Stark, owners approved a rule change last week allowing managers and coaches to approach the mound with an interpreter. A lot of people in the ESPN story comment section are hooping and hollering about learning English and ‘MERICA! and what not, but we’re probably at the point where this change is necessary – even if it supports a small minority of players, better that they, you know, understand managerial instructions.

[ESPN]

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