Want to see something really gross? Then you should have been watching the American League Wild Card series between the Detroit Tigers and Houston Astros. That's where umpire Alfonso Marquez, who was working second base during Game 2, was outfitted with a camera in the middle of his chest.
Meant to give viewers a closer look at some of the closest plays, ESPN made the mistake of cutting to the ump cam just as Marquez was spitting a big ol' spit.
Since smokeless tobacco is substance non grata in MLB these days, we'll assume it wasn't a brick of chewing tobacco seen between his clenched teeth a second earlier. Nicotine, coffee, whatever it was... it was gross and it was used to show off what technology is capable of in 2024.
Glad they set us up Ump Cam so we can see a guy chewing on what looks like a dog turd spit from a first person view pic.twitter.com/Gj1DprIHVX
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) October 2, 2024
To think just a few short years ago when guys would spit and the game wasn't televised we would have to wait and read about it in the box score the next day.
Finally, here's a fun bit of related trivia. If you Google "what do umpires chew" or some variation the top result is a Reddit page showing Marquez with a very puffy cheek from a game in 2015.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as ESPN Umpire Camera Provides Live POV Shot of Big Juicy Chew Spit.