Strange ‘National Anthem Standoff’ Nearly Delays Yankees Game

A game within a game led to players from the New York Yankees and Cincinnati Reds standing on the sidelines long after the national anthem ended during their Fourth of July game at Yankee Stadium.

Yankee pitchers Ian Hamilton and Cody Poteet, both on the injured list, tried to wait out Cincinnati pitchers Graham Ashcraft and Carson Spiers during a “national anthem standoff,” the object of which is to be the last player to go into the dugout, according to the New York Post.

The standoff lasted so long that all four remained as Yankees players took the field for the start of the game, pitcher Marcus Stroman warmed up, and home-plate umpire Alan Porter indicated the stunt had lasted long enough. A prompt from the third base umpire also did little to end the standoff.

Looks like we have a July 4th national anthem stand-off going on here between the #Yankees and #Reds… pic.twitter.com/IypDpi9iJm

— Max Goodman (@MaxTGoodman) July 4, 2024

Spiers went into the dugout moments before Yankees manager Aaron Boone summoned his players to avoid the start of the game being delayed. That left Ashcraft the winner.

Poteet said the contest erupted spontaneously after the pre-game ceremonies.

“It wasn’t a normal anthem, since they had the color guard, so we were standing there a little extra anyway. We noticed they were still standing, so we wanted to see who could outlast each other. We took it all the way to the last bit, close to the game starting. Just a little fun,” he said.

“It’s a little competition within the game. It’s probably the first one I’ve been a part of,” he said.

“It wasn’t even planned,” Ashcraft said, according to the New York Post.

Graham Ashcraft and the @Reds win the standoff! 😅 pic.twitter.com/UhcApBnxJv

— MLB (@MLB) July 4, 2024

“All of us we’re glancing over. We saw they weren’t moving. One of the guys told Carson to stay. I was like, ‘I’m staying with you because I’m not moving. I don’t have anything to do today.’ I’m staying until I win, get ejected or both.”

“If you’re going to win, you’ve got to win — right?” Ashcraft added.

Ashcraft had pitched Tuesday as the Reds defeated the Yankees 5-4, according to the Sporting News.

There were no ejections, leaving the participants more fortunate than Kutter Crawford of the Boston Red Sox and Matt Strahm of the Philadelphia Phillies who were each thrown out of a game last year when they indulged in a standoff, according to NBC.

Strahm, who played with Crawford during a stint with the Red Sox, said it was simply men being boys.

“Zero of it was planned. Just, (the) anthem was over, and I looked across and Kutter kind of gave me a grin, and I know exactly what that grin meant, so [I] just stood there,” Strahm said.

We have an old fashioned standoff between Kutter Crawford and @mattstrahm … pic.twitter.com/InglMFjufR

— Rob Bradford (@bradfo) May 6, 2023

“If you know me, you know competition is everything to me, so kind of felt like I was being called out right there. Looking back on it, probably not the wisest decision I’ve made in my big league career,” he said then.