Sources: MLB says Bucknor-Marmol spat is over

Major League Baseball officials expect C.B. Bucknor and Oliver Marmol to move forward without further incident, sources told ESPN’s Buster Olney, after talking with both parties about what occurred Saturday, when the veteran umpire refused to shake the St. Louis Cardinals manager’s hand.

MLB has reviewed the incident for the past three days but considers the matter settled as of Tuesday, sources told Olney.

Bucknor and Marmol did eventually shake hands before Monday’s spring training game between the Cardinals and New York Mets.

The bad blood between the two dates back to last season, when Bucknor ejected Marmol from a game in August after a disputed strike call to Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado.

During their argument following Bucknor’s ejection of Marmol, Marmol appeared to tell Bucknor that his time in the sport was done, and Bucknor yelled back that Marmol, relatively new to his position as St. Louis manager, had just gotten to the big leagues.

On Saturday, Marmol went to home plate for the exchange of lineup cards, and according to Marmol, Bucknor would not shake his hand. The other umpires — Ron Kulpa, Angel Hernandez and Carlos Torres — did shake Marmol’s hand. According to Marmol, others apologized for Bucknor’s refusal.

Bucknor, 60, has been a major league umpire since 1996. Marmol, 36, became the Cardinals’ first-base coach in 2017 and was hired as St. Louis manager after the 2021 season.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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