Hunter Dobbins found a bizarre way to insert himself into the storied Boston Red Sox-New York Yankees rivalry.
Before his Sunday start in the Bronx, Dobbins told the Boston Herald he would retire before playing for the Yankees. The rookie right-hander backed up his trash talk by leading the Red Sox to an 11-7 victory.
Where the story took an odd turn, however, is when Dobbins told the Herald that his father, Lance, was drafted by the Yankees twice and later traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks. He also claimed his dad and Yankees great Andy Pettitte were "really good friends."
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SIGN UP HERE A New York Post report seemingly debunked Dobbins' claims about his father, stating that Lance Dobbins does not appear as a Yankees draft pick for any season on Baseball Reference and that Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has no recollection of the Yankees ever drafting him. Pettitte told The Post's Joel Sherman that he doesn't remember a Lance Dobbins.
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That report has since made many headlines across Major League Baseball, and it left Dobbins addressing his alleged false claims before Wednesday's game against the Tampa Bay Rays.
“The whole back story, it was stuff that I had heard growing up and seen pictures of, from my dad,” Dobbins said. “At the end of the day, it’s just from my dad and what I kind of grew my love for the game. At the end of the day, I don’t go fact-check my dad or anything like that.”
Has Dobbins spoken to his father about the issue?
“A little bit, not really,” Dobbins answered. “My whole focus is on Saturday, getting ready to face the Yankees. This is my first time in the big leagues facing a team a second time, let alone back-to-back. So that’s where my focus is, 100 percent. I imagine we’ll talk in the future or something like that. It’s been a bigger deal than it really needed to be.”
It's a bizarre story all around, but it shouldn't affect the 25-year-old when he takes the mound on Saturday. The heckles should be minimal as he'll take on the first-place Yankees at Fenway Park.
Dobbins has a 4.20 ERA and 1.28 WHIP through his first 10 MLB appearances.