Scherzer gets checked for sticky stuff and chaos ensues, a breakdown
What Happened
On June 21, 2021, MLB's first day of enforcing in-game checks for foreign substances, Max Scherzer started for the Nationals against the Phillies and got inspected three separate times. He waved off the first two checks with sarcastic theatrics, then drew a third in the fourth inning after Phillies manager Joe Girardi complained to umpires that Scherzer kept rubbing his hand through his hair. Scherzer came up clean every time, gesturing at his sweaty, thinning hair as the only thing umpires would find. The night ended with Girardi getting ejected for arguing, partly over a yelling match that involved Nationals coach Kevin Long, a former Girardi colleague from their Yankees days.
Why This Matters
This was day one of MLB's mid-2021 crackdown on sticky substances like Spider Tack, which had inflated spin rates across the league. Pitchers now faced random and manager-requested checks, with a 10-game suspension for getting caught. Scherzer's spin rate was reportedly down that night, which actually argued he wasn't using anything, yet he still got flagged three times. The episode showed how messy the new rules would be in practice: opposing managers could weaponize checks to rattle a pitcher and break his rhythm. Girardi's gambit backfired into an ejection. Scherzer, a future Hall of Famer in the middle of his Nationals tenure before a deadline trade to the Dodgers weeks later, turned the whole thing into a performance. The crackdown stuck around and spin rates dropped league-wide.
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Key Moments
Who / What Is Involved
Players: Max Scherzer.
Key Terms Mentioned
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momenttoday was the first day mlb said we will
be checking pictures to make sure they
don't have sticky stuff
anywhere on their person and max
scherzer
gets his first check after the first
inning and he is excited
about it what do you want take a look i
don't care
take go ahead check what you need to
okay give me my damn glove
bye his spin rate was down a lot meaning
he
wasn't using something that he had
previously used
after the third inning they're gonna
check him again he's walking off he says
what
oh okay here you go take a look i don't
give a [ __ ] yeah i like being able to
hide my bald spot and now i can't do it
anymore but go ahead
check away have at it bye
so two checks he thinks he's out of the
woods but then
in the fourth inning he starts touching
his hat he starts touching his hat
he starts touching his hat Joe Girardi
opposing manager oh licks his fingers
not gonna lick your fingers if you got
gross stuff on there
he gets the strikeout Joe Girardi talks
to the umpires
and says hey that dude's rubbing his
head through his hair and i don't like
it Joe Girardi later went on to say i've
never seen Max Scherzer rub his hair
like that so
we had to check i didn't mean to offend
him that was his quote after the game
so the amps get together and they're
like let's check his hair and he's like
what are you guys talking about
oh come on again jordy's like this is
serious business and
shares was like are you serious really
you checked me twice already okay here
you go
here's my hat here's my belt here's my
pants i'm like come on stop stop stop
stop stop stop save that
for later he just wants us to touch your
head a little bit insurgent just tells
him i got
nothing he's like what do you want here
i got nothing
i got nothing i got nothing i got
nothing
i got nothing go ahead i want to touch
my hair
okay touch that's so creepy
these ups have to just rub up sweaty
thinning hair it's gross
this is disgusting
that's part of that ump's job now it's
that sucks
meanwhile Davey Martinez is yelling at
Joe Girardi saying that's [ __ ]
that's [ __ ] and jose
whoa what you're gonna yell at me okay
at least stand on the front step look
intimidating while you do it
so he does that and then it cuts back to
scherzer and he's on the mound like what
are you happy
nothing but sweat i got sweat
that's all i got up here happy about it
there you go
i don't know i don't know what's
happening out there
good question really good question
what's happening in baseball right now
anyway
he gets out of the fourth inning no
problem and then he's gonna go
out in the fifth inning and no one
checks on him that was his last check of
the game he gets a ground out
here to Bell for the first out he's
gonna get
a pop out to Bell there so he's testing
Bell both ways and then he's gonna get a
strikeout
strike one strike two strike three out
of the inning and now he's gonna walk
off the mound and then he's gonna turn
he's gonna look at Joe Girardi and just
give him a nice
long stare and Joe Girardi's like was he
just staring at me
are you guys staring at me i can go up
on the front step again if you want to
get a good look and he says yeah we were
staring at you a little bit
he was a coach
with Joe Girardi on the Yankees for a
long time they won a world series
together Kevin long got fired at one
point
joe jordan calls him k long and Kevin
long
is just going to start saying [ __ ]
[ __ ]
[ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ] you
so girardi here's Kevin long saying this
is old coach and he says well come on k
long come on let's go
you want to go k long come on and you
can hear the audio here a little bit for
those
those of you that want to hear it it's
very faint but
he calls him k long i remember that from
their time on the Yankees everyone
thought he was yelling at scherzer here
antagonizing a player and saying come on
to an opposing player but it was and it
was to the opposing coach on the other
side i don't know how much better that
makes it but it makes it a little better
girardi is hot
well you know you know he was staring
right up so as soon as jordy steps on
the field the umpires throw him out and
then they escort him out of there he's
ejected out of the game
scherzer never gets caught with any
substance and he says here check me
again
here you go you want to check me again
why don't you check my crazy eyes
there's my sweat there's my hair
i got my hat my glove and my hair ready
for you and then his coach on the
nationals like
is doing the classic uh hell yeah yeah
yeah hold me back oh hold me back oh boy
hold me back and cheers like i got it
all come look oh hold me back
ridiculous and that's what happened
tonight in the nationals game