• Sports
  • Baseball

Red Sox Third Baseman Pablo Sandoval Got Benched Over an In-Game Instagram

2 minute read

We’ve all done it: in a moment of down time, waiting for the train or between tasks at work, you pull out your phone and read e-mail, check Facebook, flip through Instagram, so habitually that it’s almost a reflex. It turns out that major league baseball players do it, too—but then they pay the price.

Boston Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval fell victim on Wednesday during his team’s 5-2 loss to Atlanta. While the game was in progress, Sandoval returned to the team’s clubhouse and “liked” a photograph on Instagram, ESPN reports.

MLB Standards and On-Field Operations Regulations include a rule prohibiting players (as well as personnel and clubhouse/equipment staff) from “using cellular phones, including any type of portable or mobile phone, laptop, texting device or similar portable equipment while on the bench, in the bullpens or on the playing field once batting practice has begun.” That precludes social media, of course.

Sandoval told ESPN that he had met with the team’s manager and general manager and apologized. “I know I f—ed up,” he said. “I’m a human being, I made a mistake, so I apologize to my teammates.”

He admitted to being aware of the rule against cellphone use during games but said, “I was in the bathroom, I pushed it at the wrong time. … I just grabbed my phone and checked it.”

Sandoval will return to the Red Sox line-up on Thursday, as the team faces off against the Kansas City Royals.

[ESPN]

These Are the Best iPhone Photos of 2015

Photographers of the Year iPhone Photography Awards. First place, Sounds of the old town.Michał Koralewski
Photographers of the Year iPhone Photography Awards. Second place, Cafe Birds.David Craik
Photographers of the Year iPhone Photography Awards. Third place, Before Sunset. Yi-Chieh Yvonne Lu
Nominated in the Children category, iPhone Photography Awards. Second place. Aung Pyae Soe
Nominated in the Travel category, iPhone Photography Awards. Second place.Robert Radesic
Nominated in the Others category, iPhone Photography Awards. First place.Jose Luis Saez Martinez
Nominated in the People category, iPhone Photography Awards. Second place. Jose Luis Barcia
Nominated in the News Events category, iPhone Photography Awards. Third place.Chen Chung Hung
Processed with VSCOcam with c1 preset
Nominated in the Flowers category, iPhone Photography Awards. First place.Amy Paterson
Nominated in the Food category, iPhone Photography Awards. First place.Xu Lin
Nominated in the Trees category, iPhone Photography Awards. First place.Ruairidh McGlynn
Processed with VSCOcam with g3 preset
Nominated in the Portrait category, iPhone Photography Awards. Second place. Alexander Vu
Nominated in the Landscape category, iPhone Photography Awards. Second place.Faisal Alateeqi
Nominated in the Still Life category, iPhone Photography Awards. First place.Cindy Buske
Nominated in the Seasons category, iPhone Photography Awards. Second place.Joshua Sarinana
Nominated in the Lifestyle category, iPhone Photography Awards. Third place.Cesar Bernardo
Nominated in the Architecture category, iPhone Photography Awards. First place.Christian Frank

More Must-Reads From TIME

Contact us at letters@time.com