Shelley Duncan - Controversies

Controversies

Duncan was involved in some minor controversy on September 14, 2007, when, before the game between the Yankees and Red Sox at Fenway Park, Duncan wrote "Red Sox Suck!" along with his autograph on a 10-year-old Red Sox fan's (Griffin Whitman) notebook. Duncan later apologized to the boy's family, saying he got caught up in the excitement of the Yankees – Red Sox rivalry.

During a spring training game on March 12, 2008, leading off the 2nd inning in a spring training game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Duncan reached first on a fielding error by third-baseman Evan Longoria. However, he continued on to second, where second baseman Akinori Iwamura caught the ball well before Duncan arrived. Duncan slid, raising his left foot up and spiking Iwamura high and inside of his right thigh. Iwamura sustained a cut above his right knee but was otherwise fine, and made the tag regardless. Duncan was called out and ejected. Many believe that this was in response to Elliot Johnson's aggressive hit on Francisco Cervelli, which resulted in a broken wrist for the catcher. Shortly thereafter, as the Rays and Yankees benches cleared, Rays right fielder Jonny Gomes rushed Duncan and tried to body-block him, only to stumble and eventually be restrained. Gomes was also ejected, as were two of the Yankees' coaches, Bobby Meacham and Kevin Long. On March 14, Duncan and teammate Melky Cabrera both received three game suspensions for their parts in the incident. Rays outfielder Jonny Gomes was also suspended for his actions on the field. Each of these three players' suspensions was reduced one day in length after they decided to drop their appeal of the suspensions.