Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Zach Eflin has refused to take off his wedding ring while playing despite being threatened with ejection after being made to remove it against the Pittsburgh Pirates last Thursday.
Eflin took off the ring against the Pirates last time out but intends to stand firm on Tuesday against the Baltimore Orioles. "We’ll see how the umpire crew is," Eflin said Monday, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
"I’m going to wear it. I don’t think I’m ever really going to take it off because they want me to take it off. If they asked me to take it off, because they’re going to eject me out of the game, then I’ll take it off.
"But like I keep telling everybody, it’s important to me. It’s my representation of the covenant I have with my wife. So if other people have problems with that, and then so be it... If they’re really coming after me for a rubber wedding ring, then I think they have their head in the wrong spot."
In the MLB, pitchers are not allowed to have jewellery on their hands, but Eflin insists his ring is on his glove hand - not his throwing hand. "It’s on my glove hand and I never really use both my hands to rub down the ball," he said.
"So you don’t really even see it when I’m out there anyway. So the only time they really see it is if we’re in a very cold game, or when I’m getting checked (by the umpires) off to the side."
Eflin's ring signifies his marriage to long-time partner Lauren Dennen, who is the mother to their three children Ashton and newborn twins Austen Renae and Hallie Laine.
The married couple grew up in Oviedo, Florida, and even put rivalries aside to get together, having gone to rival high schools.
Eflin is 4-0 with an ERA of 2.25 through five starts during the 2023 MLB season and the Rays are top of the American League East with an impressive record of 27-9.
