Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol says umpire C.B. Bucknor ‘has zero class’ after rejecting handshake

The feud between St. Louis Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol and referee C.C. Bucknor has been officially postponed to 2023.

The pair found themselves working the same field Saturday at the opening of the Cardinals’ spring training against the Washington Nationals, and it didn’t take long for the feud to come out. Marmol told reporters about this after the game, including Kathy Wu of The Athleticthat Bucknor turned down an offer of a handshake during a pre-match meeting between managers and referees.

The incident did little to improve Marmol’s opinion of Bucknor, one of the most maligned umpires in the league.

From Athletic:

The standoff between Marmol and Bucknor arose from an incident during a game between the Cardinals and the Arizona Diamondbacks on August 21 last year.

Bucknor, a home-court umpire, called the inside-court hit by Cardinals star Nolan Arenado. The challenge was bad enough to elicit instant on-air laughter and some muted criticism from Arenado, to which Bucknor responded by ejecting a third baseman furiously.

Soon Marmol came out and stood before the face of Bucknor. The referee began the argument with a smirk as Marmol angrily laid out his position before the altercation escalated into a head-to-head yelling fight that ended with another referee coaxing the manager out.

Clearly, Bucknor still bears some resentment from that day six months ago.

Marmol told reporters that the other three referees in Saturday’s game – Angel Hernandez, Carlos Torres and Ron Culpa – shook hands with him and apologized for their colleague’s behavior.

The Nationals won the game 3-2.