Red Sox pitcher Hunter Dobbins accused of making "false claims" about father's time with Yankees

CBS News

a day ago

Red Sox pitcher Hunter Dobbins has some explaining to do, according to the New York Post. Dobbins created a stir over the weekend when he made his dislike of the Yankees organization crystal clear, stemming from his father's brief career with New York.
But Joel Sherman of the New York Post did a little digging, and has uncovered that Dobbins' father, Lance, never actually had a career with the Yankees.
You never know what's going to pop up in the famous Red Sox-Yankees rivalry. While the drama is usually on the diamond, this strange chapter is playing out on the Dobbins family tree.
Why Hunter Dobbins doesn't like the Yankees
Dobbins and his father grew up Red Sox fans, so their disdain for the Yankees needs no explanation. But ahead of his Sunday start against the Yankees in New York, Dobbins told the Boston Herald he'd retire before donning pinstripes, even if the Yankees were the last team to offer him a contract.
In the story, Dobbins said his father was drafted by the Yankees twice before he was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks. He also said his dad was good friends with former Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte, one of the few Yankees players the Dobbins family respects.
The Red Sox media guide does mention Lance Dobbins spending time with the Diamondbacks organization. But according to Sherman, the elder Dobbins was never drafted by the Yankees or a part of the franchise.
New York Post calls out Hunter Dobbins' claim
The New York media took umbrage with Dobbins' comments over the weekend, and Sherman looked into Lance's time with the Yankees. Sherman quickly found out that time did not exist.
"Dobbins' father, Lance, does not come up as a Yankee draft pick in any search of the team's selections on Baseball Reference from any single season," Sherman reported Tuesday. "Yankees GM Brian Cashman, who has been with the organization since the late 1980s, has no recollection of the Yankees drafting Lance Dobbins and said a check with the Yankees amateur department revealed no drafting of a Lance Dobbins."
When Sherman reached out to Pettitte, the former pitcher told him he and his family don't remember a Lance Dobbins, let alone being friends with him. The New York Post scribe also reached out to former Diamondbacks GM Joe Garagiola Jr. and former manager Buck Showalter, who had no memory of Lance Dobbins with the franchise.
Lance Dobbins has a page on Baseball Reference, but it only lists him pitching for two independent teams. Dobbins is listed as pitching for the Meridian Brakemen of the Big South League in 1996 and 1997, and the Ohio Valley Redcoats of the Frontier League in 1997. He has been a pitching coach/instructor since 2002, according to his profile on The Lab at Hustle 3. But the profile only mentions him being a scout and draft consultant for the Tampa Bay Rays, and makes no mention of the Yankees or the Diamondbacks.
From afar, it looks like Lance Dobbins did a little exaggerating when he told his son about his "professional" career. Fathers tend to embellish a bit when talking about the glory days of yesteryear with their kids, though a lot of times those tall tales can't be fact-checked.
That is not the case for the Dobbins family, who did not give a comment to Sherman for his story. Hunter Dobbins is expected to clear the air at Fenway Park on Wednesday, ahead of Boston's rubber match against the Rays.
Dobbins won't take the mound for Boston until Saturday, when he's set to make his second straight start against the Yankees.