DETROIT — The latest chapter of Jazz being Jazz has seemingly irked his manager more than the rest.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. spent the bottom of the fifth inning Monday night sucking on a green Blow Pop while playing second base in a game the Yankees began the frame trailing the Tigers 4-1.
Aaron Boone said Tuesday morning on his weekly podcast appearance with Talkin’ Yanks that it “piss[ed] me off,” even if he tried to downplay it by the time he arrived at Comerica Park.
“I was annoyed by it, I addressed it, let’s move on from it,” Boone said before the Yankees faced the Tigers. “At the end of the day, it’s not that big a deal.
“It just bothered me. It was addressed. I don’t think there’s any ill will. I don’t think that should be part of what we’re doing.”
Boone had a conversation with Chisholm about the lollipop episode, the specifics of which remained behind closed doors.
“We’re just gonna keep that private, guys,” Chisholm said to a group of reporters waiting for him as he walked off the field and into the dugout following pregame batting practice.
Among the accoutrements in the visiting dugout at Comerica Park were a box of Blow Pops, the lollipops with chewing gum in the middle, which is where Chisholm evidently got the candy not often seen between sunflower seeds and regular gum.
Jazz Chisholm and his green lollipop. @TalkinYanks/XBesides being a potential physical hazard if the ball had been hit to Chisholm or he was involved in a play (neither happened), it was a bad look with the Yankees on their way to a third straight loss, which Boone acknowledged.
“I just don’t think he should have had a lollipop out on the field,” said Boone, who did not know about it until after Monday’s game. “Nothing, more or less. Just wasn’t a good look to me.”
Chisholm often walks to the beat of his own drum, and the Yankees have encouraged him to show his personality since he arrived at the 2024 trade deadline. But he has sometimes tested the limits of that, with this saga marking the latest example where Boone has had to pull him in for a conversation.
Aaron Boone was none too pleased with his second baseman. AP Photo/Paul SancyaMonday was actually the second time this season Chisholm has been on the field while sucking a lollipop, also doing so while taking an at-bat against Red Sox lefty Ranger Suarez in the first inning of an April 22 game at Fenway Park, which Boone was not aware of until Tuesday. Chisholm flied out to left field in a game the Yankees won.
“You shouldn’t do that,” Boone said.
The 28-year-old Chisholm, a pending free agent, had a slow start to the season but was much better in May before a somewhat quieter June. After going 1-for-4 with two strikeouts Monday night, he entered Tuesday batting .226 with a .716 OPS, 11 home runs and 23 steals — on pace for 23 home runs and 48 steals, well short of his stated goal of 50-50 entering the season.
Since then, Chisholm has entered the spotlight this season for various reasons, ranging from the lighthearted (wearing Giancarlo Stanton’s pants and swinging Aaron Judge’s bat) to more serious (admitting he did not know the rule of whether a winning run scoring from third would count before he could turn a double play in a walk-off loss to the Rays, plus some brutal ABS challenges).
All of it comes against the backdrop of his uncertain future, with a long-term Yankees pact seeming unlikely.
“He got off to a really slow start and I think has definitely stabilized here the last month-plus,” Boone said. “But I expect a lot of him. I expect more. He should be one of the game’s better players. I still feel like he’s got that hot streak, that run in him to where he really plays super well. He’s capable of that and that’s my expectation for him.”
“The reality is Jazz has started to really play well the last couple months, but there’s a lot more in there too.”






