VIDEO: Jon Hein Has Major League Issues With One of Baseball’s New COVID-19 Rules

Stern Show staffer swings for the fences with criticism of cardboard cutouts filling the stands during the pandemic

July 22, 2020

Sports fans across the country are dusting off their mitts this week and stocking up Cracker Jacks in anticipation of baseball’s Opening Day. Stern Show staffer Jon Hein is certainly excited but on Wednesday, the fast-food enthusiast and “Hit ‘em With the Hein” muse revealed he was unhappy with one of the changes MLB implemented as a result of the coronavirus concerns. While he appreciated players social distancing in the dugouts and some umpires wearing masks on the field, he was less than thrilled with the idea of stadiums filling seats with cardboard cutouts instead of actual fans.

“You turn on the game and you just see these cardboard cutouts sitting behind the plate. It’s a bad look,” Jon bemoaned. “It’s like, we know the stadiums are empty. There’s no reason to be putting cutouts of dogs and cats or a likeness of yourself there to pretend like the fans are there.”

Though he’s not a fan of seeing fake fans in the bleachers, he apparently doesn’t mind hearing them. “The cool thing they’re doing is they’re pumping in crowd noise.”

“You think that’s cool?” co-host Robin Quivers asked in disbelief.

Silly though the cardboard cutouts may look, Howard saw the logic behind putting them in the stands. “I’ve seen what it looks like with an empty stadium. Maybe psychologically the cardboard cutout … gives it some energy just like the sound effects and stuff.”

Regardless, Howard was surprised to see Jon so animated over something so trivial. “I haven’t seen you this worked up since they cut the McDonald’s menu in half,” he concluded.