Jazz Chisholm Jr. has swung José Caballero and Aaron Judge’s bats. He has stolen Trent Grisham and Giancarlo Stanton’s pants. He has even said that he might take his teammates’ undershirts.
But the Yankees’ second baseman said that he will not ask any of his peers to borrow a cup, the protective device that some ballplayers use to guard their family jewels.
“I’m not asking anyone to use nothing,” Chisholm insisted Friday, “because I’m not wearing a cup.”
At this point, you may be thinking, What the hell is Chisholm talking about, how did such a subject come up, and what on earth is this story about?
If so, you probably missed the Yankees’ game against the White Sox on Thursday, which saw Chisholm exit in the fourth inning after fouling a ball off his own, defenseless cojones. Even as Chisholm spent several minutes on the ground writhing in pain, a few of his teammates, including Judge, Grisham and Clarke Schmidt, couldn’t help but smirk at his misfortune. Meanwhile, Aaron Boone stood by with the same type of facial expression a father makes when their kid does something foolish.
He even blew a bubble with his gum as a trainer tended to the distressed Chisholm.
“Well, there wasn’t much I was gonna be able to do,” Boone, eliciting laughter, said before a reporter showed him a picture of the moment, which belongs in the Louvre. “I was just kind of waiting to see if it was gonna subside. Obviously, it didn’t. But the trainer was down in there, and I didn’t want to get down in there, and it was time to blow bubbles.
“It wasn’t disrespect to Jazz and the pain he was experiencing, for sure.”
Pops was over here cryin the whole time 😭 pic.twitter.com/wGqNHz5ZFV
— Positive Yankee Fan (@PositiveYankees) June 19, 2026
Fortunately for the Yankees and the ballplayer, Chisholm avoided serious injury, felt better after icing, and was back in the Bombers’ lineup for Friday’s 5-0 win over the Reds, which featured a career-high 13 strikeouts and six scoreless innings from Cam Schlittler. Always candid, Chisholm had no problem talking about his self-inflicted nut shot before hitting a solo homer, his 11th of the year, in the second inning and stealing a base in the eighth.
“A million,” Chisholm said of the level of pain he experienced Thursday night. “If you ever got hit in the testicles, you would know.”
And yet, Chisholm repeatedly said “hell no” when asked if he’ll wear a cup moving forward. He never has, and he doesn’t see why he would start now.
“I’ve never worn a cup,” Chisholm said. “I’ve never got hit in the balls. Hell no, I’m not gonna change, cause that was an unlucky instance right there.
“It was mandatory in the minor leagues, and I still never wore it. I’m just not a cup guy!”
Told of Chisholm’s stubbornness, a few Yankees seemed baffled while contributing to what was a humorous session of pregame media availability.
“You gotta always protect the McNuggets,” catcher J.C. Escarra said, making a reference to Adam Sandler’s The Longest Yard.
Boone added that he wore his cup at all times during his 12 years as a player.
“In December, going to hit soft toss, I put a cup on, OK?” the former third baseman said. “That’s the difference between this generation and my generation. I did nothing without a cup, baseball related. I think the first time I heard Adrian Beltré didn’t wear a cup at third, it blew my mind. But now, I know a lot of these guys don’t wear cups.
“Literally, if we were going out for team pictures, and I was getting dressed, I’d be like, ‘Hold on, I gotta put my cup on.’ So it’s just that it’s different now. They’re playing on some pretty nice fields.”
Boone, who does not feel the need to shield his sack when managing, said that he will not perform cup checks on Yankees players moving forward.
“Not my department,” he said, knowing that nether-regional taps with a bat would likely cause discomfort.
Maybe doing that would teach Chisholm a lesson, but he explained that he’s never felt the need to wear a cup because he believes in himself as a defender. Never mind that he took a below-the-belt shot in the batter’s box on Thursday, or that he made a throwing error on Friday.
“I mean, if you trust yourself, I guess, yeah,” Chisholm said when questioned if it’s common for infielders to not wear cups. “I’ve never had the reason to wear one. Now I have a reason to wear one, but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna wear one.”
He did say that poor defenders may want to take a different approach.
“If you don’t trust your hands, I recommend you wear a cup,” Chisholm said. “I feel like it’s more defensively that you would wear a cup than hitting, but at the same time, I just never thought about wearing a cup.”
That lack of consideration bit Chisholm in the ass crotch on Thursday. Thankfully, he came away relatively unscathed.
Asked if any teammates gave him crap about what ultimately turned into an amusing matter, he said, “Not really.”
“They just was asking me how my balls felt,” Chisholm said.
