Former MLB executive David Samson believes that Travis Kelce’s relationship with Taylor Swift helped prevent him from getting disciplined for his outburst at Chiefs head coach Andy Reid.
During the second quarter of Super Bowl 2024, Kelce berated and physically bumped Reid on the sidelines for removing him from the game for a play on which running back Isiah Pacheco ultimately fumbled.
Speaking on the “Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz,” Samson, the former president of the Marlins and executive vice president of the Expos, said if this happened on a team he presided over the player would have been punished.
Samson said that CBS and the Chiefs didn’t want to “ruffle any feathers” with Swift, and that gave Kelce an “out” to not face discipline.
“I would have benched him,” Samson said, as covered by Awful Announcing. “One series.”
Le Batard, pushed back, saying he didn’t think Samson would remove a star player from a championship game.
“If a baseball player attacks a manager physically during a game, you don’t think he’s taken out of the game?” Samson continued.
“I’m not out of my mind because you’ve got a team of 50-plus players who are watching what Travis Kelce did and saying, ‘Oh, I guess he can do that.’ It’s not as though Kelce’s not being treated differently already with all of the ridiculousness around Taylor Swift.”
He also spoke about how the Marlins benched star catcher Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez during the 2003 regular season when he was an executive with the team.
“I should have benched him for the game,” Samson added. “What he did is inexcusable and no one talks about it ’cause no one wants to upset Taylor. It’s a joke.”
After defeating the Niners in the Super Bowl, Reid sidestepped questions about Kelce’s outburst.
“He caught me when I wasn’t looking,” Reid told ESPN after the game.
“He didn’t know I was going to go that far. Then he came over and gave me a hug and said ‘Sorry about that.’ But he just wants to be on the field and he wants to play. There’s nobody I get better than I get him.
“He’s a competitive kid and he loves to play and he makes me feel young, but my balance is terrible.”
On his “New Heights” podcast with his brother, longtime Eagles center Jason Kelce, Travis Kelce admitted that he crossed the line.
“I can’t get that fired up to the point where I’m bumping coach and getting him off balance,” Travis said. “When he stumbled, I was just like, ‘Oh s–-t’ in my head.”