“I got hit harder in football,” said Judge, who played the sport in high school.

Left fielder Brett Gardner, the longest-tenured Yankee, said it was unusual not to have Girardi camped over the dugout railing.

“This is my 10th year, and I’ve played in I don’t know how many games and he’s been there for every one,” Gardner said. “But I felt like we played the game the same way.”

The only noticeable difference may have been Thomson’s decision not to use Gary Sanchez as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning. Girardi rarely plays for tomorrow — he even used pitcher Bryan Mitchell at first base to try to win a game this season. But Thomson told Sanchez before the game that he was unlikely to play given that the Yankees were just beginning a stretch of 20 consecutive games without a day off.

Girardi’s absence had been planned for months, but was kept quiet until about two and a half hours before the game.

Professional athletes and coaches can often feel torn by decisions like Girardi’s. They weigh the obligations presented by their families and their jobs, but they can also be influenced by the large salaries they are paid and the public arena in which they perform.

When Daniel Murphy, then with the Mets, missed three games at the start of the 2014 season to be with his wife for the birth of their child, he was criticized on social media by some Mets fans and over the radio by the sports personality Mike Francesa, who suggested “you can hire a nurse to take care of the baby if your wife needs help.”