Two New York Yankees fans were banned from Wednesday night's World Series game in the Bronx after they crossed into the field of play and interfered with Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts.
In the first inning of Game 4 on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium, Betts, in right field, sprinted into foul ground and caught a pop-up before a fan in a gray Yankees road jersey reached out and tried to rip the ball out of his glove.
Then another fan, in sunglasses and a pinstripe jersey, grabbed Betts’ right wrist as he tried to secure the ball and the glove on his left hand.
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The pair jarred the ball loose. But umpires immediately ruled Yankees batter Gleyber Torres out, and the front-row fans were kicked out.
A player and fans are allowed equal rights to a baseball when it's hit into the stands. But Betts had clearly caught the ball in the field of play when fans reached over to try to take it away.
“Last night two fans were ejected from Yankee Stadium for egregious and unacceptable physical contact with Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts," the Yankees said in a statement Wednesday. "The safety and security of players, fans and Stadium staff is the foundational element of every event held at Yankee Stadium, and it cannot be compromised."
The Yankees went on to win Game 4, 11-4, and stay alive in the best-of-seven series, that L.A. leads, 3-1.
Wednesday night's contest in the Bronx will be the Yankees' last home date of 2024.
"Tonight marks the final home game of year, and we want every ounce of our fans’ passion on display. Yankee Stadium is known for its energy and intensity, however the exuberance of supporting one’s team can never cross the line into intentionally putting players at physical risk," the club said.
"The Yankees and Major League Baseball maintain a zero-tolerance policy toward the type of behavior displayed last night. These fans will not be permitted to attend tonight’s game in any capacity.”
The first fan to interfere with Betts, Austin Capobianco, 38, of Connecticut, said the Yankees' action didn't surprise him.
"The banning to tonight’s game was kind of expected, but the fact my little brother and his friends can’t use our season tickets tonight has really pissed me off," he said in a text message. "It’s not like they can go to the next game."
It wasn't clear if this ban would extend past Wednesday night and into next season, which would start on March 27, 2025, Capobianco added.
"My friend and I may take a suspension or something," he said. "My family has been a lifelong season ticket holder and an amazing customer to the Yankees. I understand if I need to be punished, but revoking our tickets would be the most disappointing."
Capobianco’s Game 5 tickets were given to Calvin Young, a 15-year-old pediatric cancer patient who lives in New Jersey, and his family, the team said.
Capobianco is a college friend of Rob Gronkowski, the former Arizona Wildcats, New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end.
“He is all in for his teams; he is all in for the Yankees. I remember him talking about the Yankees all the time, how he loves them so much,” Gronkowski said on FanDuel TV’s “Up & Adams” show.
“He’s a fun dude. It is unacceptable, definitely, in the world of sports," Gronkowski said of the catch interference. "But when you're that big of a fan, that’s what fans do.”
The Major League Baseball Players Association said it was concerned about the incident and would closely monitor security efforts.
“As with every incident at the ballpark that affects players, we have been in regular contact with league security officials since last night’s incident and will be closely tracking both the response to that incident and the protective measures taken going forward, beginning tonight,” the union said in a statement.
Fan interference is surprisingly common in professional baseball, and it has played key roles in recent games and some of the sport's most notorious contests.
- In Game 1 of this series, Torres hit what looked like a go-ahead home run in the top of the ninth inning at Dodger Stadium. But umpires ruled, correctly, that a fan in the front row had reached over to catch the ball, and Torres was limited to a double. The Yankees didn't score, and the Dodgers won in 10 innings.
- In Game 1 of the 1996 American League championship series in the Bronx, Derek Jeter hit a tying home run in the bottom of the eighth inning against the Baltimore Orioles. Replays clearly showed that 12-year-old Jeffrey Maier reached into the field of play to help Jeter's ball over the fence. But umpires missed the call and awarded Jeter the home run in a game the Yankees would win in 11 innings before they eventually captured the World Series.
- And on Sept. 23, 1908, New York Giants fans stormed the Polo Grounds diamond after their team appeared to score a walk-off, ninth-inning win over the Chicago Cubs. But the invading fans prevented Giants base runner Fred Merkle from touching second base, leading to a force-out and wiping out New York's win. The blunder came to be known as "Merkle's Boner" as Chicago won a tiebreaking game with the Giants for the National League pennant two weeks later.
The Cubs would be on the bad end of a play that was close to being fan interference in 2003, when scapegoat Steve Bartman might have prevented Chicago left fielder Moisés Alou from making a spectacular catch in Game 6 of the NLCS.
Cubs fans wrongly blamed Bartman, who appeared to be on his side of the rail, for the play, which keyed a game-winning Florida rally as the Marlins went on win the National League pennant and the World Series that fall.
