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 Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts.
In the first inning of Game 4 on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium, Betts sprinted into foul ground and caught a popup before a fan in a gray Yankees road jersey reached out and tried ripping the ball out of the right fielder’s glove.
Then another fan, in sunglasses and a pinstripe jersey, grabbed Betts’ right wrist as the player tried to secure the ball and glove on his left hand.
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 taking 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 on 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 Game 5 is set for 8:08 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
Los Angeles leads the best-of-7 series, 3-1, and 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,” according to the club.
“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, 38-year-old Connecticut resident Austin Capobianco, 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 to NBC News. “It’s not like they can go to the next game.”
Fan interference is surprisingly common in professional baseball and has played key roles in recent games and some of the sport’s most infamous contests.
- In Game 1 of this series, Torres hit what looked like a go-head 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 score-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 eventually capturing the World Series.
- And back 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 those invading fans prevented Giants baserunner Fred Merkle from touching second base, thus leading to a force out and wiping our New York’s win. The Cubs won a tie-breaking 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 that play that keyed a game-winning Florida Marlins rally as they went on win the National League flag and World Series that fall.