The first fan to interfere with Mookie Betts last night has been identified as 38-year-old Connecticut resident Austin Capobianco.
He said the Yankees’ decision to prevent him from coming tonight 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.”
Capobianco is a longtime, diehard Yankees fan, according to the man’s college pal 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 told 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.”