Two New York Yankees fans who were kicked out of Game 4 of the World Series for interfering with Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts have been banned from attending Game 5 on Wednesday night.
During the first inning on Tuesday night, Betts jumped at the retaining wall to catch a pop fly from Gleyber Torres. However, a fan in a gray Yankees jersey grabbed Betts’ glove with both hands and pulled the ball out. Another fan also grabbed Betts’ bare hand.
“Not good. There’s no place for that. It’s as simple as that,” said New York manager Aaron Boone on Wednesday. “Come here, cheer, root for your team, whatever. No place for that. Should never have hands on anyone.”
The Yankees called the fans’ actions “egregious and unacceptable.” The team mentioned that the fans involved are season-ticket holders, and they gave their Game 5 tickets to Calvin Young, a pediatric cancer patient from New Jersey, along with his family.
Fifteen-year-old Young missed a kids-only news conference at the ballpark in September for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. This World Series game is his first postseason appearance at Yankee Stadium, according to the team.
“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 team stated. “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 Major League Baseball Players Association also raised concerns about player safety and security.
“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.
Los Angeles left fielder Teoscar Hernández said he wasn’t worried about anything on Wednesday night.
“I’ve played here for six years against the Yankees, and I never see anything go wrong with the opposite team,” he said.
“Fans know they cannot do that, what that fan did last night,” Hernández added. “It happens, but unfortunately for him, he’s going to be thinking about that play last night for a long time. … I’ve never seen anything like it, but now that I see pictures and videos and all that stuff, it’s a little crazy.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he believes his players are not concerned about their safety at Yankee Stadium and thinks banning the fans involved was the right decision.
“If there’s one player that I don’t think is worried, it would be Mookie, given that he played a lot of games in this ballpark with rival Boston. It was just an unfortunate circumstance.
I’m glad it was dealt with the right way, and we can move on to tonight,” Roberts said. “As I understand it, they got booted. We didn’t need them to be here, so they refunded their tickets. So that’s perfect, right?”
When the play happened, the Dodgers were ahead by two runs thanks to Freddie Freeman’s two-run homer.
“I saw it. It was maybe one of the more extreme — kind of trying to rip a ball out. But at the same time, that’s kind of New York. I feel like that’s what you expect out here. You expect some unique things,” Yankees left fielder Alex Verdugo said Wednesday.
“At the end of the day, I didn’t feel it was too serious. I think Mookie kind of shook it off, too. That’s just kind of the passion, I guess, New Yorkers have.”
Betts reacted angrily at first, but he calmed down when umpires quickly called Torres out for fan interference.
“That was wild,” Betts said after the Dodgers won Game 5 to clinch the World Series. “I’ve never experienced anything like that. I was telling my wife, that was like the second time in my life I ever wanted to fight someone. I get it man. I get it. I don’t know what he was really trying to do. But he had to do what he had to do. And it is what it is.”
Three years ago, Verdugo was in the outfield for the Red Sox when a ball thrown from the left-field seats at Yankee Stadium hit him in the back. He wasn’t hurt.
Boston manager Alex Cora briefly took his team off the field that night, and the fan who threw the ball was banned for life from major league games.
The following season, fans in the rowdy right-field bleachers at Yankee Stadium threw bottles, cans, and other debris at Cleveland Guardians outfielders after New York won in a dramatic finish.
Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and other Yankees players rushed to the outfield fence, trying to calm the crowd.
Just moments before, Guardians outfielder Myles Straw had climbed the chain-link fence in left field to confront at least one fan directly, while another fan nearby made an offensive gesture.
Cleveland players were upset because they believed a fan was celebrating an injury to Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan, who had just collided hard with the wall while chasing a tying double.
Straw called Yankees fans the “worst fan base on the planet” and the next day, he was met with chants of “Crybaby!” from the famous Bleacher Creatures in the Bronx. The Yankees announced that they would increase security in the stands that day.
In this World Series, Torres has had two at-bats affected by fan interference. In Game 1 at Dodger Stadium, with two outs in the ninth inning, he hit a fly ball to left field, and a fan reached over the fence and caught the ball. Torres was awarded a double.
On Tuesday night, Torres hit a three-run homer to right field in the eighth inning.
