The Dodgers-Yankees rivalry is one of the most famous in sports, but nothing will ever justify fans interfering with the game and harming players. Two Yankee fans didn’t get that message, and people were furious.
On Tuesday, October 29th, during the bottom of the first inning of Game 4 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium, two fans grabbed Mookie Betts, tried to take his glove off, and wouldn’t let him go. It happened on Gleyber Torres’ pop fly that drifted into foul territory. Betts leapt up and caught the ball in foul territory, but his arm didn’t come down. Austin Capobianco, a fan in the first row, grabbed Betts’ glove with both hands and pulled and hit the ball until it came out. Capobianco’s friend, John Peter, then grabbed Betts’ non-glove hand and pulled on it hard. Mookie had to keep jumping up as he couldn’t stand with his arm in the crowd, and he is lucky they didn’t hurt his shoulder. Betts is normally a very calm player, but he reacted angrily, rightfully so. Gleyber Torres was immediately ruled out by right-field umpire Mark Carlson on fan interference.
Both Capobianco and Betts were asked about the incident after the game, which Capobianco and Peter were ejected from. Capobianco said at a local bar after the game,”We always joke about the ball in our area, we’re not going to go out of our way to attack. If it’s in our area, we’re going to ‘D’ up. Someone defends, someone knocks the ball. We talk about it. We’re willing to do this.” Except, he did attack. If someone did that to you in the street, that’s an attack, and just because you do it in a stadium doesn’t make it okay, and it doesn’t help the team. He clearly knew he messed up because he also said to ESPN, “I know when I’m in the wrong and as soon as I did it, I was like, ‘Boys I’m out of here,’ I patrol that wall and they know that.” He doesn’t seem very remorseful, but at least he wasted a ticket that cost over a thousand dollars, only getting to see 4 outs. While Capobianco and Peter were escorted out of Yankee Stadium for the remainder of Game 4, they said were told that they would be allowed back for Game 5 on Wednesday. However, the Yankees and Major League Baseball came out with a statement calling the behavior egregious and unacceptable, and that they would not be allowed back for Game 5. Much to my disappointment, they have been refunded for their Game 5 tickets.
Mookie completely downplayed the incident after the game, being the bigger person, saying “When it comes to the person in play, it doesn’t matter, we lost. It’s irrelevant. I’m fine. He’s fine. Everything’s cool. We lost the game and that’s what I’m kind of focused on. We got to turn the page and get ready for tomorrow.” Once the Dodgers won the series the next night, Mookie revealed a bit more honestly about how he felt, saying, “That was really wild. I have never experienced anything like that. I was telling my wife that was like the second time in my life I’ve ever wanted to fight someone. But I get it, man. I get it. I don’t know if he was trying to get the ball, or what he was really trying to do. But he had to do what he had to do. It is what it is.”
While this incident was extremely unfortunate, it does have a bright side. The Yankees gave the fans’ tickets for Game 5 to a pediatric cancer patient and his family. Calvin Young, who is just 15, was one of 80 children from families battling pediatric cancer invited to a “Kids Only” press conference at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 13 where players answered questions. However, that day, when walking from his car to the stadium, Young became very weak and ill and couldn’t attend the press conference or the game. He was readmitted to a hospital and had surgery. Yankees’ player Anthony Rizzo sent a video letting him know that they would love to have him at the stadium when he is able to. He attended Game 5 with his mother and his two brothers. Those 2 fans may have done a horrible thing, but it did provide the chance for Calvin to go to a game, making good out of the bad.
