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Handsy fans disrupted a World Series game. Here are 5 notable MLB interference cases
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Two New York Yankees fans were kicked out of Game 4 of the World Series and have been banned from Game 5 after one tried to yank the ball out of the glove — and the glove off the hand — of a Los Angeles Dodgers player.
The startling moment happened toward the bottom of the first inning on Tuesday night, as the Dodgers were on the field with a two-run lead. Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts leaped at the corner wall to try to catch a pop-up foul, stretching his arm into the stands.
Two Yankees fans in the first row seized him: One grabbed Betts’ glove and tried to rip the ball out; the other gripped his ungloved wrist as Betts tried to fight back.
“Betts has that ball in his glove, and this fan literally tries to take his glove off,” exclaimed one of the FOX Sports commentators. “Pries the ball out of there — A for effort.”
The Yankees’ batter was called out on fan interference, and the two men at fault were escorted out of Yankee Stadium to loud boos and cheers. The Yankees went on to win their first game of the series 11-4, saving themselves from elimination.
On Wednesday, the Yankees said the two men had been ejected for "egregious and unacceptable physical contact" with Betts and added that they "will not be permitted to attend tonight’s game in any capacity.” The MLB later announced it had given their tickets, and some more in the same section, to a 15-year-old pediatric cancer patient and his family.
"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 said.
Betts downplayed the incident when asked about it afterward, telling reporters, “It doesn't matter.”
“We lost, it’s irrelevant,” he told reporters. “I’m fine, he’s fine, everything’s cool. We lost the game, that’s what I’m kind of focused on, turn the page and get ready for tomorrow.”
The moment was alternately upsetting and entertaining to many baseball fans, who flooded social media with memes and criticisms. Many agreed the sheer brazenness of the Yankees fans was unparalleled, at least in recent memory.
“I’ve seen people go for baseballs before ... in my 40-odd years of broadcasting baseball, I’ve never seen that,” said an audibly stunned John Sterling, the legendary Yankees radio commentator who came out of retirement for the playoffs.
Still, there have been plenty of other dramatic moments of spectator interference in Major League Baseball over the years. Here are five of the most notable:
1996: A preteen gives Derek Jeter an assist
During Game 1 of the 1996 American League Championship Series (ALCS), the New York Yankees were trailing by a run at the bottom of the eighth inning when rookie Derek Jeter hit a deep fly ball.
Baltimore Orioles right fielder Tony Tarasco ran to the wall and jumped up, reaching for the ball. But it ended up in the outstretched glove of a Yankees fan in the stands above him: 12-year-old Jeffrey Maier.
“I remember seeing the ball go up into the air,” Maier wrote in a 2014 Bleacher Report retrospective. “My next memory is being on the bottom of a large pileup in search of the ball, which, despite Orioles right fielder Tony Tarasco’s claims, had been signaled a home run.”
Tarasco and other Orioles players and coaches tried unsuccessfully to challenge the umpire’s call. But the home run stood, and Maier was even allowed to take the ball home.
“Like any 12-year-old attending his or her first Yankees playoff game, I was sure to bring my glove, and I crossed my fingers that two things would happen:Ffirst, that the Yankees would win; and of secondary importance, that I might bring home a souvenir, game-used baseball," he reflected.
Both dreams came true: The Yankees went on to win the game and the series.
Maier wrote that he has gotten much public attention — and criticism — throughout his life as a result of that day in 1996, but that it has all shaped who he is and he wouldn’t have done anything differently.
Maier, who himself played college baseball, noted that he happened to meet Tarasco at a baseball camp years after the incident. He said the two had a nice conversation and that “he made it clear to me that he did not begrudge a young boy for wanting to catch a ball at a game.”
2003: Steve Bartman and the Cubs' curse
The most famous name in MLB fan interference may be Steve Bartman, a Chicago Cubs fan whom many blamed at the time for their failure to make it to the 2003 World Series.
A quick refresher: The Cubs hadn’t appeared in a World Series since 1945, when they were supposedly put under the superstitious “Curse of the Billy Goat.”
But they did make it to the National League Championship Series in 2003. By Game 6, against the Florida Marlins, the Cubs were 3-2 in the best-of-seven series and just five outs away from the long-awaited championships.
In the eighth inning, Cubs outfielder Moises Alou tried to catch a pop-up fly against the wall in left field. Fans in the stands overhead, including Bartman, also reached for it, and Bartman’s attempt ended up tipping it away from Alou’s glove and into the seats. The Cubs argued for fan interference, but the umpire ruled otherwise.
Chicago went on to allow eight runs in the inning, losing that game 8-3. They lost their next game the following day and were eliminated from the series. And while the Cubs defended Bartman, fans blamed and vilified him.
He was quickly escorted from the stadium, covering his face, but his personal information was shared online and he reportedly had to go into hiding. Bartman and his family received death threats, and then-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush even offered him asylum in the state.
Bartman said in an apologetic statement at the time that he was so focused on the ball that he didn’t see Alou, and that “had I seen Alou approaching, I would have done whatever I could to get out of the way and give Alou a chance to make the catch.”
He kept a low profile in the years that followed and declined all offers to make money off the incident, including turning down a $25,000 offer to autograph a photo of it. He also turned down invitations to appear publicly when the Cubs finally made it to — and won — the World Series in 2016.
The Cubs gifted Bartman a World Series championship ring in 2017, which they said they hoped would provide “closure on an unfortunate chapter,” even as they acknowledged that “no gesture can fully lift the public burden he has endured for more than a decade.”
Bartman said in a statement that he was honored to accept the ring as a symbol not only of “one of the most historic achievements in sports, but as an important reminder for how we should treat each other in today’s society.”
“I am happy to be reunited with the Cubs family and positively moving forward with my life,” he said, adding that he hoped the gesture would be “the start of an important healing and reconciliation process for all involved.”
For those wondering what became of the infamous Bartman ball: The man who picked it up from the stands auctioned it off for more than $113,000 to Grant DePorter, the manager of the Harry Caray Restaurant.
A year later, the restaurant had a Hollywood special-effects expert detonate the ball on live TV after giving it a last meal of steak, lobster and beer. In 2005, the restaurant soaked the remnants of the ball in Budweiser and vodka to make a “curse-ending sauce,” which it served over spaghetti to over 740 Cubs fans to benefit juvenile diabetes research.
2005: Did a Red Sox fan slug a Yankee?
One iconic moment in the long-running Yankees-Red Sox rivalry was the April 2005 on-field scuffle between Yankees outfielder Gary Sheffield and a Boston fan.
The confrontation happened in the eighth inning of a game at Fenway Park, as Sheffield went after a fly ball headed for the stands. A Red Sox fan reached over the wall and “swung a short uppercut in his direction, appearing to graze the side of the slugger's face with his right arm,” ESPN reported at the time.
“Something hit me in the mouth. It felt like a hand,” Sheffield said afterward. "I thought my lip was busted."
Another fan appeared to toss beer on Sheffield during the incident, the Washington Post reported.
Sheffield picked up the ball and threw it back into the infield, though not before shoving the fan who punched him. He then turned back around with a cocked fist but ultimately showed restraint. The two were separated by a security guard who quickly jumped over the wall.
"It could have been worse if I didn't hold my composure," Sheffield said later. "I almost snapped, but the thing is I thought about the consequences."
The man — who was later identified as Chris House — was ejected from the game but not arrested. After an investigation, House, who denied punching Sheffield, lost his 2005 season tickets but was not barred from attending games.
2015: A fan caught a ball while feeding a baby
At a June 2015 Cubs-Dodgers game, one of the balls ended up in the free hand of a spectator who was holding a baby at the same time.
Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez was trying to catch a foul pop-up headed toward the stands at Wrigley Field. He leaned over the short wall with his glove outstretched, reaching for the ball.
But he was thwarted by a fan who simply tilted forward and caught it with one hand — while the other was cradling a baby who was drinking from a bottle.
The play was originally ruled a foul ball but was labeled fan interference after the Dodgers challenged the call.
Keith Hartley, the man who caught the ball, later told ESPN he was trying to protect his 7-month-old son, Isaac.
“I didn't want it to hit the ledge and hit him, so I wanted to make first contact, I think,” he said.
He also earned praise from then-Cubs manager Joe Maddon, who said, “It looked like he did it before.”
“That was really a great play, a great play,” Maddon. “There was some levity involved for the entire audience."
2018: Fan interference worked in Betts’ favor on his old team
This week’s fan interference incident wasn’t Betts’ first — he had a notable run-in with spectators during a 2018 game when he played in right field for the Boston Red Sox.
In Game 4 of the ALCS, the Houston Astros’ Jose Altuve hit a fly ball to the right-field wall, launching Betts into an impressive high jump. He raised his arm over the 7-foot wall and into a crowd of spectators — and the ball bounced back into the field of play.
Replays showed that Betts’ glove closed a moment too early, which he said was because the back of it had come into contact with fans.
“I was pretty positive that ball was going in my glove," Betts said later. "But as I jumped and went over, reached my hand up, I felt like somebody was kind of pushing my glove out of the way or something."
The umpire agreed and ultimately ruled Altuve out, nullifying what could have been a game-tying home run.
The Red Sox ultimately won the game and the series before triumphing over the Dodgers in the 2018 World Series.
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