NEW YORK — Two New York Yankees fans who were ejected from Game 4 of the World Series for interfering with Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts have been banned from Game 5 on Wednesday night.
Betts leaped at the wall in foul territory and initially caught Gleyber Torres’ fly ball during the first inning Tuesday night, but a fan in the first row with a gray Yankees’ road jersey, Austin Capobianco, grabbed Betts’ glove with both hands and pulled the ball out. Another fan, John Peter, grabbed Betts’ non-glove hand.
The Yankees announced in a statement Wednesday that the fans “will not be permitted to attend tonight’s game in any capacity” and added that the incident Tuesday night with Betts was “egregious and unacceptable.”
“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 in its statement. “The Yankees and Major League Baseball maintain a zero-tolerance policy toward the type of behavior displayed last night. 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.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Wednesday that he doesn’t think his players worry about their safety at Yankee Stadium, and he believes banning the fans involved was an appropriate measure.
“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 just 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?”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone also agreed with the decision.
“Not good. There’s no place for that. It’s as simple as that,” Boone said Wednesday. “Come here, cheer, root for your team, whatever. No place for that. Should never have hands on anyone.”
The team said it gave the fans’ Game 5 tickets to an ill child and his family who were unable to attend a kids-only news conference at the ballpark in September to mark Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
ESPN’s Jesse Rogers, quoting an unnamed source, reported that it was not immediately clear whether the ban against Capobianco, a season-ticket holder, and Peter would apply to any Yankee Stadium games next season.
Capobianco told ESPN that the Yankees refunded him the cost of the tickets for Game 5 and also informed him that he would be arrested if he tried to attend the game.
“We’re hoping for a short-term ban,” Capobianco told ESPN. “We don’t want to lose the season tickets.”
The Major League Baseball Players Association also expressed concern 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.
Dodgers left fielder Teoscar Hernández said he didn’t think there was anything to worry about 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.”
The Dodgers had a two-run lead at the time of the incident thanks to Freddie Freeman’s two-run homer. Betts reacted angrily in the moment, but he quickly calmed down when Torres was immediately called out by umpires on fan interference.
“When it comes to the person in play, it doesn’t matter,” Betts said after the Yankees extended the series with an 11-4 victory. “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.”
Yankees left fielder Alex Verdugo was glad it did not become a serious situation.
“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,” 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.”
Three years ago, Verdugo was playing the outfield for the Red Sox when he was struck in the back by a ball thrown from the left field seats at Yankee Stadium. He was not hurt.
Boston manager Alex Cora briefly pulled his team off the field that night, and the fan who threw the ball was banned for life from attending major league games.
The following season, fans in the notoriously rowdy right field bleachers at Yankee Stadium pelted Cleveland Guardians outfielders with bottles, cans and other debris in a chaotic scene after New York rallied for a walk-off win.
Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and other Yankees players rushed toward the outfield fence, trying to calm the crowd.
Moments earlier, Guardians outfielder Myles Straw had climbed the chain-link fence in left to confront face-to-face at least one fan, while another fan nearby made a derogatory gesture.
Cleveland players were angry because they said a fan was celebrating an injury to Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan, who had just run hard into the wall chasing a tying double.
Straw called Yankees fans the “worst fan base on the planet” and was greeted the next day with chants of “Crybaby!” by the famed Bleacher Creatures in the Bronx. The Yankees said that day they increased security in the stands.
Game 4 was the second time Torres had an at-bat impacted by fan interference this World Series. With two outs in the ninth inning of Game 1 at Dodger Stadium, Torres hit a fly ball to left field, and a fan reached over and caught the ball. Torres was awarded a double.
Torres later hit a three-run homer to right field for New York’s final runs in the Game 5 win.