Two Yankees Fans Ejected from World Series Game After Brazenly Interfering with Play
During Game 4 of the World Series between the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers, two Yankees fans were ejected after attempting to interfere with a play involving Dodgers player Mookie Betts. Following a foul ball caught by Betts, the fans reached into the field and tried to retrieve the ball from his glove. The officials ruled the play an out due to fan interference. The ejected fans, identified as Austin Capobianco and John Peter, claimed they were just participating in the game spirit, but their actions were deemed excessive.
Despite the incident, Betts downplayed the situation, stating that the game result was more important. The Yankees won the game, preventing a Dodgers sweep. Some team members were shocked by the fans’ behavior, with rookie pitcher Ben Casparius commenting that he had never witnessed anything like it.
Capobianco remained unrepentant after the game, expressing a willingness to engage with such plays in the stands, while indicating hopes of returning for the next game as a season-ticket holder. The Yankees organization had not publicly commented on their status for future games.
New York Yankees fans tried to give a whole new meaning to “home field” advantage on Tuesday — and got ejected for their trouble.
A foul ball pop-up in the first inning of Game 4 of the Yankees-Los Angeles Dodgers World Series was gloved by Dodgers right field Mookie Betts until two men in the crowd decided to take matters into their own hands.
What followed was a scene to remember:
“Well, A for effort.”
Fan interference was called on this play where a Yankee fan tried to take the ball out of Mookie Betts’ glove after an out. pic.twitter.com/iZ6taImncd
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 30, 2024
Officials still called the ball an out, and the two men, identified by ESPN as Austin Capobianco and John Peter, were escorted from Yankee Stadium.
Capobianco, 38, was unapologetic after the game.
“We always joke about the ball in our area,” Capobianco said in an interview at a local taproom, ESPN reported. “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.”
Unbelievably, Betts was willing to let the incident slide. The result of the game — a Yankees win that prevented a Dodgers sweep of the series — seemed to matter more to him than the first-inning play.
“When it comes to the person in play, it doesn’t matter,” Betts said.
“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.”
Other Dodgers weren’t as complacent.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” rookie pitcher Ben Casparius said, according to ESPN.
“It’s pretty interesting. It was obviously very early in the game, so I think it kind of set the tone.”
As ESPN noted, the play was reminiscent of another controversial sports moment: Game 1 of the Yankees-Orioles American League Championship Series in 1996 when a preteen Yankees fan caught a fly ball from the stands just before Orioles right field Tony Tarasco caught it.
Without an official instant-replay review system in place at the time, the ball hit by Yankee Derek Jeter was ruled a home run.
The Yankees won that game 5-4 and the ALCS before going on to defeat the Atlanta Braves in the World Series.
It might be obvious that the men in Tuesday’s play went way too far — and the fan interference call was eminently justified for the brazen action (people have been ejected from Yankee Stadium for less). But it wasn’t clear was whether they’ll be allowed back.
Capobianco — a season-ticket holder — told ESPN that he and Peter had been assured they would be allowed to return for Game 5 (first pitch, 8:08 p.m.).
The Yankees organization did not respond to ESPN’s request for comment about that, the network reported.
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