Oh sports, and all of its fine lines that matter so much. A blade of grass here, an extra coat of paint on an upright there, a split second on a clock.
In baseball, there is the line between fair or foul, capable of separating glory from disaster, and then also the line between fan behavior that’s either boisterously enthusiastic (fair) or dangerously obnoxious (foul).
What happened involving Mookie Betts and a pair of New York Yankees fans on Tuesday night falls into the latter category, no question about it. In the first inning of the World Series’ Game 4, Betts jumped to grab a Gleyber Torres pop-up along the right-field wall, but after he caught the ball, front row fan Austin Capobianco wrenched it out of his glove, while alongside him, John Peter took hold of Betts’ non-catching arm.
Both fans were ejected and Capobianco was reportedly told he would be arrested if the pair tried to enter Game 5 (8:08 p.m. ET on FOX). If that’s the only punishment meted out, it would seem to veer heavily on the lenient side, given the level of interference and the potential injury that might have been caused to Betts, the Los Angeles Dodgers star.
It is a thorny issue, and it is easy to see why the instant ban to take care of the immediate issue was implemented — Game 5 is the last game of the season at Yankee Stadium, even if New York is able to keep the series alive — to perhaps buy time to decide on something sterner.
Yankees fan pulls ball out of Mookie Betts’ glove in Game 4
[RELATED: Yankees ban fans from Game 5 who grabbed Betts]
Most of all, it is thorny because of that fine line mentioned earlier. There is no excusing what Capobianco and Peter did, quite the opposite. If a ban of several seasons or even more was put into place, there would be zero argument here.
Yet what is a little alarming to consider is that, except for the two key actions that crossed any kind of reasonable standard level, there were elements of what happened that actually spoke to what is magical about baseball.
The fact that fans are so close to the action that they can literally be in the airspace of the playing area is part of baseball’s time-honored lore. The fact that you can catch a ball bound for the stands and, heck, if you do so, you get to keep it forever. The fact that fans care so much, that the soul of their team courses through their veins, especially if November nears, especially if it’s the Series, especially if it’s a storied rivalry like New York and Los Angeles.
[RELATED: Full coverage of the World Series]
Yet amid all the excitement, there has to be some sort of decorum. Scream, cheer, shout, hurl yells and insults if you really have to, but let’s have a very clear understanding of what the role of the fan is.
We talk about the 12th man and supporters being part of the fabric of their ball club. They are part of the show, of course they are, because we all remember COVID and empty stadiums and how weird and eerie everything was.
Part of the entertainment, yes, but not part of the game, at least not in any way except rattling the nerves of an opposition player with a communal roar. Chant “Who’s Your Daddy” all you like, but for goodness’ sake keep your hands off the players, a statement that shouldn’t need to be made, but apparently does.
Can the Yankees come back and win the World Series?
Don’t touch any gloves unless one is being offered as a fist bump. Don’t open up anyone’s glove to acquire a ball, be it a fellow fan’s or a player’s. Don’t run onto the field, because it’s dumb and wastes time, and you’ll get forcefully tackled and then kicked out for it. And don’t do anything that could affect how the outcome of the competition turns out, not even if you’re a cute smiley kid, like Jeffrey Maier was in 1996.
Being a fan is a privilege, even if it is an expensive one, with interest in this World Series so feverishly high. Paying for those tickets doesn’t buy you any extra concession or remove the requirement for a baseline of conduct.
For all the tens of thousands of games that have passed without a problem over time, how many repeats of what happened to Betts do you think would have to happen before changes were made to the ballpark experience?
This is a superb World Series, highlighted by Shohei Ohtani’s mere presence, by Freddie Freeman’s impossible hot streak, by the Yankees’ stirring revival in Game 4, and the tantalizing possibility that this thing might not be quite over yet.
Amid all that, it frankly hurts a little bit to be addressing a peripheral issue as disappointing as this one. Sometimes, that’s just the nature of things. And sometimes, it can be a reminder.
Whether the ball is foul or not, let’s keep the behavior fair.
Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports. Follow him on Twitter @MRogersFOX.
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