#fan interference

Hmm...I wonder why this person, luckily not snapping the wrist of one of the top 5 players in the MLB, was given hugs and high 5s on the way out of the park for obvious and intentional fan interference.

Is it a "bad apple"? I'd say the reception around the guy (outside of one stunned Yankees fan in frame) is pretty good evidence that's not true. Is it just a sports fan thing? Obviously it's not like Yankees fans are a monolith of evil hearts or something. I don't really recall seeing this sort of reaction before, and more importantly, as intentional and aggressive a fan interference before.

No, this is a result of the New York Yankees organization themselves. They fostered this environment very aggressive and obvious cheating.

Jeffrey Maier helped steal a possible playoff win from the Baltimore Orioles in 1996 in favor of the Yankees. This famous missed call by a right field ump, failing their one nightly call, resulted in one of the most infamous examples of the MLB refusing to implement replay under commissioner Bud Selig.

That in and of itself does not show a problem with Yankees fans. Every team has had fan interference and this was a child. It was just at a huge moment. The difference was the response: Maier was made a hero. He was offered tickets to have dugout seats at the world series, he was interviewed on New York and national TV stations, and was a folk hero for inadvertently cheating the Yankees towards an important playoff win.

It would have been easy for the Yankees organization to walk the line of not humiliating a child but also sending a clear message to fans that doing this is not fun or heroic. That this should not happen again.

Instead, they did not do that. And with this incident with Mookie, so much worse that it is, has resulted in a 2 game ban for these people. The "zero tolerance" policy the Yankees were talking up is for a game that for all intents and purposes, does not matter. The Yankees are not winning this series against a vastly better built LA Dodgers team.

The message is a slap on the wrist. Which is, granted, more than nothing as with Maier. It's amazing what 30 years in both age and calendar year does to a punishment. After inflation, the Yankees fans know the punishment: 2 days away from Yankees Stadium and hugs from your peers. What a price.

Fan Interference Incident at World Series Game 4 In a startling turn of events during Game 4 of the World Series on Tuesday night, two fans were ejected from Yankee Stadium for their unacceptable behavior involving Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts. The New York Yankees issued an official statement on Wednesday, clarifying the situation and the consequences for the involved individuals. The…

This fan catches Gleyber Torres' ball, interfering with the game so Gleyber only gets to go to second base. What is wrong with people? Let's go Yankees!!!!!

The End of an Era or: Thank You All

Salutations™!! As you may or may not know, Dear Reader, I have written this blog “every day” (at least FOR every day) since November 1, 2014. That was right after, well a month and a half after, my honeymoon. I did the Rolling Stone Top 500 Albums of All Time list (the 2012 list that matters) and reviewed that. I did the Honeymoon Chronicles. I have posted while traveling. I have started several…

The Count So Far or: 2554+3

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Salutations™!! Fridays are networking days for me as I am part of The Best Damn Referral Group, or TBD as we call it. But, that’s not the network I’m talking about this week. I am always talking about all the TLD Network shows, but not about the network itself. Let’s run them down: The Less Desirables Fan Interference The Beer Dads Podcast The Man Who Ate the Town Wheelers Dog Asylum Tales…