Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts indicated the altercation during Game 4 of the World Series with a pair of ignorant Yankees fans made him want to fight.
Like real fight. Like dropping the glove and throwing hands.
And who could blame him, really?
Austin Capobianco and his friend, John Peter, grabbed each of Betts’ hands in an attempt to pry his glove off during the elimination game. The incident occurred when Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres hit a foul pop-up in the first inning, which Betts caught while near the padded wall.
As Capobianco tried to rip Betts’ glove off, Peter latched onto his other wrist to lend an assist. It was one of the most absurd scenes you’ll ever see in an MLB game. Tragic, funny, infuriating, all rolled into one.
Following the game, the Dodgers star was politically correct in his response, only discussing the fact that his team lost. But LA clinched the series the next night. And let’s just say these fans didn’t know how close they were to getting beaten to a pulp by a pro athlete.
Mookie Betts Wanted To Fight The Fans
Mookie Betts said he spoke to his wife in private about what the Yankee fans had tried to do after the game. During the conversation, he was a little more honest about his feelings.
“That was wild, man. That was really wild. I’ve never experienced anything like that,” he said in an interview with Fox Sports. “I was telling my wife that was like the second time in my life I’ve ever wanted to fight someone.”
“I get it, man. I get it. I don’t know if he was trying to get the ball, I don’t know what he was really trying to do, but he had to do what he had to do, and it is what it is.”
Nah, he didn’t have to do that. It’s one thing to have some incidental contact with a fan that close to the wall. It’s another entirely for them to grab both his hands, leaving him vulnerable to injury.
Betts’ teammates took things a step further, defining the dust-up as “assault.” Third baseman Max Muncy even suggested charges could be filed.
“It should be an instant lifetime ban. They should never be allowed in any ballpark ever again,” Muncy told the New York Post. “If it’s an accidental thing where you’re trying to catch the ball and you bump a [player], that’s one thing. But in that scenario, you have two guys trying to grab Mookie’s glove and then his hand — that’s a lifetime ban.”
“That’s borderline assault,” he added. “You could file [charges] for that.”
Yankee Fan Is Showing Little To No Remorse
While Peter has been a little more quiet with the media, Capobianco has been running his ample mouth to the press every chance he gets. And he doesn’t appear to have any remorse for his actions.
His first move was to brag that the two had planned on doing something like this for years.
“We’re not going to go out of our way to attack. If it’s in our area, we’re going to ‘D’ up,” Capobianco said. “Someone defends, someone knocks the ball. We talk about it. We’re willing to do this.”
He then indicated that he was “pissed off” that he had been banned from Game 5 and that he couldn’t give his tickets to family members or friends.
The Yankees made the classy move of giving those fans tickets to the family of a pediatric cancer patient.
Now, Capobianco is laughing about the whole thing and begging that his ban from the stadium is not a lifetime one.
“It was pretty secure. Once you put your hand on the glove you’re getting booted no matter what. So I might as well just […] rip the thing out,” he told Barstool Sports.
“The best was when [my friend] just grabbed the arm. It was […] hilarious in the video.”
The best is actually how Barstool interviewed him and then posted the video by describing him as a “scumbag.”
The Yankees scumbag walked us through his viral moment from Game 4 of the World Series @BarstoolRundown pic.twitter.com/d7F5VaO70d
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) October 30, 2024
The New York Yankees banned the fans from the stadium for Game 5 due to “egregious and unacceptable physical contact with Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts.”
ESPN reporter Jesse Rogers said Capobianco got a call from the team saying they were banned and were “told if he or his friend try to get in with other tickets, they’ll be arrested at the door.”
“He’s hoping it’s a short-term ban,” Rogers added.
The rest of the baseball world is hoping it’s for life. Enjoy watching your team at home.
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