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Yankees Fans Who Interfered With Mookie Betts Reportedly Allowed to Attend Game 5

Despite getting escorted out of Game 4 of the World Series in the first inning, season ticket holder Austin Capobianco will be allowed to return to Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night.

Sam Connon

Oct 29, 2024; New York, New York, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts (50) makes a catch in foul territory as a New York Yankees fan interferes during the first inning in game four of the 2024 MLB World Series at Yankee Stadium.
Oct 29, 2024; New York, New York, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts (50) makes a catch in foul territory as a New York Yankees fan interferes during the first inning in game four of the 2024 MLB World Series at Yankee Stadium. / Brad Penner-Imagn Images
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One of the most memorable moments of Game 4 of the World Series, apparently, won't have many lasting consequences.

In the bottom of the first inning Tuesday night, New York Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres sent a fly ball into foul territory. Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts tracked it down and made a leaping grab at the wall, only to run into some trouble as he tried to record the out.

Two Yankees fans interfered with Betts, doing everything they could to jar the ball loose. One of them grabbed Betts' glove and used both hands to pry it open, while the other grabbed Betts' free hand to stop him from completing the transfer. They succeeded in popping the ball out, but Torres was still ruled out after the umpire called fan interference.

Unsurprisingly, the pair was ejected from the game and escorted out of Yankee Stadium.

ESPN's Jesse Rogers caught up with the two fans at a local bar after the game, though, and reported that they wouldn't be gone for long.

Austin Capobianco, the 38-year-old man who had his hands on Betts' glove, is a season ticket holder. The other man was his friend, John Peter. According to Capobianco and Peter, they were told they would be allowed to return for Game 5 on Wednesday.

Capobianco told Rogers that he and Peter had long discussed how they would react to an opposing player trying to make a catch in front of them. When the time came, they made sure to "D up."

Following the Yankees' runaway 11-4 win, Betts was asked about the incident in his postgame press conference.

"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."

Betts' muted reaction aside, it is shocking to see such an egregious overstepping of boundaries go relatively unpunished. Beyond that, Rogers witnessed Capobianco signing autographs and taking pictures with other fans after the game, setting him up to be a local legend of sorts.

This was not another Steve Bartman scenario, nor was it a replication of the Jeffrey Maier incident from the 1996 ALCS. Two grown adults made a concerted effort to physically overwhelm a player, knowing what the consequences would be and bragging about it after the fact.

Spendings thousands of dollars on a front-row ticket does not exempt fans from stadiums' codes of conduct. While the two were dismissed from Game 4, their return to the stands in Game 5 would set a disappointing precedent, to say the least.

Game 5 will be the final contest at Yankee Stadium this year, regardless of the final score. A Dodgers win would crown them as champions, while a Yankees victory would send the series back to Los Angeles for Game 6 on Friday.

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Sam Connon
SAM CONNON

Sam Connon is a Staff Writer for Fastball on the Sports Illustrated/FanNation networks. He previously covered UCLA Athletics for Sports Illustrated/FanNation's All Bruins, 247Sports' Bruin Report Online, Rivals' Bruin Blitz, the Bleav Podcast Network and the Daily Bruin, with his work as a sports columnist receiving awards from the College Media Association and Society of Professional Journalists. Connon also wrote for Sports Illustrated/FanNation's New England Patriots site, Patriots Country, and he was on the Patriots and Boston Red Sox beats at Prime Time Sports Talk.

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