The Scene: A Sunday night tilt between forever adversaries the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. The Red Sox are sitting atop the AL East, while the Yankees languish in fourth place, nine games in back of the Sox. Keep this in mind as perhaps this inequality in the standings led to the following incidents involving unruly, violent Yankee fans.
Incident 1: All night, many Yankees fans had been chanting “F— Verdugo!’. Why was Alex Verdugo being singled out for this kind of abuse? You’d have to ask the fans who were doing it.
The hatred of Verdugo came to a head during some on-field tossing between Verdugo and his teammates between the top and bottom of the sixth inning. As the Yankees were about to come up to bat, Verdugo attempted to flip the ball that he had been using to warm up to a young Red Sox fan in the stands. According to the Boston Globe, the ball was then intercepted by an adult Yankee fan who was then “egged” on to “throw it back.” The fan evidently heeded these calls, throwing the ball at Verdugo and hitting him in the back while it was turned towards him.
Verdugo was described as “livid” and Sox manager Alex Cora briefly pulled the entire team off of the field. According to a sportingnews.com article by hardball scribe Tom Gatto, “A spectator was eventually ordered to leave the bleachers. The Yankees and MLB imposed a lifetime ban from stadiums on that fan Sunday. The person is prohibited from attending games at all 30 MLB parks.” 1 I would like to add that this writer, at least, finds this ‘punishment’ laughable in it’s leniency and what’s more, it seems absolutely unenforceable!
Incident 2: The Verdugo incident wasn’t the end of the trouble during this game. A couple of Red Sox fans who were enjoying the game in the right field bleachers were attacked, unprovoked, by a gang of Yankees fans. Multiple bystanders attempted to break up the altercation before stadium security arrived. A Yankees fan wearing a Judge shirt was escorted out of the section while another, in a Jeter jersey, refused to be removed and continued to throw punches at the Red Sox fans. According to the New York Post, it is still unknown whether the police were eventually called or not. This is not surprising, considering that Yankees fans have long been idiots. I have personally witnessed many fights in both the stands of Yankee stadium and Fenway Park. I would not be so biased as to say that all incidents were the fault of Yankee fans: many Sox fans, drunk as well as sober, have resorted to name calling and even fisticuffs with Yankee fans, but an objective observer would have to say that Yankee Stadium is a far more chaotic and violent ballpark. Does the nickname “The Bronx Zoo” ring any bells?
Incident 3: Lest you think, dear reader, that such ill behavior is only directed at Sox players and adult Sox fans, let me share with you the tale of what happened after the game to the nine year-old daughter of former Sox catcher Jason Varitek who was rude enough to wear a Sox jersey with her father’s name on the back. Liv Varitek was literally spit on by a Yankee fan as she walked with her mother to their car after the game. 3 I don’t think that I need to add anything to this; a brief description will suffice.
Conclusion: Every fan base has the vicious and brainless amongst its ranks. Many argue that such fans cross the line because of their passion for the game. In the case of Yankees fans, it is tough to imagine that these acts were committed out of passion. New York City is undeniably a pressure cooker, so I would attribute these acts of violence partly to the environment there. I would also say that when alcohol is thrown into the mix in the form of the massive beers sold at the concession stands at Yankee Stadium (and at every ballpark, to be fair), a combustible situation is created, and something has to give. Add to that, the fact that the Yankees are underachieving this year and are currently languishing three spots behind the archrival Sox, an idiot has all the motivation he would need to do something violent and stupid. Now the question is whether or not the league has a way of tracking these idiots down. They have proven that they aren’t capable of showing respect for the men playing the game that they claim to love, nor being considerate of other fans who have paid to come and enjoy a night out with their family and friends. It only makes sense to prohibit from entering a major league ballpark those who ruin the experience for other fans and the players who make the sport possible in the first place.
- “Red Sox’s Alex Verdugo on having ball thrown at him at Yankee Stadium: ‘Fans in the wrong on that one.’” Tom Gatto July 18, 2021
- https://nypost.com/2021/07/19/yankees-and-red-sox-fans-brawl-in-bleachers-in-viral-video/
- https://www.foxnews.com/sports/wife-red-sox-great-vile-incident-fan-yankee-stadium
