At World Series, two unruly fans are sign of the times

The World Series is over. The Los Angeles Dodgers are world champions and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts — with two championships under his belt — is a step closer to earning long overdue recognition as one of the greatest managers in baseball.

Last night, Roberts likely punched his ticket into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

But before we give into diversion and celebration, before we kiss the baseball season goodbye there was an incident that took place at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday that continues to stick in my mind. And with a crucial presidential election coming up next week, the incident, in many ways, crystallized the challenges we’re up against as a nation.

Baseball is, after all, our cherished national pastime.

The image that continues to burn in my brain is of two Yankees fans assaulting Dodgers star right fielder Mookie Betts as he leaped to make a catch in foul territory. One fan grabbed Betts’ glove and forcibly attempted to pry away the ball. His accomplice swatted away Betts’ hand as he attempted to grab the ball.

As I watched repeated replays of these two thugs assaulting the Dodgers’ Black superstar, I had a moment of clarity.

For months I’d been trying to articulate the moment of history we find ourselves, trying to articulate why it’s so important — critical — that voters make the wise decision in next week’s presidential election. We are at a time in history — and have been for a while — when the unthinkable has become the norm. The era peaked on Jan. 6, 2021, when the U.S. Capitol in Washington was attacked by a mob attempting to overturn the results of an election that saw then-President Donald Trump voted out of office.

Who would have thought this kind of mob violence could happen in our country, to our democracy? In retrospect, the previous four years had seen an escalation of incendiary, divisive rhetoric and a climate in which rudeness, incivility and blatant disregard of norms had become the norm.

What happened at Yankees Stadium earlier this week wasn’t Jan. 6 — not close. But I was gripped by the same sense of watching the unthinkable as the two spectators attacked Betts in front of the world with no apparent sense of shame.

I have seen plenty instances of fan interference, with overzealous fans sticking out their gloves to make a catch. Once I saw worse. Twenty-two years ago in September 2002, Kansas City Royals first-base coach Tom Gamboa was attacked on the field by a father and his son in the ninth inning of a game in Chicago. Gamboa sustained several cuts and a large bruise on his forehead.

What happened to Betts on Tuesday went beyond interference. One man attempted to pry open Betts’ glove and rip the ball while out the other swatted away Betts’ free hand as he attempted to grab the ball. Betts was not hurt, the ball popped out and the batter was called out as well. Shortly after the incident, security arrived to escort the two men out of the stadium.

There are several worse parts about the story.

The first came as the two thugs were escorted from the stadium by security guards. As they left, the pair was cheered and patted on the back and given words of encouragement. Instead of banning the two men from Yankees Stadium for life, the Yankees and MLB simply said they couldn’t come back for Game 5. That’s a slap on the wrist.

The league issued statements: “The safety and security of players, fans and Stadium staff is the foundational element of every event held at Yankee Stadium, and it cannot be compromised.”

The league said it has a zero-tolerance policy “toward the type of behavior displayed last night.”

A one-game ban was not enough.

After the attack on Gamboa, Royals outfielder Chuck Knoblauch called on MLB to take steps to protect players. “’It is amazing something like that hasn’t happened before,” he said at the time. “But it is a fear of players because it seems like the fans continue to get more and more hostile.”

Then we learn, because the two men were sought out for interviews and happily obliged, that it was far from being a spontaneous act as the two men had planned to do something like this if the opportunity ever presented itself.

In their view, and in the view of those who cheered them, the two men were simply doing their duty as fans.

After Tuesday’s game, Betts downplayed the event and said he was more focused on winning Game 5 on Wednesday, which the Dodgers did. But too many have been willing to explain away the attack on Betts as fans being fans.

Yankees outfielder Alex Verdugo wasn’t particularly troubled by the incident. “I saw it. It was maybe one of the more extreme, kind of trying to rip a ball out,” he said. “But at the same time, that’s kind of New York. I feel like that’s what you expect out here. You expect some unique things.

“At the end of the day, I didn’t feel it was too serious. I think Mookie kind of shook it off too. That’s just kind of the passion, I guess, New Yorkers have.”

During an interview on the Up & Adams Show on FanDuel TV Wednesday, Rob Gronkowski, a former All-Pro NFL tight end, said one of the fans involved in the assault on Betts was an acquaintance of his at the University of Arizona. Gronkowski said the fan who interfered with Betts was a member of the school’s club hockey team and said, “The whole hockey team was absolute maniacs.” In what sounded like an apology. Gronkowski said, “He was all-in for his teams. He is all-in for the Yankees. That describes him perfectly, just doing whatever it takes to help his team out.

“It is unacceptable, definitely, in the world of sports, but when you are that big of a fan, that’s what fans do whenever they have an opportunity to do it.”

The long and short of it is that baseball had an obligation to do more and it failed.

With the World Series over and a presidential election on the horizon, what happened to Betts on Tuesday will melt into history and soon be forgotten. But the episode, forgotten or not, was a microcosm of an atmosphere of thuggery and entitlement in which we find ourselves.

The World Series is over, but our deep-seated problems may just be beginning.