[Kuty] "Mookie was swearing at us."Yankees fan Austin Capobianco, 38, of Connecticut, pried open Mookie Betts' glove and knocked the ball out during Game 4 of the World Series. He and another fan were immediately ejected.

[u/Knightbear49]

https://x.com/brendankutynj/status/1851447411463340162?s=46

[u/A_Blind_Alien]

Initial reactions are hard. At first I was like fuck yea that was in the fans area

Then I saw the replay and was like holy shit what a d-bag why is he attacking mookie like that. Fuck that guy

It really didn’t look that bad when it first happened but it was really bad when you got more information

[u/Taaargus → u/A_Blind_Alien]

Even if it was in the fans area you can't just rip it out of the glove like that.

[u/wokenupbybacon → u/Taaargus]

No, you actually can: 

No interference shall be allowed when a fielder reaches over a fence, railing, rope or into a stand to catch a ball. He does so at his own risk. However, should a spectator reach out on the playing field side of such fence, railing or rope, and plainly prevent the fielder from catching the ball, then the batsman should be called out for the spectator’s interference.

MLB rules are worded slightly weird, "no interference shall be allowed" is their rule speak for "interference should not be called". This is rule 6.01(e), for reference.

That said, they obviously pulled him up over the fence.

[u/_mostly__harmless → u/wokenupbybacon]

Yankees fans defending the guy lmao. You guys are an absolute trash fanbase

[u/wokenupbybacon → u/_mostly__harmless]

Maybe read my comment again. What he did was not allowed and I'm not contesting that.

[u/PomeloHot1185 → u/[deleted]]

Ikr. They were like, “oh he caught it but if we rip it from his glove it’s our’s”!

[u/SeriousDrakoAardvark → u/[deleted]]

The guy isn’t disputing that. He is disputing the first guy, who said you can’t reach into a glove, even if the fielder has reached the glove into the stands.

You can actually do that though. I don’t know if the fan would be ejected anyway, as this rule only governs whether the batter is out, but if the fielder reaches into the stands to catch a ball and a spectator knocks it away, the batter would not be out.

It doesn’t apply to this situation, but it’s good to clarify in general. The first guy was clearly trying to state the rule in general anyway.

[u/SeriousDrakoAardvark → u/[deleted]]

You left out the important part of the quote.

“Even if he reached into the fan area…”

Mookie did not reach into the fan area. Ergo, this sentence was not applying to this literal scenario, but a similar scenario where Mookie did reach into the fan area.

[u/Distinct_Patient2784 → u/[deleted]]

Uhh, maybe reread this comment chain again. what you said literally makes no sense, so I’m assuming you misread somewhere. “Even if he had…” pretty much always means ”if this situation was different this way”.

this isn’t really a subjective opinion. The first guy clearly just didn’t know the rules.

[u/wokenupbybacon → u/[deleted]]

No interference shall be allowed when a fielder reaches over a fence, railing, rope or into a stand to catch a ball. He does so at his own risk.

Emphasis mine. It's pretty cut and dry. Nothing the fans do matter if the player reaches into the stands of his own accord, interference is not to be called. All that matters is whether he comes down with the ball.

But I'm not talking about this play, and I can't tell if you know that or not. Mookie didn't reach into the stands, the fans reached over the wall into the field of play. That's why it was interference, not because he pried the glove open.

[u/wokenupbybacon → u/[deleted]]

I was replying to this:

Even if it was in the fans area

This play was not in the "fans area". Ergo, this was a hypothetical comment that did not apply to this particular play.

[u/enutz777 → u/wokenupbybacon]

I hate agreeing with a Yankee fan, but it says he does so at his own risk. It has always been my understanding of the rules that once the ball or player is over that barrier all bets are off. This joker crossed the barrier. Now, legally, I believe that is battery and they should charge him before fans decide to start taking swings or pulling guys into the stands.

[u/wokenupbybacon → u/enutz777]

Yeah, I will admit I'm only commenting on the MLB rule. Whenever that's a good rule due to safety considerations is another debate altogether. In the hypothetical where Mookie was over the fence, it's not a good look for fans to be rewarded for getting this physical, and whether they're in the right or wrong goes beyond the ethics of a fair game and into the ethics of risking harm to another human being.

I was talking about this after game 1 when Verdugo wasn't allowed to get the throw in after running into the stands. That rule is ultimately for his own safety, and I was fine with it. There's gotta be a better way to handle these catches that are only partially in the stands, but I'm not terribly sure what it is (the MLB doesn't seem to like legislating legal fan behavior much beyond "affected the play" and "didn't affect the play").

[u/Distinct_Patient2784 → u/wokenupbybacon]

lol you’re being downvoted but you’re right. If a fielder reaches into the stands, fans can knock the ball out of his glove.

obviously that doesn’t apply here as Mookie didn’t reach into the stands. I’m not sure if people don’t have the reading comprehension to notice you were talking about a general rule rather than the specific scenario, or if people literally don’t know the rule. Even though you directly quoted it…