Yankees Fans Stealing Ball Controversy

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Overview

The Yankees Fans Stealing Ball Controversy refers to a contentious moment during Game 4 of the 2024 MLB World Series in which two New York Yankees fans, Austin Capobianco and John Peter, pried a baseball out of the glove of Los Angeles Dodgers player Mookie Betts when he caught a foul ball over the wall. Capobianco, a season ticket holder, reached into Betts' glove while Peter grabbed Betts' other arm to prevent him from resisting. Both men were ejected from the game and Betts' catch was counted based on fan interference. Photos and videos of the moment went viral on social media sites like Twitter / X where memes and discourse ensued. Many expressed their dislike for the two men and criticized or mocked them in viral posts shared in late October 2024.

Background

On October 29th, 2024, Game 4 of the 2024 World Series was played between the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. In the bottom of the first inning, the Yankees hit a foul ball to right field making Dodgers player Mookie Betts jump over the wall to catch it. Upon doing so, two Yankees fans pried the ball out of Betts' glove.^[1]

The YouTube^[2] channel of FOX Sports posted the official clip on October 29th, receiving over 425,000 views in less than a day (shown below).

ESPN published an article about the incident on October 29th, 2024, in which it identified the two men as Austin Capobianco and John Peter. The two men were immediately ejected from the game and ESPN caught up with Capobianco at a nearby bar. Capobianco, a season ticket holder, told ESPN that he and Peter had always imagined the hypothetical situation and planned that, if it ever happened, they were going to do what they could to help their team.^[1]

According to initial reporting, Capobianco and Peter were told that they'd be allowed back at Game 5 on October 30th. Regardless, Betts' catch was counted on the grounds of fan interference. The Dodgers ended up losing the game, however, outscored 11 to 4.^[1]

Online Reaction

After the incident, social media users shared the clip and reacted to it with viral posts and memes. For instance, on October 29th, 2024, X^[3] user @KevinNegandhi shared the video, claiming that, "If this was done in Philly, social media would’ve melted down." The tweet received over 6.1 million views and 46,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Soon after on October 29th, X^[4] user @CespedesBBQ tweeted a screencap of Capobianco reaching into Betts' glove, captioning it, "My dude, are you six years old?" The tweet received over 16,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Alternatively, on October 29th, 2024, X^[5] user @i_zzzzzz joked, "This should be allowed," gaining over 4,300 likes in a day (shown below).

Also on October 29th, TikToker^[6] @jomboymedia posted a reaction to the moment and lip-read what Peter was saying to the umpire. Peter seemingly shouted, "That was over the fence," to justify the fan interference. In a day, the TikTok received over 4.2 million plays and 241,700 likes (shown below).

Memes about the incident became increasingly absurd, like a tweet^[7] shared by the parody account @MetsIran on October 29th, 2024, showing an AI-generated image of Capobianco, saying to Betts, "Give me the ball, I'm Italian." In a day, the meme received over 10,000 likes (shown below).

Discourse also surfaced on Reddit, like in a post shared by Redditor^[8] Knightbear49 to the subreddit /r/baseball on October 29th, which amassed over 26,000 upvotes and 4,200 comments in a day.

Memes also surfaced on Reddit, like a post shared by Redditor^[9] NerdyV1xen to /r/mlb on October 29th, 2024, who captioned the image of Capobianco reaching into Betts' glove, "Trying to quietly open the snacks you snuck into the movie theater," receiving over 1,000 upvotes in a day (shown below).