MLB ballparks have mostly returned to pre-pandemic attendance levels, which has brought back one aggravating aspect of having fans pack the stands: misguided miscreants storming the field and interrupting play.
Another incident that demonstrates how a small contingent of fans inexplicably continue to believe it’s acceptable to pull off a field trespass occurred Tuesday night in the Bronx during a showdown between the host New York Yankees and the visiting Philadelphia Phillies.
The incident occurred during the top of the sixth inning when a Yankees fan sneaked onto the field. While some fans at Yankee Stadium cheered on the trespasser, his criminal sojourn was a short-lived one, as a security guard quickly chased him down and apprehended him with a brutal takedown.
Footage has since surfaced on social media that unfortunately does not show the security staffer obliterating the trespassing fan. It does, though, show him getting manhandled by a crew of guards before being hauled off to a stay in a jail cell.
There has been unfortunately no shortage of such incidents across Major League Baseball with fans returning to ballparks in droves this season.
Two fans managed to make it onto the field at Citizens Bank Park in May during a game between the Philadelphia Phillies and Miami Marlins. Then in June, a renegade fan made it onto the Wrigley Field playing surface during a Chicago Cubs-San Diego Padres tilt. The religious sign said fan was carrying during his brief time on the field made the scene even stranger.
Making Tuesday’s incident even more troubling when it comes to the Yankees is how there has been an outbreak of unruly fan behavior of late at Yankee Stadium.
During a game last Saturday night, a Yankees fan threw a baseball that hit Boston Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo in the back.
The fan responsible for that ugly spectacle has been banned from every MLB stadium for life.
While fans storming an MLB ballpark’s field is almost universally abhorred, there’s sadly little chance such incidents will come to an end anytime soon, despite the consequences.
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