24 year old Met rookie first baseman Pete Alonso got credit for his first major league triple when a Met fan dropped a cup of beer on Milwaukee Brewer left fielder Ryan Braun who was trying to catch the long fly ball. There's some irony in a Brewer getting doused with beer.
After review, fan interference was not called. Apparently, the fact that most of the beer hit Braun after the ball had passed him and hit the wall was a deciding factor. Maybe also that Ryan Braun is generally unpopular outside of Milwaukee because of misconduct years ago. Or maybe it's because Braun is not considered as good a fielder in left as say Alex Gordon:
Fans interfere because they define the end of the playing area. Sunday, April 21, 2019
This is one of the truly moronic baseball things that's been hanging around for more than a century.
In yesterday's game at Yankee Stadium (Yanks won 9-2) Yankee SS Gleyber Torres lost a home run in the third inning because a stupid Yankee fan reached for the long fly ball that Torres hit to left field. The Kansas City left fielder Alex Gordon was approaching the wall and trying to make a difficult but not impossible catch. Catching it was no sure thing.
Initially it was ruled a three run home run. But after several minutes of video review by the umpires Torres was ruled out ...
Obviously, this is just asking for trouble, which may fit in perfectly with the most recent official embrace of bad behavior by players, you know, to make the game more appealing to young fans who really don't care or have any standards of proper behavior.
In other words, we're supposed to get all worked up about this. That was not the original intent but it fits in with sloppy thinking.
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"Let the kids play." ... the fool. Friday, April 19, 2019
The issue here is not whether silly fan interference should have been called. The issue here is personal conduct, both by the fan and the player.
Pete Alonso wants to repay Mets fan who dumped beer on Braun
By Zach Braziller April 28, 2019 7:10pm nypost.com
“Hey, Braun, this Bud’s for you,” Alonso joked after the Mets’ 5-2 win at Citi Field on Sunday...
It happened right next to the Budweiser “This Bud’s For You” advertisement on the left-field fence.
“It’s kind of funny I guess,” Alonso added. “We got some pretty loyal fans, which is awesome. That’s a tough situation on [Braun]. It’s kind of a strange play altogether.” ...
“If I could, I would’ve bought him a beer,” Alonso said of the fan. “The Mets need to get that guy a beer, or a free drink voucher.”
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Neither Braun nor the Brewers generally seemed particularly upset about the beer.
Was the fan ejected? Should he have been? It was an accident. He was trying to catch the ball. He's just an imbecile. Most primates would have realized that the ball would have displaced the beer in his cup, which he seemed to be using as a baseball glove.
But does the cavalier attitude of the player, Pete Alonso, serve to encourage future fan interference?
Yankee announcer Michael Kay, to his great discredit, continues to repeat the name of a young fan who interfered Oct. 9, 1996 in a playoff game, which resulted in Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter getting credit for an 8th inning home run. It tied the game 4-4; replays at the time showed it was gross fan interference. It helped the Yankees win that first game of the series: 5-4 in the 11th when Bernie Williams homered. The Yankees won the series against Baltimore 4-1 and won the World Series. A good fan doesn't want his team to win that way.
I cringe every time I hear Michael Kay say the kid's name. When an event evokes memory of that incident Kay repeats the name over and over, making the kid's "fame" seem like it is something current fans should try to attain.
We all need to do and expect better: players, fans, media.
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