New York Yankees fans are passionate about their team and they will do anything to get under an opponent’s skin. But it appears one fan went a little too far as he was ejected before Game Four of the American League Championship Series for taunting Houston Astros pitcher Zack Greinke according to NJ.com. The fan, along with a few others were going after Greinke during warmups, making light of his battles with anxiety and depression. The fans chanted “Donald” and they shouted insults about his mother.
That incident may have led to the team sending a message to its fans after the second inning, NJ.com reported that Yankees manager Aaron Boone made an appearance on the video board emphasizing safety for the players and fans.
Videos by PopCulture.com
“The Yankees continue to stress the highest importance on player and fan safety — now and forever,” a team spokesman said.
This is not the first time Yankees fans have gone after Astros players in the series. In Game Three, outfielder Josh Reddick called out Yankees fans for throwing debris on the field while playing.
“You throw a baseball hard enough and hit somebody in the head when they’re not looking, it could do some damage to the player, so it’s definitely disrespectful and at the same time very unsafe,” Reddick said.
Yankees fans were not necessarily throwing objects at him, they were angry because of a call that was made on the field that went in the favor of the Astros. But still, Reddick was not happy with the way Yankees fans acted.
“I don’t think fans realize when they do that that you could hit a player. You hit a baseball player with a baseball from the third deck, it’s got a little bit of movement on it, so it can definitely do some damage to you, and it’s frustrating to see as a player in the outfield,” Reddick said. “I saw water bottles and, like, two baseballs. There were two souvenir baseballs thrown in center and left field. I got all the water bottles in right.”
Astros manager A.J. Hinch said he will stop the game if the Astros are in a situation their safety is in danger.
“I will pull the team off the field if we get in that situation again where bottles are being thrown and balls are being thrown and it becomes unruly,” Hinch said. “There’s other ways to support your home team, and this place does as good a job as anybody to trying to police that while also trying to create an environment that’s all pro-Yankees. It would be a very ugly scene for baseball, a very ugly seen for the Yankees, if one of our guys was hit by something from the upper deck. Something tragic could happen and nobody wants that.”
