Major League Baseball has banned the fan who threw a baseball at Boston Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo at Yankee Stadium on Saturday from all of its 30 ballparks for life.
The ball hit Verdugo in the back before the bottom of the sixth inning, prompting Red Sox manager Alex Cora to temporarily pull his team off the field.
“Just a bad situation, and if I was Alex Cora, I would have done the same thing as far as going out and getting his guys off the field,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, as reported by NJ.com. “There’s zero place for that in this great game and in this great rivalry. Players should never feel like they have to worry about anything like that. I already reached out to Alex Cora, just apologizing to Alex Verdugo. That’s just a terrible, bad, sad situation. Sorry about that.”
“While the Yankees appreciate the spirit and passion of our fans in our various rivalries -— especially with the Red Sox — reckless, disorderly and dangerous behavior that puts the safety of players, field staff or fellow fans in jeopardy will not be tolerated,” the Yankees organization said in a statement. “There is absolutely no place for it at Yankee Stadium. The safety of everyone at Yankee Stadium, including guests in the stands and players on the field, will always be the top priority for the Yankees organization every time we open our doors.”
A New York City Police Department spokesman told NJ Advance Media that officers didn’t arrest the fan, who was escorted out of the stadium.
"At the end of the day, people need to understand we're people as well," Verdugo said. "We do the same stuff that you guys do, we feel the same way that you guys feel, but playing baseball is our job. That's our work. I just feel like the fans are in the wrong on that one."
