Austin Capobianco Did Nothing (Much) Wrong

What do American sports fans have in common with American non-sports fans? An addiction to outrage.

We loooove to be outraged, and the New York Yankees (or more specifically, a couple of their fans) have provided the sports world with the latest excuse to get outraged.

You probably didn't miss it, but in case you did, here's what happened in Game 4 of the World Series: Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts reached into the stands to snag a ball, only to have it wrenched out of his glove and tossed back onto the field by a couple of Yankee fans.

It was 100% the most blatant, over-the-top case of fan interference MLB has ever seen. It took several seconds for the fans to successfully dislodge the ball from Betts' glove. The dislodger, Austin Capobianco, got an assist from his buddy, John Peter, who held Betts' other wrist during the kerfuffle to further neutralize him.

Certainly, on one level, it's hard to defend these guys. Of course, there's a strong case to be made that proper fandom dictates you get out of the way in these situations. And even if you do believe — as I do — that fans have every right to go for a ball in the stands, this was a whole different animal that went WAY beyond just going for the ball.

And they did it in service to America's most hated team, while bearing the most insufferable rictus imaginable. That look on the dislodger's face — Austin Capobianco — will go down on some sort of unholy Mount Rushmore of wince-inducing facial expressions (along with any three Jim Carrey roles of your choice). Capobianco looks just like your uncle who's between jobs and has always taken roughhousing too far.

I also think Peter's action of essentially restraining Betts is far beyond any kind of pale I can imagine at a baseball game.

But here is where I would like to point out that they grossly interfered with a baseball game in progress. They did not set a room of Nobel Peace Prize laureates aflame, throw kittens out of helicopters, or moon Sister Jean.

The reactions I've seen on X, however, make it seem like they did. Granted, as a Guardians fan who follows a lot of Guardians fans on X, what I am encountering might not be a true cross-section of the baseball commentariat at large. We CLE fans are particularly salty towards the Yanks, having just been knocked out by them. But maybe not, because as I say, we love to be outraged anyway.

Now, here's where I get hot take-y. I absolutely understand where Capobianco and Peter are coming from, and I am not mad at them.

Before this, the most famous case of fan interference (discounting Steve Bartman), was 12-year-old Jeffery Maier, in the 1996 ALCS, who was also a Yankees fan. He caught a home run ball seemingly destined to be caught by the Orioles' Tony Tarasco. In that case, however, the umps ruled no fan interference, the home run counted, and the Yankees went on to win the game and the series.

After that precedent, how can anyone not take the chance to help their team, even if that chance is fantastically small? In 1996, we didn't have instant replay. Now, we do. And again, trying to catch a ball while a fielder is also trying to is a far cry from prying it from his glove. But if there's an 0.0000001% chance to help the team you live and breathe for, I think there's a good case to be made to take it.

Of course, it didn't work last night. The umps rightly called fan interference, and the Dodgers were awarded the out. No harm, no foul. And I for one will not be making pariahs out of Capobianco and Peter, who did nothing (much) wrong.

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