It’s been two days since a Yankees fan threw a baseball at Alex Verdugo and hit him in the back.
Where is the outrage?
At the risk of sounding like a Russian propagandist, let’s play a game of “whataboutism.” When a moronic Celtics fan unsuccessfully tried to pelt Kyrie Irving with a water bottle following Brooklyn’s Game 4 victory, it sparked condemnation nationwide. The young bottle-tosser was booked for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon — a penalty that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.
Meanwhile, the fan who beaned Verdugo with a baseball was not arrested. His punishment is a permanent banishment from all MLB stadiums, a penalty that is difficult to enforce.
The Verdugo incident didn’t lead “First Take” or any of the daytime opinion shows on Monday morning. On ESPN's website, the headline to the Verdugo article reads as follows: "Alex Verdugo gets into it with fan at Yankee Stadium."
No mention of ball throwing, or anything of the sort.
Of course, there are differences between the Irving and Verdugo episodes. For starters, Irving is a big star (and a polarizing one at that), while Verdugo is a young outfielder at the beginning of his career. Plus, there is Boston’s disturbing history of harassing Black athletes. It doesn’t help that Irving was targeted just days after bringing up Boston’s repugnant racial past.
But in terms of fan behavior, the Verdugo episode is egregious. Baseballs can cause real damage, especially if they’re thrown at somebody’s the head. Fortunately, the ball hit Verdugo in the back.
And why was Verdugo victimized? Because he attempted to throw a ball to a young Red Sox fan in the stands. A Yankees fan intercepted the toss, and threw the ball right back towards Verdugo.
Imagine the fervor if Irving was hit with a basketball in Boston after trying to give it to a young Nets fan. There would probably be calls to shut down stadiums across the city, and maybe rightfully so.
It’s hard to not see the double standard here. Whenever Boston sports fans act up, their misdeeds are framed as representative of the entire city.
Yet, the Yankees fan is being viewed as an independent actor. And that’s the right approach, by the way. More than 8.4 million people live in New York City. It would be ridiculous to place one fan’s idiocy on the entire population.
But the same courtesy isn’t extended to Boston when fan incidents happen here. Some will say that's because it’s part of a long pattern. Over the years, scores of Black players have said they've been subjected to racial taunts at Fenway Park, including Adam Jones, who said in 2017 he was called the n-word.
But atrocious fan behavior at Yankee Stadium is nothing new, either. Just this past April, fans threw baseballs onto the field during the eighth inning of a blowout Rays victory — endangering every Tampa Bay player out there.
On Saturday night, a fan also spit on Jason Varitek’s nine-year-old daughter, according to Catherine Varitek.
“I am not talking about ‘Curse Words’ Someone SPIT on my 9 year old daughter for wearing her Varitek jersey,” she tweeted.
There have been multiple high-profile examples of boorish fan behavior since stadiums reopened to full capacity this spring. The start of the NBA playoffs were especially brutal: Jazz fans allegedly spewed racial taunts at Ja Morant’s family; popcorn was dumped on Russell Westbrook’s head; a fan rushed onto the court in Philadelphia.
Perhaps most notably, a Knicks fan spit on Trae Young at Madison Square Garden. The discussion on “First Take” the following day was framed around fan behavior as a whole, and not an indictment on New York or Knicks fans.
Boston isn’t the only place where fans act up, but it is the only city that takes a beating whenever something regrettable happens at one of its sports venues.
The Verdugo story is another example of that.
