Yankees fans threw beer and popcorn at Astros fans during a 2019 game. Blue Jays fans threw trash on the field in the 2015 ALDS. Eagles fans threw snowballs at Santa Claus. And Red Sox fans throw pizzas at other fans.
Scratch that... a single Red Sox fan threw pizza at another fan, and it's probably one of the funniest moments in the long history of MLB action at Fenway Park.
And after over 13 years since the infamous Patriots' Day pizza throw, the perpetrator — one Dan Kelly — has decided to come clean with the full story of what went down.
"It was a long time ago on a rainy Patriots' Day," Kelly began, sharing his recollection with Matt Monagan of MLB.com. "And I've always done Patriots' Day Red Sox, you know. Everybody shows up early, gets breakfast ... so we always show up the same time with a big group of people; it's myself, my wife and a big group of friends. We get breakfast and mimosas and get ready for a fun day of baseball. But there was a huge rain delay, so, you know what that means: [more mimosas]. Some of us can handle it, some of us can't. I'd like to count myself among those that can -- besides one brief moment."
Jason Sole, a fellow Red Sox fan, was allegedly poking some fun at Kelly for ordering an entire pizza pie — which was newly being sold at the ballpark — and bringing it back down to his seats. He had, according to Kelly, also been noisy and disruptive prior to the pizza order.
"It was pretty apparent to the entire section that he was causing a scene," Kelly said. "I'm like, 'Hey it's friendly Fenway, c'mon, work it out, you guys are having a great time.' He didn't enjoy that and he was kinda jawing back and forth with us."
Back in 2007, following the incident, Kelly said that he finally "decided to give him his slice" when a foul ball came in their direction, though the 2021 telling of the story provided some extra ammunition as to why Kelly would have reacted the way he did.
"He sees me hand my wife a slice and he says, 'Your wife's got better taste in pizza than in men,'" Kelly said.
Ouch. What ensued on that foul pop was one of the funniest broadcasting moments from Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy, meticulously analyzing what had occurred on the pizza throw. We have to commend Kelly for his accuracy, and it seems as though, if revenge on Sole was his goal, he succeeded.
"I've never caught a foul ball in my life," Sole told John Thomase after the game. "It's been my dream to catch one. That's the closest I've ever come. The pizza just thwarted it."
And at first, he seemed to react with anger, though that didn't last too long.
"Yeah he was pissed off. I would be, too," Kelly said. "If you see the video, he's kinda egging me on to fight him. ... His girlfriend's trying to calm him down and his friend's laughing. But at the same token, he was kinda laughing too at the end. It calmed down pretty quickly."
But Sole's reaction wasn't the only impact of the throw. For days and months afterward, Kelly says that he tried to hide any evidence that could connect him to the throw — including friends calling into WEEI to tease that they knew the culprit's identity — out of embarrassment, though he no longer feels this way.
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