Dodgers star Mookie Betts tells Kevin Hart what he really thinks of viral World Series clash with Yankees fans
Mookie Betts may have had the last laugh, but the Los Angeles Dodgers star is still angry at the New York Yankees fans who tried to rip the ball out of his glove in Game 4 of the World Series.
Two fans were ejected for trying to pry the ball out of Betts’ hand when the right fielder caught a pop-up from Gleyber Torres in foul territory at Yankee Stadium.
As Betts made a brilliant catch, a fan – later named Austin Capobianco – grabbed his hand and pulled his fingers away from the ball. Capobianco’s friend then grabbed Betts’ other hand before the ball fell out of his hands. Torres was rightly ruled out as a right-field umpire.
Now, in his appearance on ‘Back That Year Up 2024’ with Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson, Betts has revealed what he really thinks about the moment now that he’s a World Series winner again.
‘I would really say: ‘f*** you’. For example, try to grab the ball, cool. But you tried to take my shit,” Betts said.
‘I was in the moment. So I thought about throwing the ball to them. And then I realized, ‘Mook, you’re not going to do any nonsense. Go back to right field.”
Mookie Betts has said what he really thought about Yankees fans ripping the ball out of his hand
Two Yankees fans ripped the ball out of his hand after Betts caught a Gleyber Torres pop-up
Betts gave a much more diplomatic response after the game, which the Dodgers lost the night before completing their World Series victory the next day in Game 5.
“When it comes to the person in the game, it doesn’t matter,” he said. ‘We lost. It’s not relevant. I’m doing well. He’s doing well. Everything is cool.
“We lost the game and I’m kind of focused on that. We need to turn the page and get ready for tomorrow.”
The Yankees fans in question even spoke out about their moment in the spotlight and said they had no regrets.
“We always joke about the ball in our region,” Capobianco told ESPN. “We’re not going to go out of our way to attack. If it’s in our area, we’ll go to ‘D’.
‘Someone defends, someone knocks the ball. We talk about it. We are willing to do this.
‘I know when I’m wrong and as soon as I did it I was like, ‘Guys, I’m out of here.’ I patrol that wall and they know it.’
Capobianco and his friend were excluded from Game 5, where the Dodgers erased a 5-1 Yankees lead and won the World Series in New York. It was the third World Series title in the 32-year-old Betts’ career.