No. 2024.10.29 · Modern Era
The Ball in Betts's Glove
Mookie Betts caught Gleyber Torres's foul against the right-field wall. Two fans grabbed his glove and tried to take the ball. Torres was called out for interference, and the fans were barred from the next game.
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Mookie Betts with the Dodgers at Nationals Park, April 2024. Not the World Series fan-interference play.
All-Pro Reels from District of Columbia, USA / CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)
October 29, 2024, Game 4 of the World Series, the bottom of the first at Yankee Stadium. Gleyber Torres hit a foul fly toward the right-field seats. Mookie Betts reached the wall and caught it. Two fans in the front row took hold of his glove and his wrist and tried to pull the ball out.
The umpires ruled fan interference. Torres was out. The two fans were ejected, and they were banned from Game 5. The catch counted. The argument was about whose hands had been on the glove.
A fan reaching over a wall is an old entry in this catalog. This one is on film from a yard away, in a World Series, with the ball already in the glove. The ruling followed the rule. The entry is the reach.
Film
Fan interference on Betts
Mookie Betts catches Gleyber Torres's foul against the wall, and Torres is ruled out on fan interference.
Watch on MLB.com