“Leave Me Alone”: Banned Yankees Fan Who Grabbed Mookie Betts’ Glove Sends Emotional Plea to Baseball World

Does Austin Capobianco’s name ring a bell for you? Well, he was famous, or rather infamous, just a few months back. He did what every baseball fan is told never to do—interfere in a game. That too in a World Series game! While trying to give the New York Yankees an edge in Game 4 of the WS, he grabbed Mookie Betts’ glove. He was removed from the game. All that money to see the dream game between LA and New York is gone for a toss. And since then, he has also become the public enemy no. 1. Also, for the LA fans, more so.

The Los Angeles Dodgers responded quickly that time. They won the series in just five games and celebrated their win on the New York Yankees turf. MLB too responded quickly to the matter. They handed him a lifetime ban from not one but all their stadiums. Case closed, right?

Not really, because The Athletic opened the can of worms again. They interviewed Capobianco recently, where he talked about his life after that game and how he wants everything to go back to as it was.

In the long interview by The Athletic, Capobianco went on to list everything that’s happened to him. It includes social media h—ssment, disturbing packages being sent to his office, and more. But the weirdest one was a mystery box that was delivered to his parent’s house. They opened it, and it had actual f–es in it! “It was poop,” Capobianco mentioned. Someone had actually paid money to a company to send poop anonymously.

Capobianco, talking about it, said, “All the stuff my family has had to deal with because of me,” Capobianco lamented, saying that “the nonstop phone calls. The people are sending me pictures of their ugly-looking p–ises. The packages.” And last of all, he regrets what has happened, and he understands the ban. He just wants things from him to move on, and he wants others to move on.

“Guys, you won the World Series. Leave me alone,” said Capobianco. And he even put forth the story of what really happened that day. That it was never in his intention to do what he did. He wants his story heard.

Capobianco shares his side of Mookie Betts incident

So, Austin Capobianco never planned to make it into the headlines that day. It was a rather normal day for him. He shared with The Athletic what his day looked like. He had gone to Yankee Stadium with his younger brother and friends, hoping for a comeback. But after the Los Angeles Dodgers jumped ahead, the frustration started building up. Then Gleyber Torres sent a line drive towards their area, and everything since happened in a jiffy.

The ball landed in Mookie’s glove, and Capobianco tried to open it. Then the ball got knocked over, and his friend John Hansen grabbed Mookie Betts’ wrist. Capobianco mentioned that Betts was swearing at them. After a while, he knew then that he would be ejected. He was, and then he thought he would be back for game 5. But he was banned from coming in, and the proceeds of his tickets went to a cancer patient.

Also, Capobianco mentioned that the fallout was bad, and his phone was blasted with hate messages and threats. He mentioned that he never intended to touch a player. And when the incident replays, he never watches it, “I want nothing to do with that memory.” Well, for now, he is just staying away from Yankee Stadium.

How do you perceive this entire incident? Was it a spur-of-the-moment act or a thought after-action to go after a player? Let us know!