Yankees Give Interfering Fans' Tickets to Ill Child

Two New York Yankees fans who were ejected from Game 4 of the World Series for interfering with Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts have been barred from Game 5 on Wednesday night. Betts leaped at the retaining wall in foul territory and caught Gleyber Torres' pop fly in the first inning Tuesday night, but a fan in the first row wearing a gray Yankees road jersey grabbed Betts' glove with both hands and pulled the ball out. Another fan grabbed Betts' bare hand, the AP reports. The ball fell to the field.

"Come here, cheer, root for your team, whatever. No place for that," New York manager Aaron Boone said Wednesday. "Should never have hands on anyone." The Yankees called the behavior "egregious and unacceptable." The team said the fans involved are season-ticket holders. After the game, one of them said at a bar that he and his friend had discussed doing something like that before. "We always joke about the ball in our area," he told ESPN. "We're not going to go out of our way to attack. If it's in our area, we're going to 'D' up. Someone defends, someone knocks the ball." He said the team refunded the price of their Game 5 tickets and told them they'd be arrested if they show up at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees instead gave the Wednesday tickets to an ill child and his family.

(More World Series stories.)