Almost 30 years after the New York Yankees benefited from baseball’s most infamous fan-interference incident, they were on the wrong side of a similar call. An overzealous spectator reached over the outfield wall, helping doom the Yankees in a 4-3 postseason loss to the Tampa Bay Rays.
Trailing 4-2 in a pivotal American League Division Series Game 3, New York needed a momentum-changing play with a runner on first base.
Anthony Volpe, who had struggled at second base, jumped on a 1-0 pitch and drove it high and deep toward left field at Yankee Stadium.
Rays left fielder Victor Mesa Jr raced toward the warning track and the wall, but the ball vanished from his path before he could attempt the catch.
Yankees fans erupted, briefly thinking Volpe’s drive had cleared the wall to tie the game at 4-4.
Replay officials, however, determined that a fan had reached over the wall and into the field of play, touching the ball before Mesa had a chance to make the catch. After reviewing several angles and applying the rules, officials overturned the home run because of spectator interference.
Yankees second baseman Anthony Volpe saw a crucial home run erased
Replay officials determined that a fan reached into the field of play before Victor Mesa could catch the ball
Volpe was awarded an RBI double, bringing the Yankees within one run at 4-3
Officials also ruled that, based on the ball’s trajectory, Mesa would not have caught it. Volpe was therefore credited with an RBI double, allowing George Lombard Jr to score and cutting the Rays’ lead to 4-3.
Yankees fans responded with a chorus of boos, furious that the apparent game-tying home run had been removed from the scoreboard. The spectators who reached over the wall were later escorted from the stadium by team officials and the NYPD.
A statement from the MLB replay center (via the New York Post’s Joel Sherman) read: ‘After viewing all relevant angles, the Replay Official definitively determined the spectator interfered with the ball over the field of play.
‘The ball would not have left the playing field nor would it have been caught. The call is OVERTURNED, there was spectator interference and no home run. Additionally, the Replay Official scored one run and placed the batter-runner at second.’
The incident quickly triggered a storm of online reaction, with social media users mocking and criticizing the fans whose actions took a run off the board for their own team.
‘Dumbest f***ing fans in all of baseball. Year in and year out,’ one user wrote, sharing an image from a fan-interference incident during the 2024 World Series.
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Another user joked: ‘mfers so thirsty for a ball they cost the Yankees the game.’
‘Why in a playoff game in your home stadium would you even do this?’ another user asked.
The Rays won Game 3 to sweep the Yankees and advance to the American League Championship Series, where they will face either the Cleveland Guardians or Chicago White Sox
Sidelined Yankees captain Aaron Judge watches dejectedly from the dugout
The Rays celebrate securing their place in the American League Championship Series
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After the Volpe incident in the sixth inning, the Yankees could not add another run to their total and lost 4-3 to be swept by the Rays and eliminated from the postseason.
Following the overturned homer, Rays pitchers Griffin Jax, Cam Booser Kevin Kelly and Bryan Baker struck out six Yankee batters to hold on to the one-run advantage.
Tampa’s runs were scored by Jonny DeLuca off an RBI single, Ryan Vilade off a solo shot and by Mesa – who socked a two-run homer.
As for the Yankees, this marks the 17th straight season that they will not win a World Series – the second-longest drought in franchise history.
Since 2009, the last time they won a title, the Yankees have won only seven non-Wild Card series and lost eleven non-Wild Cards under general manager Brian Cashman. It’s the eighth postseason series loss in nine seasons for manager Aaron Boone, who has now lost in the ALDS five times.
The interference comes just two days before the 30th anniversary of the ‘Jeffrey Maier incident’ from the 1996 ALDS between the Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles.
In Game 1 of that series, 12-year-old Jeffrey Maier reached over the wall to try and catch a ball hit by Derek Jeter. While Maier’s catch attempt prevented Baltimore outfielder Tony Tarasco from making a play on it, umpire Rich Garcia ruled it a home run anyway.
The Yankees went on to win the ALDS and the World Series – with Maier sitting behind the team’s dugout in the final series of the year.