The Los Angeles Dodgers fan in the stands who denied the New York Yankees a go-ahead run in the top of the ninth inning on Friday, October 25th, may have been the MVP of Game 1 of the World Series instead of Freddie Freeman.
Gleyber Torres smashed a 99 mph pitch high-right of the plate that appeared to be headed for a 3-2 lead for the Yankees going into the bottom of the ninth inning, but a spectator caught the ball by reaching over the wall.
The inning ended with immediate recollections of Jeffrey Maier’s 1996 catch of Derek Jeter’s home run, which resulted in a call of fan interference and limited Torres to just a double that the club was unable to convert into a run.
However, on October 25, the Dodgers did not score either when they batted in the ninth inning. The Californian team won Game 1 of the World Series 6-3 after the New Yorkers added one run at the beginning of the tenth inning. Freeman’s walk-off home run with two on base concluded the game and sent Dodger Stadium into a frenzy.
What is the incident involving Jeffrey Maier?
The Jeffrey Maier incident occurred during Game 1 of the 1996 ALCS and left the Baltimore Orioles players furious because a 12-year-old Yankees fan caught a Jeter shot to right-field, but the umpires failed to call crowd interference.
But if the fan didn’t intervene, Tony Tarasco was directly underneath the ball, ready to make the catch, probably maintaining their advantage in the game. Instead, the umpire called the Yankees’ home run.
A fan reached over the fence on this hit by Gleyber Torres resulting in a fan interference call pic.twitter.com/67dm8hrhqm
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 26, 2024
The Orioles’ head coach was ejected when a challenge was made and the ruling was sustained, making the game 4–4 before the Yankees won in the 11th in one of the most contentious games in modern baseball history. As the Yankees defeated the Orioles 4-1 in the series and went on to win MLB, the umpire who called the game later acknowledged that there was crowd interference and that Tarasco may have caught the ball.
