Rangers fan ejected after throwing ball near Matt Holliday
ARLINGTON, Texas — Seeing your team getting shellacked in Game 3 of the World Series can apparently rob some folks of their common sense.
With the Cardinals leading 14-6 in the seventh inning on Saturday night, an unidentified Texas Rangers fan tried to get in on the action by slinging a Wiffle Ball onto the field while Matt Holliday(notes) positioned himself for a ball hit by Nelson Cruz(notes).
Holliday made the out and later said he didn't even see the ball. But the white foreign object coming from the bleachers certainly got center fielder Jon Jay's(notes) attention. It also saw a concerned Tony LaRussa bolt from the Cardinals dugout for an explanation.
Fox replayed the incident to a national TV audience and also showed the scene as Texas Rangers security plucked the fan and his friend from their front-row seats.
Fans jeered the unidentified man as he was escorted up the aisle.
A handful of Rangers security guards flanked by a few Arlington police officers then surrounded the man and his friend, demanding to see their IDs and tickets.
"It was just a Wiffle Ball," the man could be heard telling the officers.
The man's hands trembled as he spoke to officers, but the pair also flashed Ferris Bueller-like smirks and fiddled with their cell phones. Not exactly they way to win leniency and save your pricey playoff seats.
A Yahoo! reporter was told to leave a public area after trying to get more details on what may have prompted the fan's whacky Wiffle Ball moment.
"You are not asking him questions," a security guard said. "You aren't talking to him."
Security personnel eventually ejected the man and his friend from the park. A police spokeswoman said they were not arrested.
"It's conduct we don't condone," said Rob Matwick, who oversees Rangers Ballpark operations. "We don't want anything to influence the game."
What he's really trying to say, of course?
The next violator gets a Nolan Ryan headlock and a knuckle sandwich.
