In the ninth inning of Sunday’s game against the Red Sox, Evan Longoria went into the stands for a foul ball off the bat of Jacoby Ellsbury, only to have a Rays fan snag the ball before it reached Longoria’s outstretched glove.
In the doldrums days when the Tampa Bay team was still association with Satan’s underwater minions, the Trop was something of a second home for the Red Sox, a place where it was common for the crowd to cheer louder for Boston than the local club. So it’s a sign of how much things have changed that the man who snagged the pop-up was wearing a jersey with the name “Longoria” stretched across the shoulders.
Back to the play: Longoria, who is one of the most exciting players in the game, threw a hissy fit about it. He pointed to the fan and yelled about it and clapped his glove. After the game ended, Troy Percival gestured into the stands and screamed an obsenity at the man. Later Longoria expressed his hope that the other fans were “doing their job” by giving the guy holy hell about catching the ball. Even Joe Maddon made comments to the press about how poor the fan’s actions were.
My two cents: Longoria’s actions on the field were boorish and stupid, and his comment afterwards; his snarky innuendo that the guy deserved some kind of tar-and-feather job for trying to catch a foul-ball, was offensive in the extreme. Troy Percival, whose behavior was worse than Longoria, ought to get suspended. And fined. And Joe Maddon should shut the hell up about how fans are supposed to behave at baseball games, and start worrying about how his players are behaving.
As for the play itself: let’s remember that the ball was caught in the second row. This wasn’t some incident where the fan reached over the field of play. Rather: Longoria dived into the stands. It’s a close call: if I’m sitting in that seat and there is a foul ball about to land on my head, I’m not going to wait and see if the fielder is going to protect me. I’m going to catch it.
Look, Rays: you guys had a fine season last year. You have a great young team with exciting players. The future is bright: you have a lot going for you.
But to call out a guy who is wearing your team’s colors, to cuss him out publicly, on national television, isn’t the smartest way to build fan support. It doesn’t make people like you, or want to root for you.
That guy who caught the foul ball, who then had the pleasure of watching Longoria throw a temper-tantrum, who then got to bear the scrutiny of the mob around him, who then got cussed out by the Rays’ reliever after the game was over, who then got called out by the manager…he’s not coming back. He’s not going to buy the box seats in your crummy stadium, he’s not taking his kids to the game, and he’s not going to wear that Rays jersey anymore. He’s done.
And he’s not the only one. A day later the Tampa Bay area blogs and newspapers were littered with fans who are quitting the team because of Sunday’s incident.
You’re not the Cubs. The Cubs will have fans no matter what they do, because they’ve earned it. They’ve been around. They give the people of Chicago some amount of joy mixed in with all that sorrow. They can deal with a ‘Bartman’ episode. You can’t.
Whatever fan-base your team gained last year, whatever following you started to create in Florida, it is a fragile thing, and it can be undone. Not all at once, but quicker than you think. And then we’ll be back to the days where Tropicana is filled with Red Sox fans and Yankee fans.
I watched that game on television. Afterwards I watched to see what Longoria would do. The inning over, the game decided, I was hoping he’d head over to the third base seats and talk to the guy. Joke around. Say something like, “You gave us a scare, but it’s over now and we won.” Shake hands. Laugh it off. Let it go.
He didn’t. Instead he said, “He knew that he was wrong and I think some of the fans were giving him some stuff after. They did their job.” And Troy Percival screamed at the guy, and Maddon went on television to remind us how we damned well ought to behave at ballgames.
There’s that old adage about getting what one deserves. The Rays might want to remember it the next time their stadium fills up with fans rooting for the other team.
Dave Fleming is a writer living in Iowa City. He welcomes comments, questions, and beer-soaked Evan Longoria jerseys here and at dfleming1986@yahoo.com.