Video emerges of Arizona manager confronting Ketel Marte heckler: ‘You dumb f***’
Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo appears to yell at fan who made comments about the star's late mother.
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Torey Lovullo wasn’t messing around when he heard a fan heckling one of his players.
In a video first posted on TikTok, the Arizona manager was seen angrily pointing out the fan who allegedly had been taunting Ketel Marte about his late mother – bringing the Diamondbacks star to tears on the field.
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Video emerges of Arizona manager confronting Ketel Marte heckler: ‘You dumb f***’ Back to video
During the clip from Tuesday night’s game against the White Sox in Chicago, Lovullo is seen yelling at the fan before gesturing towards security to have him thrown out.
“Dumb f***,” Lovullo appears to say in video. “His mom died, you dumb f***. Dumb f***.”
Arizona bench coach Jeff Banister can also be seen pointing the fan out to security during the exchange.
TikTok user smartasskris, who posted the clip of Lovullo, also revealed more details about the fan in the caption of the post.
“This was our first game at Rate Field. We were sitting about 7 rows behind home plate, heard bits and pieces of the heckling (had gotten progressively worse over time), saw Ketel Marte become visibly upset, teammates standing up for him, and saw Torey Louvello (sp) call for the fan’s ejection,” she wrote.
“Great job by White Sox security for understanding the gravity of the situation. While it hurt to watch Marte shaken up, it was a good lesson in sportsmanship for others (what we don’t do and what we should not tolerate), and appreciation and maturity of these young players who grieve and have feelings like anyone else.”
The TikToker also posted a video of the fan being removed from the stadium by security personnel.
Marte was seen in tears on the field after the spectator yelled a derogatory comment about Marte’s late mother during a seventh-inning at-bat in Arizona’s 4-1 win over Chicago.
The infielder was visibly upset during a pitching change in the bottom of the seventh as Lovullo put his arm around his player and consoled him.
Marte’s mother, Elpidia Valdez, died in a car accident in the Dominican Republic in 2017.
The 22-year-old fan, who was seen wearing a Chicago Bears jersey, has now been banned from all MLB ball parks for the incident.
According to a White Sox spokesperson, the security staff at the ballpark relayed that the fan was “very apologetic and remorseful after the fact, and admitted to being very inappropriate and stupid with his comments.”
During Wednesday’s game in Chicago, the White Sox posted a notice on their scoreboard showing their support for Marte.
— With Associated Press files
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