I saw this last night on Sportscenter...Sheff fielded a grounder near the wall and this idiot punched (or took a swing) at him while he was bent over picking up the ball. Another guy threw beer all over him. Luckily he didn't go up into the stands after the guy or anything.

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That fan was a jackass. I HATE the Yankees and even I have to side with Sheffield on this one. You guys hear the defense by the idiot's fiancee? Article

If that was a reach to get the ball, that guy has the worst eye-hand coordination EVER. He didn't even bend down just took an uppercut. Regardless of whether he hit him hard or just grazed him, why the HELL would you pick Sheffield of all people to do that to? He's lucky Sheff showed some restraint. When he turned back after throwing the ball in I thought the guy was DEAD. And WHY were the idiots trying to get the ball anyway? If they did and it became a ground rule double that would have HURT their team.

Some fan said that, his fiancee just said he was a nice boy and wouldn't do such a thing.

*500 posts*

I know it was another fan. I just found that quote particularly absurd lol.

yeah just wanted to clarify. I laughed when I read that, "steroid-ish" lol

wow, i just saw that this morning. pretty crazy if you ask me. i thought sheff was gonna club him across the face, but it looks like he just faked it.

I think, more over, Sheff just restrained himself last minute than intending to fake the punch. He would have knocked the guy stone cold out and it would have cost him a few million bucks after the lawsuit.

I was watching the game when this happened and I really couldn't believe it. Bigbluepride35 and I were discussing and my Yankee side instantly saw the guy swinging at Sheff while he was a little more skeptical.

yeah, see, i still haven't caught the swing at sheff, i was looking too closely at something else. need to see the replay again.

after watching the replay, I don't see where the fan actually made contact. maybe I'm just watching it close enough.

i just watched it again on sportscenter, in HD. the guy makes a downward swinging motion, more towards the ball/ground, but sheff has his head down, and i think the guys arm grazes across his face. it didn't actually look like it was directed toward to sheff.

But when he brings the arm back up? Like I said if anyone hates the Yanks I do. But I still thought the fan tried. And as far as making contact Steffan, I think he just grazed him but I think it was there. Of course, I'm sure you could ask 10 differrent people and they'd see it 10 different ways. But the guy definitely didn't really bend over to go for the ball all that much IMO. If he was going for the ball it was a pathetic attempt. And again I think they need to make more of a buffer in that corner between fans and players. Then this wouldn't even BE an issue. At least when the Yanks are in town. Everyone remember the bullpen scuffle involving, if I remember correctly, Jeff Nelson and, as Pedro put it so well in an interview with Peter Gammons, Karim "Who is Karim Garcia? Nobody." Garcia?

Ugh... This whole Boston-New York thing is out of hand... Pretty soon, New England will be blown up. It'll be a big explosion.

This is how we vent out frustration and all. I'm glad I have this rivalry in my life.

Rivalry is not beating up players on the field...

And no one's doing that. This whole thing's being blown out of proportion.

hahaha, I saw this on sportcentre....no intention on hitting sheffield....i mean you can't think the fan to be THAT dumb....looked like he was taking a blind swipe @ the one hopper....plus sheff is a GIANT FLAPPING PUSSY.

Not really. If Sheff takes that swing after throwing the ball in we could've had another Indiana-Detroit fiasco. Luckily Sheff held back and security got there quickly. But especially considering recent athlete-fan altercations I think it's a serious issue. Aside from that b-ball game in baseball alone in recent years we've had the Tom Gamboa incident, the Matt Spiers incident, the Milton Bradley incident, and the (Francisco?) Rodriguez incident. Fan's have to realize their domain is the stands. You pay for your ticket, not for the right to be stupid and interfere in the field of play. Heckle all you want IMO but when you cross that line you deserve to get jumped and an entire baseball team. Similarly, the players have to learn to deal with the heckling. As long as it doesn't get physical, which it unfortunately did in those incidents, you have to learn to deal with getting verbally harassed.

What? The guy got hit in the mouth. While it's commonly accepted that the fan was swinging at him, let's just say he was reaching for the ball, for your sake. Gary had no idea as he was, wait for it, playing a game of baseball and had his head down trying to pick up the ball. Next thing he knows, an arm swings down, no where near the ball, and hits him in the mouth. He proceeded to push the guy off of him so he could cleanly throw the ball back and then was about to knock the guy the hell out, but luckily restrained himself.

For those of you claiming he was reaching for the ball, watch the clip closely. He made an uppercut swinging motion. Watch anyone else grabbing for the ball. Their hands went in a straight downward motion, not swinging. The fan was probably a little drunk and got carried away. Either way, the MLB needs to look at stuff like this. There have been way too many instances of fans feeling the need to interject themselves into the game. Hell, even after all that crap, some genius ran onto the field at the end of the game only to get tackled by security.

Yes, really.

Want to know why? Because he didn't do anything. Thus, it was blown out of proportion. You can't argue a hypothetical situation isn't being blown out of proportion like that

Are you simply refusing to admit you're wrong? It's not being blown out of proportion because it's an indication of a much larger problem.

O of course. Let's wait until there's a Detroit-Indiana fiasco in baseball BEFORE we deal with the problem. Perish the thought we try to PREVENT something rather than have to react to it.

IMO if this idiot wants to hit Sheff they should lock them both in a 10x10 room and let this jackass take a swing at him while he isn't playing a game . My money is on Sheff in the 1st round

Hahahahaha! Refusing to admit I'm wrong? It's an opinion! How can I be wrong about it being blown out of proportion when it's my opinion? Hey, I can say the same about you -- you're refusing to admit you're wrong that it isn't being blown out of proportion. Does that make me right? Nope. Doesn't make you right, either, buddy

Like I said: nothing happened. Did anyone get hurt? Nope. Did the police not respond? Nope, they did. Did a riot break out? Nope. It's your normal New York-Boston rivalry stuff. If you haven't come to expect this then I'm not sure you can consider yourself a sports fan. It's a simple matter: the fan was being stupid, tempers flaired, nothing happened.

You guys are turning this into a bigger deal than the whole Rangers-Athletics thing last year -- when something did actually happen.

Your last sentence, right there, proves my point. This incident didn't turn into anything, but look at what happened last year between teams that don't even come close to sharing the same rivalry. As I said before, this is indicative if a continued trend in Baseball where fans cross the line. This incident isn't a problem, in and of itself, but it's part of something much bigger. Denying that is simply being nieve. This is the perfect time to step up and do something to thwart future issues. Being proactive will always be more productive than having to be reactive.

My last line proves nothing of the sort. My entire point was you guys are making a bigger deal out of something where absolutely nothing happens to a situation where something did happen. You can't even begin to compare the two other than they both involved fans and baseball players. They are two completely different situations. Am I denying that there was a problem? No, I am not, so stop trying to put words in my mouth. I said you guys are turning it into a bigger problem than it actually is. I'm not naive for thinking you guys are making this into something it's not.

Secondly, it is great how you side-stepped the complete argument of me "refusing to admit" that I was "wrong" for thinking it was blown out of proportion and changed your argument completely.

I'm simply not discussing the Sheffield incident cause you obviously don't see what I see. The fan swung at him. He was drunk, probably with his friends, caught up in the moment, and did something that can only be described as assinine. He's lucky, health wise, that Sheffield didn't cough up the million bucks in the eventual lawsuit and just knock him the hell out.

However, beyond that, this situation is important for a much larger reason. You can read my other posts for that.

I understand that, but I think your mind is creating the situations that you don't know the facts about... no offense, but look at your signature.

Yes, I like the Yankees. Bigbluepride hates the yanks and he even saw it. Coincidences do happen.

I think Sheffield needsa few games off. Hopefully the league will help him with that. The fan's 'swipe' doesn't look intentional at him, and if he really wanted to hit him, heck he could have. Sheffield's retaliation is the only intentional hit.

The Red Sox revoke the season tickets of the guy that "hit" Sheffield. The other fan that spilled beer on Sheffield can not buy a ticket for the rest of the season.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2040064&num=1

Sheffield will out his fate tomorrow.

There's no way that guy was going for the ball. He barely bent over, and took a VERY awkward swing up toward Sheff's head. It's obvious what he was going to do. This from someone who enjoys hating the Yankees.

so nothing for sheff, right? i think the situation worked out pretty well.

exactly what I've been trying to say. Like bigbluepride35 said, if he was going for the ball, he has some terrible hand-eye coordination.

I maybe a die-hard Red Sox fan, but that doesn't change the fact that Sheff was in the right for his quick reaction and deserves kudos for not overreacting. Those two fans are a disgrace to Red Sox nation and deserve their tickets revoked (on top of just being plain stupid - if they're trying to help the Red Sox win they could have at least snagged the ball).

Also, Boston police is going to press charges against them, so their legal problems are far from over.

Regardless of whether or not House was aiming for Sheffield, he was still trying to interfere with an in-play ball. I honestly don't see how in the world you can say he was swinging at the ball/ground when he wasn't, in my eyes, even bent at the knees. In any case, any fan that is interfering with the players, the ball, a bat, etc. should be ejected from the stadium and banned completely from any future games. I am happy that Boston punished House, but I don't think it sent a clear-cut message to other fans.

If he was trying to hit him, he still has terrible hand eye coordination. From any angle, Sheffield is the only one who initiated contact.

Even if you discount the "reach over", since that is up for debate, the fact that Sheff got a beer thrown at him in the process of fielding a ball is inexcusable.

And I live in Boston.

Sheffield is the only one who initiated contact? What Why would Sheffield react the way he did if he wasn't touched first? Apparently Boston Officials disagree with you, otherwise they wouldn't have punished House and MLB would have punished Sheff.

I am just saying no video clearly shows there was contact from the fan.

Why would Sheff react? This guy isn't the model of baseball mind you, in my eyes he thought he was being attacked, so his short fuse lit up.

huh? Sheff isn't known as a troublemaker at all dude. Good thing they decided to not suspend him, he shouldn't be suspended...he was actually commended for his restraint.

I have to agree.

Also, if anyone even gets in your way and you're playing a baseball game, aren't you going to react? Sheffield would have reacted if the guy took a swing at him, or if he was going for the ball. You can't argue that Sheffield would have only been mad at the guy and shoved him if he took a swing at him -- because if he went for the ball or impeded him in any way he'd quite obviously be mad, too.

Sheffield was the one that shoved the fan. I never saw the fan intentionally hit Sheffield -- and if he did even hit him (intentionally or not), it was quite possibly the weakest "hit" in the history of mankind.

Yeah, actually, he is. Read up on him a bit.

Either way the fan only got pushed back a little bit...luckily. Either way he doesn't need to interfere in a professional baseball game. If he wants to field a ball he needs to get off his fat beer drinking ass and go try out. And it doesn't matter if he intentionally hit Sheff or not. If you had your head down grounding a ball and got hit at all you'd assume someone was taking a swing at you (especially nowdays in sports). This dude will be better off watching the games from home since his tickets were taken from him. "Keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times"...

I was searching for his troubled past but couldn't find anything much at all...can you post a link?

As opposed to 'the fan might have interfered with the player? Visible contact vs alleged contact. If i were the fan, I would press battery charges against Sheffield.

I have done a search for Gary's past and couldn't find anything either. I'm not saying he hasn't had his bad moments, but let's be honest about this: Gary felt something brush up against him or saw something coming towards him and defended himself. I think he did a great job of restraining himself. But no matter how you look at what happened to Gary, no fan should be messing with anything in-play or anyone in-play. Every game I go to or watch on T.V., I always see fans trying to mess with the ball and someone has to be made an example of. Fans have gotten out of control at these sporting events and something needs to wake them up.

Baltimore has a rule that if you mess with anything in-play (including a player), you spend 1 night in jail along with other punishments. I personally think that this is a great and all ball team should start doing this!

yet another reason for me to hate the yankees

What's another reason to hate the Yankees? Gary didn't start it, the fan did

He's a well known clubhouse cancer. His attitude stinks. Why would a great ballplayer be tossed around from team to team so much? He had attitude problems in Milwaukee, San Diego, Florida, LA, ATL. ANd now, Steroid problems, to go along with his short fuse...which he's had all his career.

By sweeping for the ball? Like I said before, if the fan wanted to hit Gary, he did just as poor of a job as he did sweeping for the ball. You can't attack one without attacking the other, as both are 'hardly attempts'. Sheffield was the only one that made any visible contact. The fan 'swipe' cannot be confirmed as an attack on the player at all.