The Chicago White Sox have indefinitely banned a fan from their home games after he brought Arizona Diamondbacks’ Ketel Marte to tears by reportedly heckling him about his late mother.
Marte was seen in tears on the field after a spectator yelled a derogatory comment about his mother, Elpidia Valdez, who died in a car crash in the Dominican Republic in 2017. Marte was visibly upset during a pitching change at the bottom of the seventh inning, and manager Torey Lovullo was seen consoling him with an arm around him.
Lovullo and bench coach Jeff Banister asked for the fan to be removed. The White Sox confirmed Wednesday the fan was ejected from the game and has been banned indefinitely.
Major League Baseball also confirmed that the ban will apply to all MLB stadiums, saying, “There is no place in the game or the ballparks for offensive language.”
“It was a terrible moment,” said Lovullo. “Fans are nasty. And I love my players, and I’m going to protect them.”
While the fan has not been identified, White Sox manager Will Venable discussed the incident Wednesday morning at a media availability.
“No player should ever have to be subjected to that kind of stuff from fans,” Venable said. “That’s not reflective of anything that I’ve seen from these White Sox fans. They’ve been extremely positive and extremely supportive, and for Ketel to have to experience that is extremely disappointing. I sent my apologies over to them last night, and I know a number of us have apologized, again, for what is not representative of how our fans behave, and something that no player should be subjected to.”
Asked about the team’s response, Venable simply replied, “Anybody who is engaged in that kind of stuff is not going to be welcome.”
The Diamondbacks and Sox met at The Rate again Wednesday for the last game in a three-game series, and White Sox fans were out with a full-force show of support for Marte as he took the field. They cheered loudly for him and held up signs of support.
Fans of both teams were unified in their condemnation of the banned fan’s actions.
“I support fans being enthusiastic, but be respectful at the same time,” said Dave Sutherland of Brownsburg, Indiana.
“I don’t think you should get personal with the players. It’s about baseball,” said Chris Schmidt, who was in Chicago from Phoenix.
“I think it was the right choice,” said Steve Sanchez from Oak Park. “I don’t think that should be tolerated at any baseball field. It’s inhumane.”
As the stadium Wednesday, staff brought up a message on the big screen reading: “Baseball is Family. The White Sox Community supports Ketel Marte.”
Though the Diamondbacks beat the Sox in the first two games of their series, Chicago came back in the last game to win 7-3.
contributed to this report.
