PHOENIX — The moment his name was announced Friday night, the fans immediately rose to their feet, clapped their hands, and cheered so loudly that Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte walked away from the plate.
Marte was overwhelmed with emotion, his eyes reddened. He took off his helmet, raised it high with his right hand and saluted the crowd, pounded his chest with his left arm, and exhaled, before stepping back into the batter’s box.
Diamondbacks fans expressed their genuine love and let him know that while it may be fine to boo the opposition, even taunt opposing players if you choose, you simply cannot cross the line between fandom and sheer hatred.
“They’re always yelling things that maybe I don’t mind,’’ Marte said on a Spanish-language podcast that was published Friday, “but when it comes to my mom, that’s when the line gets crossed.’’
Marte declined to speak about Tuesday’s ugly incident that left him in tears on the field at Rate Field against the Chicago White Sox, and told public relations officials he won’t speak about it again.
But the fans spoke loudly for him.
“I think it’s very powerful,’’ D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. “It’s a great statement of support and love and connection. At the end of the day, we all want to be a better human being.’’
Marte, the leading vote-getter to be the National League’s starting second baseman at the All-Star Game, was left sobbing Tuesday when he heard a White Sox fan yell: “I sent you mom a text last night.’’
Marte’s mother is dead.
She died in a car accident in 2017, and Marte was in Chicago when he got the news that day. The fan brought back all of the heartbreak in a flood of emotion.
“I’m ready at the plate, I hear this fan shouting,’’ Marte said on the podcast. “He yelled at me saying stuff about my mom. He was like, ‘I sent your mom a text last night.’ When everything happened I was here in Chicago. …
“People aways yell at me, but never about my mom. People know that my mom passed away in an accident.’’
Lovullo immediately rushed to Marte’s defense, ran from the dugout onto the field, and put his arm around Marte. Lovullo walked back towards the dugout, confronted the fan, and made sure he was ejected from the game. The fan was not only ejected, but also banned for life from all Major League Baseball stadiums.
“I just wear my heart on my sleeve, and I’m going to say what I believe and what I really mean,” Lovullo said after the incident. “They were authentic words, and I think the entire group felt the same way as I did. I have no problem crying, believing in the things that are so important to me.”
When Marte came to the ballpark the following day, he was greeted by two notes from White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf apologizing for the fan’s behavior, assuring him it was not acceptable. White Sox manager Will Venable called to express his sympathy. The White Sox put a message on the scoreboard before Marte came to the plate the following day that read: “The White Sox community supports Ketel Marte.”
“I think Major League Baseball did a great job, I think the Chicago White Sox did an amazing job as well,’’ Lovullo said. “I just appreciated that they followed their own internal protocol, which is to eliminate the stimulus from the stadium. There’s protocols that the security guards had to follow, which they did, and I’m grateful for that.
“So, the protocols are to eliminate the stimulus, let them know, get them out of the stadium, and then you just pick up the pieces.’’
Yet, once again, ugly fan incidents are occurring far too frequently.
“I think something about the fans,’’ Marte said. “It’s getting out of hand.’’
The Pittsburgh Pirates had two different episodes with fans at Comerica Park in Detroit last week. Pirates outfielder Tommy Pham was berated with obscenities and gestures from fans during the game, and at least two fans were ejected.
It’s as if hate has become a rallying cry in ballparks and stadiums across the country.
Well, the Diamondbacks fans on this night against the Miami Marlins did everything possible to replace that hatred with love, wildly cheering Marte every time his name was announced before the game, building to a crescendo as he stepped to the plate in the first inning.
The fans have since even donated more than $18,000 to the Diamondbacks Foundation in the name of Marte’s mother.
“I want to say thank you to all the fans that have really supported Ketel ….’’ Lovullo said. “I just appreciate what everybody’s done. Ketel is doing fine. He’s managing it very, very well. … He’s just so authentic and genuine, and really, you can’t help but love him.
“I know that he really appreciates the love and support that he’s feeling.’’
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