The fan who tried to pry a baseball out of Mookie Betts' glove at the World Series turns out to be a former college hockey player who was friends with retired NFLer Rob Gronkowski.
The New York Yankees fan at the center of Tuesday night's World Series controversy was once on a different sports path.
Long before being banned from Game 5 for interfering with Los Angeles Dodgers star Mookie Betts in Game 4, Austin Capobianco played college hockey and was friends with retired NFL star Rob Gronkowski.
Capobianco’s hockey career included stints with the Eastern Junior Hockey League's New Jersey Hitmen in 2004-05 and the Boston Harbor Wolves in 2005-06, totalling 73 games. Despite recording just 19 points, Capobianco amassed 129 penalty minutes during his EJHL tenure.
After that, Capobianco played for the University of Arizona's ACHA hockey team while Gronkowski suited up for the college football squad.
"Let me tell you, the whole hockey team – they were absolute maniacs," Gronkowski said on the Up & Adams show Wednesday morning. "They were undescribable...how wild these guys were."
Capobianco's scoring rate improved in college, getting 16 points in 15 games in 2008-09 and 24 points in 26 games in 2009-10. But he continued to rack up penalty minutes, with 35 in 2008-09 and 56 in 2009-10.
Fast forward to the recent incident at Yankee Stadium, where season-ticket holder Capobianco and fellow fan John Peter were ejected. Capobianco tried to pry the ball out of Betts' glove after the Dodgers right fielder jumped to make a catch in foul territory.
"He is all-in for his teams," Gronkowski said. "He is all-in for the Yankees. I remember him talking about the Yankees all the time, how he loves them so much. And that describes him perfectly, just doing whatever it takes to help his team out. He's a beauty."
The Yankees organization released a statement calling the interference "egregious and unacceptable," banning the duo from attending Game 5. Capobianco was notified that attempting to enter the stadium would result in arrest, although it’s unclear if this ban will extend into next season.
"We're hoping for a short-term ban," Capobianco told ESPN's Jesse Rogers. "We don't want to lose the season tickets."
After congratulating the former hockey defenseman, Gronkowski said the incident Tuesday night was unacceptable behavior. But he mentioned another tidbit Capobianco told Rogers.
"We always joke about the ball in our area," Capobianco said. "We're not going to go out of our way to attack. If it's in our area, we're going to 'D' up."
While the Yankees refunded his Game 5 ticket, the hockey player and "fun guy" will have to cheer on his team from a distance after learning the consequences of interfering in play.
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