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The Chicago White Sox have indefinitely banned a fan from their home games after he brought Arizona Diamondbacks’ Ketel Marte to tears after 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 rash in the Dominican Republic in 2017. Marte was visibly upset during a pitchng change at the bottom of the seventh inning, and manager Torey Lovullo was seen consoling him with an arm around him.
Lovullo and bench coast 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.
Marte declined to comment on the incident through a team official. Diamondbacks shortstop Geraldo Perdomo said the fan “should be banned, for sure” and called for Major League Baseball to intervene.
“That can’t happen,” Perdomo said. “We can’t continue to do that … here in MLB.”
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 White Sox and Diamondbacks play again at The Rate Wednesday afternoon at 1:10 p.m. CT., the second in a two-game series.
The Associated Press
contributed to this report.
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