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People watching the 2024 World Series were baffled to see a New York Yankees fan attempt to steal the ball from theLos Angeles Dodgers' Mookie Betts in one of the worst cases of fan interference in modern baseball history and here comes the twist: Rob Gronkowski knows him.
Gronkowski, affectionately known as Gronk, spent over a decade in the NFL with the New England Patriots where he became a four-time Super Bowl champion as he forged a formidable relationship with Tom Brady.
So he isn't really who you would expect to know the average, run-of-the-mill baseball fan but it turns out he knows exactly who the culprit is as they played sports in college at Arizona together and described him as an 'animal'.
"This is actually the first time I'm seeing this live," Gronkowski said of the incident in Game 5 to Up & Adams. "And here's a little fun fact, that guy right there grabbing Mookie Betts' glove was my friend in college.
"He was on the ice hockey team, the club Arizona Wildcats ice hockey team. And let me tell you, the whole hockey team, they were absolute maniacs. They were indescribable. Animals, how wild these guys were."
Gronkowski celebrates the fan interference
To say Yankees fans have a reputation for eccentricity would be somewhat of an understatement and that proved to be the case in the Bronx once again when Austin Capobianco and Peter Taylor left onlookers stunned.
Betts tried to catch a foul ball in the first inning in Game 5 of the 2024 World Series to force an early out, but as he made his play, Capobianco and Taylor seized his glove to try to take the ball out of the hands of the ex-Boston Red Sox player.
However, neither of them accomplished their ambitions and were ejected from the venue and banned as the umpires called the play an out anyway, although Gronk still celebrated their audacity but criticized the incident.
"Him doing that, that represents him very well," Gronkowski continued. "I mean, he is all in for his teams. He is all in for the Yankees.
"I 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. I just wanna say congratulations for SHINING when your moment came. ... I'm not saying it's ok."
Gronkowski added: "It is unacceptable, definitely in the world of sports. But when you're that big of a fan, that's what fans do. I mean, whenever they have an opportunity to do that."