Sheffield gets punced in the face by a fan!

[ATLien]

Why do fans think that just because they bought a ticket, that gives them the right to do whatever they feel like? Idiots.

[Providence A's]

what was that about classy Sox fans?

[Fishercat]

One fan...out of 34,000 fans...

[Killah Sith]

I don't think the guy intended to hit Sheffield, but he wasn't going after the ball and he was trying to distract Sheffield. I'll have to see it again, but he didn't seem to care that he hit him either, that is until Sheffield reacted then the guy suddenly got worried.

I don't blame Sheffield at all for the initial swipe at the fan and I applaud him for holding back after he threw the ball in. MLB and the police should just let it be and move on. Sheffield did nothing wrong and don't give the guy any attention.

[Element]

Boston PD has confirmed to NESN that he was not arrested

I guess ESPN spoke too soon...

[Providence A's]

One fan...out of 34,000 fans...

34,000 fans were not in that seat or section...who knows if any of the others in attendance would have done something.

I've been to many, many Saux games and this type of crap doesn't surprise me. Don't even think of wearing another team's hat or something (unless it's the yanks because they usually have just as many fans) because you'll be asking for it. for example:

I went to a Braves / Saux game a few years ago and there were two guys with Braves jerseys that were just cheering for the Braves during the game. Well, some classy Saux fans that snuck in hard alcohol (and some lemons to go with it), got hammered and threw the lemons at the guys and tried starting a fight. And there's been at least a few other games that I can remember where Saux fans got tossed for fighting and so on...so don't tell me Saux fans are classy because this kind of thing happens all the time. And no, obviously it is not every single fan...but it seems happen more often than it should

[Element]

You laugh, but it is true. On the 10th, Sexson hit a HR, but a fan pushed it back in play with his glove, and it was just out of the fielder's, Hidalgo's, reach. To the umps it looked like Hidalgo had hit it back in play, but it was actually the fan. It would have been a 3 run HR, but turned out to be a double.

There is a Seattle fan for you.

[HuskerFan2002]

*sighs*
Why can't fans keep a low profile at baseball games? Its the best way to avoid scraps like what happened this evening.

[love_that_reefer]

Another great job by ESPN to make something out of nothing. The problem was solved very quickly and it wasn't that big of a deal. ESPN blowing the Red Sox/Yankee rivarly a little more.

[awefullspellare]

You would almost certainly never see anything remotely like that at Great American Ball Park.

All it takes is ONE idiot. Not even a real Reds fan. Cincy has their fair share of bad fans so don't say it won't ever happen .

[awefullspellare]

Saw the stuff on ESPN finally. The fan didn't do ALL that much but it was still wrong. Gary did a good job holding himsefl back and that securtiy gaurd deserves a big tip and big applause. Outstanding job getting between the situation. Much better then the so called security in the Palace in Novemeber.

[A'sDiehard]

ESPN is all over this like flies on the sheet that it really is. How fitting.

[Steak]

From watching the highlights millions of times last night, it looked like the fan wanted to swipe the ball off Sheffield and that was basically it. He either wanted to take the ball away from him or just prevent Sheff from taking the ball. Either way, that fan had no right interferring in that play, but that's what you call a home-field advantage.

Sheffield overreacted by confronting the fan. I don't think fan even punched Sheffield. It seemed that the fan was shellshocked when Sheffield confronted. Good thing the security man jumped in right away before it got really ugly for that fan. Sheffield clearly was tired of the abuse by the Boston fans going back to last year when that fool, Michael Kay, who does the Yankees games, insinuated that the Fenway fans was spitting at Sheff last year so I guess Sheff had enough.

It's just unfortunate.

I used to think it was cute seeing this, but now it's getting annoying with fan incidents with the Yankees at Fenway Park.

[braves1021]

So now i guess everybody has to be so delicate to the big babies that wear pinstripes right ??? Whatever Sheffield is lucky he didnt throw a punch becuase there would have been about 50 boston faithful ready to jump in that altercation, plus big boss stienbrener doesnt play that. Your not in the ghetto anymore and if your gonna get paid professional dollars you better be acting like one. I do agree that the fan was wrong with what he was doing but baseball is probably the most fan interactive game in the world. And where do the yankees get off complaining about fans being rude as i do recall yankee fans really dont roll out a red carpet for visiting teams including the redsox. so sheffield better take his invincible busted lip from the phantom punch and thank someone that he aint sitting for 3-4 games.

[Fishercat]

I never said Sox fans are classy. However, I highly doubt that even a small minority would have done something like that. The ball did go all the way down the line, and some idiots reached for it, but I doubt there is more than 1% (which is still too many) that would slap Sheffield.

It's a non-issue.