The celebrity status of one of the banned New York Yankees fans continues to grow. On Wednesday, four-time Super Bowl-winning tight end Rob Gronkowski wrote on X and told the “Up & Adams” show that he used to be friends with Austin Capobianco, the fan who tried to rip the ball out of Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts' glove in Game 4 of the World Series on Tuesday night. SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE YANKEES NEWSLETTER: RESTORING THE GLORY “Austin was a college (Arizona) friend,” Gronkowski wrote Wednesday .
“Very passionate about the teams he represents. Will do anything for them. A menace, wild boy as well, he is the person that undoubtedly would say he would do that then actually do it.
Maniac status since college has been confirmed.” The incident occurred in the bottom of the first inning at Yankee Stadium. With the Yankees trailing 2-0, second baseman Gleyber Torres hit a fly ball to foul territory in right field.
Betts tracked the ball, reached for it, and completed the out. To his surprise, two fans grabbed his glove, wrestling with Betts for the foul ball, which was called an out. But one fan, Capobianco, grabbed onto Betts’ wrist, while the other, John Peter, reached in for the ball, which popped out of Betts’ glove.
Betts still made the out, while the two fans were immediately escorted out of Yankee Stadium and subsequently barred from Wednesday’s Game 5. Their four season tickets for Wednesday’s Game 5 were confiscated by the Yankees (at ful.