Anthony Volpe’s apparent game-tying home run for the New York Yankees was overturned after a fan reached over the left-field wall during their American League Division Series defeat by the Tampa Bay Rays.
The incident, at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night, echoed the infamous Jeffrey Maier play of 1996 — but this time replay went against the Yankees. Volpe was awarded an RBI double, and New York went on to lose 4-3 as the Rays completed a three-game sweep.
Anthony Volpe home run overturned after fan interference
With two outs in the sixth inning and George Lombard Jr on first base, Volpe drove a 95.9mph sinker from Griffin Jax 357 feet towards the left-field seats.
The ball was initially ruled a two-run home run, which would have levelled the score. Rays left fielder Victor Mesa Jr leapt at the wall, but a spectator reached beyond it and caught the ball while it was still in play.
After a review initiated by the umpires, Major League Baseball’s Replay Centre ruled that the fan had interfered. It also concluded the ball would not have cleared the wall and that Mesa would not have completed the catch.
Lombard was therefore awarded home plate, while Volpe was placed on second with an RBI double. The spectator was escorted from the stadium by security and police.
MLB said the replay official had “definitively determined” that the spectator interfered with the ball over the field of play. The ruling stated that the ball “would not have left the playing field nor would it have been caught”.
Volpe said he had initially been unaware there was a problem with the play. “Just seeing it through the replay and just hoping for the best,” he said. “Crazy.”
The Yankees failed to score again in the inning, with Spencer Jones striking out. Some fans also threw debris on to the field during the delay following the review.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone backed the decision after watching the replay.
“I thought they did a good job with it,” Boone said. “I thought they got it right.”
Mesa said he believed he might have been able to touch the ball with his glove, while Rays manager Kevin Cash also agreed with the replay outcome. Cash said the decision to award Lombard home reflected where the runners were when the interference occurred.
How the incident compares with Jeffrey Maier
The scene recalled 9 October 1996, when 12-year-old Yankees supporter Jeffrey Maier reached over the right-field wall and deflected a Derek Jeter fly ball during the American League Championship Series against the Baltimore Orioles.
That ball was ruled a home run, tying the game, despite Orioles outfielder Tony Tarasco attempting to make the catch. There was no replay review at the time, and Major League Baseball later acknowledged the play probably should have been called fan interference.
New York won that game, the ALCS and the World Series. Nearly 30 years later, a similar moment unfolded at Yankee Stadium — only for the replay system to remove the home run and leave the Yankees’ season-ending defeat unchanged.
