In a strange scene that could have been far worse, three fans went onto the field Monday night during a game at Coors Field between the Colorado Rockies and Atlanta to confront superstar Ronald Acuña Jr.
During the seventh-inning stretch, security ran onto the field and apprehended three trespassers before Denver Police Department arrested and charged two of the perpetrators with disturbing the peace.
#Rockies Bud Black on the Ronald Acuña Jr. incident:
"That's, disappointing, for me, that it happens, especially in our ballpark, in our town. That bothers me. It bothers me in general when I see it elsewhere, in all sports."
🧵below contains four angles of the incident👇 https://t.co/DsgGAXZFYJ
— Patrick Lyons (@PatrickDLyons) August 29, 2023
The reactions from everyone at the ballpark on Tuesday and the entire sporting world was the same: this shouldn’t ever happen.
“The Players Association takes player safety very seriously,” the MLBPA said in a statement on Tuesday. “We will be reviewing the club and stadium protocols currently in place, as we do throughout every season, to mitigate the possibility of similar future incidents.”
Atlanta’s Pierce Johnson called Coors Field home for the first four months of the season before being traded to Atlanta in late July. He knows how hard the staff works and the security measures taken to ensure the safety of the players. At the end of the day, it’s almost inevitable to happen when all 30 clubs play 162 games each.
“You can’t keep an eye on everything and everybody, but it stinks to see because it gives people the confidence to go on the field and nobody wants that,” Johnson said before Atlanta’s 3-1 win on Tuesday. “You know (Ronald) is such a good guy, but he’s such a high profile player that everybody wants a piece of him. Glad he’s okay and everything. Didn’t like seeing that.”
It was a blur to Charlie Blackmon from the on-deck position. Well aware that Acuña Jr. missed significant time in 2021 and at the start of the 2022 season with a torn right ACL, he was concerned for the health of the right fielder.
Aug 28, 2023; Denver, Colorado, USA; A fan is detained after charing at Atlanta Braves right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. (not pictured) in the seventh inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
“I was actually on the field, like getting ready to hit when they made it to him before I noticed it,” Blackmon shared. “And I’m standing there looking at the field. I think they were just trying to take a picture with the guy — seemed like fans weren’t hostile, but you never know. My first worry was once that guy wrapped him up, I was worried about Ronald’s knee, you know, with his history. So glad to see he’s ok.”
Manager Bud Black had a similar vantage point from the top step of the Rockies dugout, but he was focused on the pitching change with left-hander A.J. Minter coming in to replace right-handed starter Bryce Elder.
“That shouldn’t happen in major sporting events, in any sporting event,” Black said. “That’s disappointing, for me, that it happens, especially in our ballpark, in our town. That bothers me. It bothers me in general when I see it elsewhere, in all sports. That bothers me.”
In the broadcast booth, Jack Corrigan of KOA Radio was also preparing himself for the new pitcher. Startled at the events when he looked up to see it unfold, he recognized that it appeared much worse than initially thought since the fans were looking to take a photo with Acuña Jr. and not physically attacking him.
“Are the fans a little more emboldened? Yeah, perhaps,” Corrigan said. “I think they’re still more emboldened on social media than they are in person. When you’re in person, you’re not anonymous anymore, even in a crowd. But you have to be able to protect those players because you don’t know what’s going to happen.”
There was some discussion amongst former players of a time in which some fans would come running onto the field of various sporting events wearing nothing more than a pair of sneakers. Streaking, as the fad is still known, has become much more rare in the United States in recent decades. There was even a time in which Morganna, The Kissing Bandit — if you can believe it — once gained popularity in the 70’s and 80’s for running out of the stand, mostly ballparks, and giving a smooch to various athletes.
Cal Ripken Jr. gets swept off his feet by Morganna Roberts aka “The Kissing Bandit” pic.twitter.com/HMJDJ6VDrD
— Big League Digest (@BigLeagueDigest) May 24, 2023
Johnson didn’t know if the fans on Monday night were more friend or foe, but he and the rest of the bullpen were ready to support their teammates. When he played for the Hanshin Tigers of the NPB during the 2019 season, something like that would have never happened in Japan.
“A lot of the fields, they had like really high metal fences surrounding the field. Even in the outfield it was like that was the top of the wall,” he explained. “It’s a different culture too. I don’t think that’s really a thing there. But if Ohtani was back playing there, who’s to say somebody wouldn’t do it then, right? But that was never anything I ever saw in Japan.”
Following an assault on Rockies mascot Dinger at Coors Field in April, it would be easy to think there’s something of a rise in fan incidents. Not so, according to Corrigan.
“When you think of all the events that take place, whether it’s professional, or it’s the amateur level, whether it’s in the arts as much as it’s in sports, the incidents are very, very rare. But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be doing everything we can to make them even more so.”
