Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte has revealed what an abusive fan yelled at him during Tuesday’s game in Chicago.
The toxic fan taunted Marte about his mother, who was killed in a car accident in 2017, just as the player came to the plate in the seventh inning at Guaranteed Rate Field.
After Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo consolled the player on the field, he and bench coach Jeff Banister demanded that the fan be ejected from the game.
The fan was identified and handed a universal ban from all MLB stadiums. The fan — who remains unidentified publicly — is reportedly very sorry and has apologized for making the inappropriate comments about Elpidia Valdez, Marte’s deceased mom.
Still, to this day, Marte had not revealed what the fan said that so badly upset him. The 31-year-old player says that what the fan yelled was, “I sent your mom a text last night,” according to the New York Post.
“What happened was in the seventh inning, I came to bat. I’m ready at the plate, and I hear this fan shouting. He was on top of the dugout,” Marte explained. “He yelled at me, saying stuff about my mom. He was like, ‘I sent your mom a text last night.’ When everything happened with my mom, I was here in Chicago. I was in this city.”
Marte is an All-Star second baseman for the Diamondbacks. So far this season, he is hitting .316 with 14 home runs and 31 RBIs. He was also third in the running for NL MVP behind Francisco Lindor and winner Shohei Ohtani last season.
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