Obscene hecklers who ‘lose their damn minds’ booted for cursing, SC baseball team says
Hecklers are as much apart of baseball as hot dogs and foul balls, but the general manager of a Boston Red Sox minor league affiliate in South Carolina says he’s had enough of foul-mouthed fans.
Eric Jarinko, general manager of the High-A Greenville Drive, took to Twitter over the weekend to warn fans that ticket holders are now being ejected from games for cursing at players.
“We’ve removed more fans from the ballpark over the last two games for foul language (directed at players) than I recall over the previous 14 seasons combined! Did no 2020 season make everyone lose their damn minds?!” Jarinko tweeted.
“And it’s not fans yelling ‘you suck’ here and there. This is some of the most obscene/graphic language I’ve ever heard used at a sporting event about players’ family members/girlfriends. What makes people think this is okay? Simple rule: Don’t be an idiot.”
The Greenville-based team’s 2020 season was canceled due to the pandemic, when nearly all sports gatherings nationwide were banned to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Greenville is about 100 miles northwest of Columbia.
Fans behaving badly is nothing new to baseball — or for any sport, really. Earlier this month, a fan at Yankee Stadium threw a ball and hit Red Sox left fielder Alex Verdugo, Newsbreak reported. Verdugo said he’s used to hearing fans talk trash to him, but “there’s just no reason to be throwing stuff back onto the field ever, you know, there really isn’t.”
And yes, the fan was ejected.
Jarinko says his goal is to keep the team’s 5,900-seat Fluor Field family-friendly, WSPA reported. “There’s some language we’re not going to tolerate when there’s kids around,” Jarinko told the station.
His tweets have ignited an ongoing discussion on social media that has strayed into broader issues facing the country. Most commenters are supportive of Jarinko,though some blamed the stadium itself for selling alcohol to fans.
“We’ve been serving alcohol at games for 15 seasons. While some of this is alcohol related, not everyone that has been removed has been drunk (and some haven’t had any alcohol),” Jarinko responded. “This is a respect/humanity problem.”
A few people suggested it’s a matter of free speech, while some noted players on the team are foul-mouthed on occasion.
“Sensitive are we (?),” one fan posted on Facebook.
“Spectators like that should lose all rights to be in attendance,” another tweeted.
“It’s a decline in society across the board. Bumper stickers, T shirts, language in a restaurant even. I’m no angel either. But I try to save the ‘big ones’ for a stubbed toe or the like,” one woman posted on Twitter.
Jarinko’s stance is in keeping with baseball tradition.
The Baseball Almanac has a list of eight “Rules of Scientific Heckling” and “no profanity” is at the top. The other seven rules include: “Nothing purely personal; Keep pouring it on; Know your players; Don’t be shouted down; Take it as well as give it; Give the old-timer a chance — he was a rookie once.”
This story was originally published July 27, 2021 at 12:39 PM with the headline "Obscene hecklers who ‘lose their damn minds’ booted for cursing, SC baseball team says."