White Boston fan who ripped a home run ball out of a woman's hands Yelled "Bye Trayvon" to Blacks @ Game
The white fan who ripped a home run ball out of a woman's hands and threw it back onto the field allegedly spent Game 2 of the American League Championship Series uttering racist remarks, including a parting shot to an African-American man as he was ejected from Fenway Park: "Bye, Trayvon."
The man was not immediately identified, and stadium security declined to provide his name. But fans in Section 42 of the stadium confirmed that he directed multiple slurs at 25-year-old Angelo Sikoutris, a Detroit Tigers fan from Brooklyn, including a reference to Trayvon Martin, the Florida teenager whose shooting death sparked a national firestorm and prompted fierce debate about modern-day racism.
"He was talking all game," Sikoutris told Yahoo Sports from his seat in Row 1, right above the Tigers' bullpen, two innings after the man was escorted out by security after throwing back a home run hit by Detroit catcher Alex Avila.
Video of the man taking the ball from a woman sitting next to him and chucking it onto the field quickly went viral as Boston faced a five-run deficit. The Red Sox came back for a dramatic 6-5 victory to even the ALCS at one game apiece.
Sikoutris, who attended the game with his father, wore a Prince Fielder jersey, which prompted the man to allegedly call him "Prince Fielder's crackhead brother." In addition, Sikoutris said, the man yelled at another African-American Tigers fan walking through the section, saying: "Go back to the ghetto."
Another fan near the altercation, Dan Cook, confirmed Sikourtis' account, as did a woman who declined to provide her name.
Security led the man and a woman, who fans said attended the game with him in Row 5 of Section 42, out through the stadium's Gate C. On the way out, Sikoutris, who fans said had been level-headed dealing with the man, said: "Bye-bye."
The response from the man: "Bye, Trayvon."
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