Two kids got decked by security after storming the field at Toronto Blue Jays game
Baseball fans in Toronto have seen it all, from mundane delays like a beach ball on the field, to the notable like rain delays in a domed stadium and fully nude streakers sprinting across the Rogers Centre's artificial turf.
But it may have been a first on Friday night, when a pair of actual school-aged children tried their luck and bolted out onto the field during a Jays home game against the Houston Astros, only to be swiftly taken down by fully-grown adult security guards.
It was quite the scene in the bottom of the sixth inning, the crowd of over 35,000 fans quickly turning from cheers to boos as one of the children is tackled by stadium security.
Friday night fun #Bluejays pic.twitter.com/ZtFOkiVcuz
— Anthony Rigato (@anthonyrigato) April 30, 2022
Baseball columnist Mike Wilner claimed on Twitter that both children were aged 11, and despite what looked like a premeditated infiltration, a parent of one of the kids claimed to have no knowledge of the plan. The tweet states that neither of the children were charged or banned from the Rogers Centre.
blogTO reached out to the Toronto Blue Jays, though a team representative declined the request to comment on the incident depicted in the video.
Take the analysis with a grain of salt, but Wilner also notes that the tide of the inning turned against the Jays right after the incident went down.
#Bluejays got three straight singles from their 7-8-9 hitters to start bot6.
— Mike Wilner (@Wilnerness) April 30, 2022
Then two idiot kids ran onto the field.
Then the 1-2-3 hitters went K, K, 6-3.
One suggested that the pair could have at least waited for the inning to end before their momentum-killing shenanigans.
Right?! Jays had something going and then their momentum got ruined
— Marc Deguzman (@mdeguz14) April 30, 2022
As for what fans think of the unplanned delay and takedown by stadium staff, it seems as though opinions are divided, some criticizing the reaction as excessive force and others defending the response.
Imagine thinking the Kids are the victims here they clearly broke the law, it is stated before the game that you cannot run or throw anything on the field and the securitys job is to protect the players and keep order in the stadium They did what they had to do
— 1237 others (@RedHotBat) April 30, 2022
For every person criticizing the security guards' force against children, there seemed to be another supporting their actions.
As they’re supposed to do. You clearly have no idea how the world of professional sports works, do you? The player is regarded as an asset; security has a responsibility to protect them, not infer intent. That was a perfectly reasonable level of force in that situation.
— Prof. Mewtruth (@mewtruth) April 30, 2022
Others are placing the blame squarely on the parents.
I mean, not a great look and all but im more pissed off at their parents
— Mogilny's Oversized Kase Flow (@latursk) April 30, 2022
The Blue Jays would go on to lose Friday's game 11-7, though the team ended up narrowly winning the second game and rubber match to take the three-game series over the Astros.
Join the conversation Load comments