Video has emerged of Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo yelling at the 22-year-old White Sox fan who heckled Arizona second baseman Ketel Marte on Tuesday about his late mother.
In a clip posted to TikTok by user smartasskris, Lovullo is seen screaming expletives at the fan, who was seated a few rows up behind the Diamondbacks dugout on the first base line.
“Dumb f—,” Lovullo appeared to say while pointing toward the fan. “His mom died, you dumb f—. Dumb f—.”
The TikToker also posted a video of the fan, who was wearing a Bears jersey, apparently being kicked out by White Sox security.
The caption of smartasskris’s Lovullo video also sheds more light on the incident that had Marte in tears in the middle of the Diamondbacks’ 4-1 win over the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago.
“This was our first game at Rate Field. We were sitting about 7 rows behind home plate, heard bits and pieces of the heckling (had gotten progressively worse over time), saw Ketel Marte become visibly upset, teammates standing up for him, and saw Torey Louvello (sp) call for the fan’s ejection,” she wrote.
“Great job by White Sox security for understanding the gravity of the situation. While it hurt to watch Marte shaken up, it was a good lesson in sportsmanship for others (what we don’t do and what we should not tolerate), and appreciation and maturity of these young players who grieve and have feelings like anyone else.”
Marte was visibly upset during the bottom of the seventh inning during Tuesday night’s game after hearing the comments from the fan about his mom a half inning earlier.
His mother, Elpidia Valdez, died in a car accident in the Dominican Republic in 2017.
The Post reported earlier on Wednesday that the fan has been banned indefinitely from all MLB ballparks in a joint decision by the league and the White Sox.
Marte’s teammate, shortstop Geraldo Perdomo, called for a ban of the fan after the game.
“That can’t happen,” Perdomo said. “Everybody knows how Ketel is. He’s fun. He plays the game hard. I feel bad for him. I feel mad about it.”
