1996: Giuliani gives Kid "Key to the City" for interfering with a baseball game

http://media.www.nyunews.com/media/storage/paper869/news/2007/04/23/Sports/How-A.12YearOld.Ruined.The.Orioles-2874237-page2.shtml


In Game 1 of the ALCS the Orioles were up 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth when Derek Jeter hit a long fly ball into right field. The Orioles' right-fielder, Tony Tarasco, moved back to the wall to make the easy catch when Jeffrey Maier leaned out over the fence and pulled the ball back into the stands. I don't even need a YouTube video - which does not yet exist - to recall the surprised look on Tarasco's face as the ball was swiped away in front of him and ruled a homerun by some incompetent umpire. The Yankees went on to win the game in extra innings and eventually the series.

...
Maier was immediately celebrated in the city, appearing on talk shows, getting free seats behind the dugout, and even the key to the city from Rudy Giuliani. (emphasis added)

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The picture of it is on this Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Maier

The kid's arm from the hand to the elbow is clearly in fair territory.

Normally, interfering with a fair ball gets you thrown out of the game, but not when you're helping the Yankees I guess.

And Hell, according to Rudy, breaking the rules and doing the wrong thing is worth rewarding--with a key to the city no less. And this guy wants to be president??????

let me tell you that Yankees fans are just as absurd as Bush supporters. I NEVER SUPPORT THE YANKEES, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!

and how they can always be counted on to display nothing but the upmost respective behavior towards the opposing team.

Rudy is a moron every New Yorker knows that. Every New Yorker knows the only reason he didn't go down as the terrible leader he was was because on 9/11 he did what none of the other chickenhawk repuke "leaders" did-he showed up that's it and the cameras were rolling. As far as that shit with the kid catching the flyboy I thought it was stupid but what happened happened it's a freakin game get over it, it was a bad call but I won't apologize for it as I had no sway over that decision personally and unless you had big money on that game you shouldn't care either.


There are asshole fans for EVERY major sports team with no exceptions. Growing up a Yankee fan doesn't automatically put me in the same category as some drunken moron who gets himself ejected every game. One of my best friends grew up in South Boston and believe it or not it was our devotion to our teams that allowed us to bond and respect eachother.



PS next time you want to compare all Yankee fans to Bush supporters don't forget Cheney's warm reception when he visited Yankee stadium back in 2004.

NT

...the Yankees would have lost to Baltimore and been out of the post season if it wasn't for the fan interference.

The next day Guiliani was asked in a press conference what he thought of fan interference and he said that fans shouldn't interfere with the game, blaa, blaa, blaa and then he said (and I give him credit for his honesty here) "turn off the cameras and I'll tell you how I really feel".

I didn't know about the key to the city - that is a bit ridiculous.

how Bushian of him...

Oh, wait...

NT

I'm only pointing out the Republicans were too happy blowing (ahem) a Dem's pecadillo out of proportion, and what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

Do we want a person like this to be president?

Do you think it was reasonable to give the kid the "key to the city" for reaching over the fence and interfering with a live ball?

Like I said, in normal baseball games, interfering with a ball in play results in the fan who does so getting thrown out. With Rudy, he gets honored (but somehow I doubt that he would be equally treated were the Orioles the ones at bat in that situation).

basketball-yup.

Good Morning America, Letterman, and giving him the key to the city and box seats for the rest of the playoffs is kinda uncalled for, considering he WAS interfering with THE FUCKING BALL IN PLAY!!!!!

GMA, Letterman etc it was a 12 year old kid in the middle of the Yankees biggest playoff run in 15 years.

Box seats, well it did help the Yankees. ;-)

"considering he WAS interfering with THE FUCKING BALL IN PLAY"

Bad calls happen all the time. Sometimes they are in your benefit, sometimes they are not.

See one of the worst basestealing calls in history Mon nite with Yanks vs. Mariners.

the wrong was Jeff Maier sticking his arm in the field of play and trying to catch a ball which was clearly not going in the stands.

What the Yankees basically said in response was, "if you interfere in the game in our favor, we will appreciate it." They are essentially cheating through encouragement of favorable interference.

You make it sound like he knew he had to grab the ball or it would have been an out.

"What the Yankees basically said in response was, "if you interfere in the game in our favor, we will appreciate it."

This is different from other teams in what way?

"They are essentially cheating through encouragement of favorable interference."

Which is why this has happened so many times since 1996...c'mon now.

Enjoying the result of a bad call in your favor is not cheating.

Jeffrey Maier Trivia - He ended up the career leader in hits in baseball at Wagner University.

I'm criticizing the response of The Yankees, and Giuliani. Even if Jeff didn't know he was interfering with the play (considering how FAR he was reaching over the fence, I doubt he had no idea) that did not warrant box seat tickets and an honor reserved for people who save others who fall on the subway tracks, or who rescue babies from burning buildings.

Would the response have been the same if he was taking a catch away from Bernie Williams off the bat of Cal Ripken?

Again, the wrong was the act and the response to it. The bad call was what let them get away with it. Even if Jeter had been called out, it still would have been wrong for Jeff to do what he did.

He was 12. It was a playoff game. Have you never seen what happens when a flyball goes into the stands? People lose their minds.

"did not warrant box seat tickets and an honor reserved for people who save others who fall on the subway tracks, or who rescue babies from burning buildings"

This is the sound of you grasping at straws. Now its an indictment of our society? It was 10 years ago. It was a baseball game. Get over it.

"Would the response have been the same if he was taking a catch away from Bernie Williams off the bat of Cal Ripken?"

From Yankee fans? I doubt it. Yankees fans would also be unlikely to be bitching and moaning about it 10 years later by I digress.

that is, running for president NOW and not 10 years ago.