Banned Yankees fan was friends with NFL legend: ‘A menace, wild boy’

The celebrity status of one of the banned New York Yankees fans continues to grow.
On Wednesday, four-time Super Bowl-winning tight end Rob Gronkowski wrote on X and told the “Up & Adams” show that he used to be friends with Austin Capobianco, the fan who tried to rip the ball out of Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts’ glove in Game 4 of the World Series on Tuesday night.
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“Austin was a college (Arizona) friend,” Gronkowski wrote Wednesday. “Very passionate about the teams he represents. Will do anything for them. A menace, wild boy as well, he is the person that undoubtedly would say he would do that then actually do it. Maniac status since college has been confirmed.”
The incident occurred in the bottom of the first inning at Yankee Stadium. With the Yankees trailing 2-0, second baseman Gleyber Torres hit a fly ball to foul territory in right field. Betts tracked the ball, reached for it, and completed the out.
To his surprise, two fans grabbed his glove, wrestling with Betts for the foul ball, which was called an out. But one fan, Capobianco, grabbed onto Betts’ wrist, while the other, John Peter, reached in for the ball, which popped out of Betts’ glove.
Betts still made the out, while the two fans were immediately escorted out of Yankee Stadium and subsequently barred from Wednesday’s Game 5. Their four season tickets for Wednesday’s Game 5 were confiscated by the Yankees (at full refund) and donated to a Bergenfield pediatric cancer patient, the boys’ two brothers and mother.
“(Capobianco) was on the ice hockey team, the club Arizona Wildcats team,“ Gronkowski said on the show. ”Let me tell you, the whole hockey team, they were absolute maniacs.”
Gronkowski also added: “He is all in for the Yankees. I remember him talking about the Yankees all the time, how he loves him so much, and that describes him perfectly, just doing whatever it takes to help his team out. He is a beauty.”
NJ Advance Media’s Manny Gómez and Randy Miller contributed to this report
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