In the battle of security guards against unexpected guests on the field, the former has a pretty commanding lead.
On Friday night, though, the latter put up a pretty good fight.
During the top of the ninth inning of the Mets’ 4-2 loss to the rival Braves, a fan stormed the field and despite one tackle by security, the fan got back up and had to be taken down a second time to keep them from getting back up again.
The SNY broadcast of the game dutifully refrained from showing the runner, but a fan’s video from inside the ballpark showed the visitor on the field starting his jaunt from the outfield, raising their arms up in left-center field.
As they veered toward the infield, one security team member took the runner down with what Mets analyst Ron Darling aptly described as a “shoestring” tackle near third base.
But the fan was undeterred and got back up, running a few more feet in foul territory before being corralled for good.
Darling and play-by-play announcer Gary Cohen had some fun with the situation, despite the cameras not showing what was going on to viewers at home.
“If you can hear the crowd, you know that there’s somebody running on the field, and you know we’re not going to show it,” Cohen said. “He’s now been taken down — but he’s right back up again.”
“That was a good tackle, though, shoestring tackle,” Darling added.
“Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots,” Cohen chimed in.
Darling then said what the potential ramifications are of storming the field.
“For you folks that want to run on the field, I don’t know why, but some lawyer friend of a friend told me it’s about a $10K cost,” Darling said before Cohen added that a fan would be banned for the act. “Ten thousand, never go to a ballgame again — if that’s your kind of deal.”
Cohen had an easy explanation as to one might run onto the playing surface.
“It’s usually because your buddies dare you,” Cohen said.
Darling had his own experience with a totally shocking visitor on the field when a Mets fan — later identified as Michael Sergio — landed on to the Shea Stadium infield during Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.
The former Mets hurler, sitting in the dugout, high-fived the fan as he was escorted into the Mets’ dugout and into the interior of the ballpark.
Friday’s moment might not have matched the one from the Fall Classic, but it did provide a laugh or two.
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