Having long been a microcosm of the evolving society of America, a twenty-first century story of joy, hate, pain, and judgment played itself out in Chicago’s Rate Field this week.
The joyful part of the saga began Tuesday, when Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte hit a home run to give his team a 1-0 lead over the Chicago White Sox en route to a 4-1 win, according to WGN-TV.
Then came the hate, as a fan called out comments to Marte about his late mother. The comment cut deeply and reduced Marte to tears, a scene of pain that struck players and coaches of both teams, as shown in a video posted to X.
Sending love to Ketel Marte who was in tears on the field after a fan yelled something at him about his mother, who passed away in a car accident in 2017, per @CDrottar19 pic.twitter.com/I14Zc1gkV1
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) June 25, 2025
Then came judgment: The fan in question was not only banned from Chicago’s Rate Field, home of the White Sox, but from all MLB stadiums.
Marte’s mother, Elpidia Valdez, was killed in a 2017 car accident in the Dominican Republic, according to the Arizona Republic. The accident took place not long after Marte spoke a final time to his mom on the phone.
The incident in the top of the seventh inning upset Marte so much that Manager Torey Lovullo put an arm over Marte’s shoulders while making a pitching change in the bottom of the seventh inning. Marte had been wiping tears from his eyes while in the field.
“It was a terrible moment, fans are nasty, fans go too far,” Lovullo said, according to Fox News.
Do you think the fan crossed a line by taunting the player’s dead mother?
“That can’t happen,” Arizona shortstop Geraldo Perdomo said, according to the Arizona Republic.
“Everybody knows how Ketel is. He’s fun. He plays the game hard. I feel bad for him. I feel mad about it. I hope MLB can do something with that guy. I don’t know who it was, but they’ve got to do something. We can’t continue to do that (expletive) here in MLB.”
He said the fan “should be banned, for sure.”
Lovullo would not repeat the phrase, but saw it hit home while Marte was at bat.
“I looked right at him when I heard,” Lovullo said. “I looked right at him and he looked at the person, as well. He put his head down and I could tell it had an immediate impact on him, for sure.”
And when he went to change pitcher, “I just reacted as a dad would,” Lovullo said. “I could see he was sobbing. It hurt.”
He said that he told his player, “I love you and I’m with you and we’re all together and you’re not alone. No matter what happens, no matter what was said or what you heard, that guy is an idiot. It shouldn’t have an impact on you.’”
The next day, the White Sox announced that the 22-year-old heckler had received the ban, according to Major League Baseball.
The White Sox said the fan was “very apologetic and remorseful” and appeared to understand that what he said was way out of line.
“We commend the White Sox for taking immediate action in removing the fan,” Major League Baseball said in a statement.
“Really unfortunate incident,” White Sox manager Will Venable said.
“No players should ever have to be subjected to that kind of stuff from fans. I sent my apologies over to them last night, and I know a number of us have. [We] apologize again for what is not representative of how our fans behave, and just something that no players should be subjected to,” he said.
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