A scramble for a souvenir baseball at Wrigley Field took an ugly turn on national television Sunday, with video circulating online appearing to show a male Cubs fan shoving a young girl out of the way as fans lunged for a loose ball in the stands.
The clip shows a man wearing a gray throwback No. 7 Lofton jersey extending his arm and pushing the girl aside as the crowd closes in around the ball.
The contact happens in a flash, and the video ends before it’s clear what followed. Neither person has been identified.
X user @derekb28 posted the footage and wrote, “Putting your hands on a girl over a ball in the stands is peak loser behavior.”
Reaction online came fast and furious. One commenter said, “I am absolutely appalled by this,” while another wrote, “Oh it’s the internet!
They’ll find him & her & handle it professionally. At least in Boston that’s what would happen.
He’s such scum,” Another user added, “Piece of crap yeh let’s go crazy over a dumb ⚾ childish.”
The broadcast graphic in the video reads “ESPN on ABC,” matching Sunday’s Cardinals-Cubs game at Wrigley Field. ABC carried the game as one of only three MLB regular-season broadcasts on the network this year, with the other two being a June Cubs-Giants matchup and a Yankees-Red Sox game later that month. That national stage likely helped the clip spread so quickly once it hit social media.
As of this writing, neither the Cubs nor the Cardinals has commented on the video. It’s also unclear whether stadium security or Chicago police were involved.
Wrigley Field has a Guest Code of Conduct that gives the team the right to remove or ban fans for unruly or unacceptable behavior, and the club has used that policy before in incidents involving physical altercations in the stands.
Sunday’s moment also fits an unfortunate pattern at the ballpark. Wrigley Field has seen national anthem confrontations escalate to physical contact before, and earlier this year a throw from the outfield bleachers hit a fan during a Cardinals-Cubs series. In another case, the Cubs declined to take further action after a fan said he believed the issue had already been resolved.
Souvenir-ball moments are supposed to be part of the fun. This one turned into a reminder of how fast that fun can go sideways once people start pushing and shoving.
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