St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Matt Adams shoved a Cincinnati fan after he dove into the crowd for a foul ball popped off the bat of the Reds' Chris Heisey during yesterday's game.
The fan,
identified as Chris Smith by Cincinnati.com, caught the ball fair and square after reaching straight up with his own glove, clearly angering Adams, who pushed him in the chest with his own glove as he stood back up.
Smith returned the gesture with his own, raising his middle finger at Adams while he returned to first base.
He said he was just three weeks off of knee surgery, which explained the knee brace and crutches he had with him at the time of the catch.
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"He gave me a shove and I fell back. I'm pretty sensitive about my knee right now. I'm fresh out of surgery, it's nothing to joke around about," he said.
MLB rules state that fans are allowed to compete for a catch as long as they don't enter the field of play, and replays show Smith stood straight up, did not enter the field of play, and didn’t even touch Adams when he snagged the foul ball.
"I didn't reach over, I stayed where I was, I couldn't reach out if I tried, because I can't hit my knee on anything," he added.
Adams claims he didn't realize he touched Smith, telling reporters, "I'm not that type of guy to go after anybody. I was just trying to stop from going into the stands and stop from falling in there."
The incident was
compared by Matt Snyder of CBS Sports to a 2012 game in which Nyjer Morgan of the Brewers appears to hit a Cincinnati fan in the face with his glove after they both competed for a ball popped into the stands.
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