Ketel Marte of the Arizona Diamondbacks needed a few days to recover, but he finally opened up about a fan incident in Chicago that transpired a few days ago.
This Chicago White Sox fan was immediately ejected from the ballpark and has since been banned from all MLB games in the future. What he said crossed the line as Marte revealed what the fan said for the first time.
Ketel Marte’s Response to the Fan’s Comments That Had Him in Tears
Marte was still recovering from his mother’s accident in 2017. She was in Chicago when she died. Professional athletes are human, so things shouted at them hold merit. Saying someone sucks is one thing, but Marte was left in tears when this fan crossed the line.
Ketel Marte speaks on what happen with the fan in Chicago.
Marte said the fan said, “I sent text messages to your mom.” pic.twitter.com/YQm9WzFsXx
— 🌵 Mr. Az (@MrAzSports) June 27, 2025
“I want to thank all of the fans that have been concerned about me” Marte said in an interview posted on the X account of Mr. AZ Sports. “Seventh inning, I came to bat, I’m ready at the plate, I hear this fan shouting, ‘I sent your mom a text last night’.
“Yes, I think something needs to be done about the fans,” Marte said. “It’s getting out of hand. People always yell stuff at me, but never about my mom. People know that my mom passed away in an accident. They’re always yelling things at me, but I don’t mind but when it comes to my mom, that’s where the line gets crossed.”
If anything, fans need to use this as a learning moment. Whether the fan knew about Marte’s mother or not doesn’t matter. Baseball fans, and sports fans in general, have taken their chants and heckling too far. Earlier this season, Jarren Duran of the Boston Red Sox had a fan ejected who made comments about his attempted suicide in 2022.
Clearly, these fans are far too comfortable in the stands. It’s good to see MLB take action against them. Just because one buys a ticket doesn’t mean a fan should cross the line with vile, hateful comments.
There’s no justifying what was said to Marte. He needed a minute to recover and was comforted when Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo came out of the dugout. Marte’s teammates also came up to console him. No athlete should be put in that position, but seeing everyone rally behind Marte and take immediate action was great.
This season, Marte is hitting .313. He’s on pace for his best season since 2019, when he hit .329. The 2019 season was the first one where he was an All-Star. He also was an All-Star in 2024, when he won the Silver Slugger Award and was on the All-MLB First Team.