Fan shines laser pointer in player's faces, a breakdown
What Happened
During an August 2021 Dodgers-Mets game tied 4-4 in the top of the ninth, Trea Turner came up with a runner on first and one out in his first weeks with Los Angeles. A pitch ricocheted near him and umpires initially flirted with a hit-by-pitch call, but a replay review showed the ball hit Turner's bat for a foul, returning him to an 0-1 count. A balk later advanced the runner to second, but the bigger story was a fan in the stands shining a green laser pointer at Dodgers hitters. Turner caught some green on his face, and Max Muncy got hit repeatedly in the shoulder, stomach, and face before Edwin Diaz struck him out.
Why This Matters
Shining a laser at players isn't a baseball rule issue, it's a safety and security problem. A beam in a hitter's eyes during a 95-plus mph at-bat is genuinely dangerous, and most parks treat laser pointers as banned items because they can temporarily blind people. The frustrating part for the Dodgers was the lack of resolution. Muncy flagged it to umpires and apparently nobody located the source, so play simply resumed under higher alert. Diaz then struck Muncy out swinging on a pitch below the zone to help the Mets escape, though New York lost the game anyway. For Turner, this was early in his run with LA after the 2021 trade deadline deal from Washington. The clip stuck because it mixed an unusual replay sequence, a balk, and a fan doing something both reckless and hard to police in real time.
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Key Moments
Who / What Is Involved
Players: Trey Turner. Teams: Dodgers.
Key Terms Mentioned
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentthe dodgers and mets game is as close as
a game can get four to four top nine
runner on first and one out and trey
turner's up trying to make a good
impression with his new team make
something happen the pitch is gonna come
it's inside and a weird ricochet and
what happened turner's just circling
around like all right is he i'm gonna
say hit by pitch do i play this cool do
i be honest about it let's play cool see
what happens every day is whoa
oh he's just playing it cool blue don't
get fooled
that's manager says yeah we're gonna
need you to go take a look at that throw
them headphones on talk to new york and
they say okay we will if you want us to
it's our job
damn bam foul ball did not hit his arm
Trey Turner when they went to review
instead of hanging out on first base he
just went back back to the on deck
circle with his bat in his hand he knew
it didn't hit him he knew they go okay
actually that didn't hit you and it hit
the bat so it's an 01 count
so tough break but a little flinch of
the shoulder and everyone says that's a
bock that's a bock that's a block a
bachbach you're on second watch this
ever so slight little little twitch
little twitch
a box so mckinney goes to second now
turner's got the go-ahead run in scoring
position that's a ball low that's right
in the zone and that's a nice slider to
freeze them turner didn't like it as he
walks away you see a little green on his
face bam
right there so laser pointer person was
out and about for the turner bat they
got him right in the face as he's
walking away no one really noticed this
one though now max muncie comes up he's
got a chance to drive in
the go ahead run he's having an amazing
season max muncie's pretty good he takes
that for a strike another little slide
piece
then he goes slider again and once he
fouls it off and he picks up the ball
and says hey what's up what are you all
about and diaz gets a new ball and then
when as he's waiting for the pitch to
come a laser pointer just comes all over
them hits them in the shoulder the
stomach the face not good they got that
freeze frame that's pretty scary and
then he's trying to point it out and i
think it's this right there you see that
light right there and you see it come
again on the side of the screen so
muncie's trying to point it out see he's
pointing it out and at first i thought
it was coming from the outfield but then
the direction that both came in
coming from over here and there it is i
well i don't know if that's not a green
laser pointer i don't know what it is it
seems like that's it right there and
there might be two because another one
pops up right here or it could be for
someone just dodging around you got the
first one
right
there and you can see this these hands
kind of
finagling with it
right there and then it's going to go
off and then it's going to come back
around over here unless there's two i
don't know green laser pointers i
researched them they're like eight bucks
on amazon
so muncie's like hey
got a little pointer pointing right in
my face right there right there right
there right there right there i'm just
like what like they're pointing at yo
he's like yeah it's right in my face
pretty dangerous hey guys don't bring
laser pointers to games
seems like an easy thing to not do helps
get together and say hey he says they
got a laser pointer point at his face
you guys see any laser pointers and
they're like nah dude i wasn't focusing
on that but maybe i will now the camera
crew is showing left field in the
outfield but i think it's way closer
than that i think it's the light i found
unless that light is some other light
but i don't know i seems like the light
that is there is that and edward is like
yeah they got a laser pointer at his
face and i don't even know i don't think
they got the guy in trouble i don't know
how they resume play because it seems
like it could just happen again they're
just on higher alert now laser pointer
person didn't have a lot of time to use
it again in this inning though because
edwin diaz strikes him out with the
pitch below the zone
pumped up mets end up losing this game
but
jonboy media has a new mets podcast on
the network it's shea station hosted by
jolly olive and 13 year big leaguer
jerry blevins go check it out if you're
a mets fan it's good it's great it's
fabulous