St. Louis Cardinals 1B Matt Adams Pushed a Fan, Got Flipped Off

St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Matt Adams chased a routine pop fly down the line during yesterday’s matinee in Cincinnati. What happened next was anything but ordinary.

After missing out on the fly, Adams decided to push the fan in his torso. It was not a popular decision.

There are two conflicting stories about exactly what happened here.

The Cincinnati Enquirer tracked down the fan, who described the light tap as if it was a flying elbow from a professional wrestler.

“He gave me a shove and I fell back,” Smith said. “I’m pretty sensitive about my knee right now. I’m fresh out of surgery, it’s nothing to joke around about.”

Leaning over the tarp, Adams was in position to catch the ball, but Smith had his glove above Adams’ glove and made the catch. A fan has the right to catch a ball if he doesn’t go into the field of play, and replays showed Smith didn’t.

“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,” Smith said, pointing to the cup holder in front of him right at knee-level.

Adams, on the other hand, has a different take.

“I’m not that type of guy to go after anybody,” Adams said. “I was just trying to stop from going into the stands and stop from falling in there.”

Eh, that doesn’t seem entirely truthful either.

It should be interesting to see which narrative Major League Baseball believes when the incident is reviewed.

[H/T: Big League Stew]