Police have confirmed that they are investigating reports that a beer bottle was tossed at Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard during Saturday’s game.
“We are currently investigating a report of a beer bottle being thrown on the field by an individual during yesterday’s Phillies game,” police said in a statement. “The bottle landed near Phillies player Ryan Howard, who was heading back to the dugout at the time. The investigation is ongoing.” Howard had just grounded out in the ninth inning of the Phillies’ 6-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers when the unidentified fantossed the bottle of Bud Light Lime at him, which landed on the field. A Twitter user posted a picture of a fan who they identified as having tossed the bottle.
@Phillies @ryanlawrence21 @ToddZolecki @MattGelb this class act tossed a bottle at Howard as he walked to the dugout pic.twitter.com/Gr4DlFgNPV
— Bryan Tracy (@btrace98) June 4, 2016
Police declined to confirm whether the person in that picture, which was retweeted more than 300 times, was being investigated.
But Howard had harsh words for the unidentified bottle thrower in the locker room after the game, telling reporters, “We’re held to a different standard.”
“If I would have gone in the stands and tried to beat this dude up, I would have got in trouble by Major League Baseball. He probably would have sued me,” Howard said. “It’s okay for him to throw a bottle and go home on his merry way? That s— don’t work.” Howard said he’s never had anything thrown at him before during a game, and that he saw the bottle land near him.
“I didn’t see the actual flight of it coming but saw it down on the ground right next to me…. I saw the direction over there and some guy yelled something out,” he said. “I said, ‘Yo, these cats are throwing stuff.’ … There should be accountability.” Additional reporting by Kyle Phillipi
