Diamondbacks star Ketel Marte reveals fan's vile taunt about his dead mother that reduced him to tears
Ketel Marte has revealed the vile insult about his late mother that was shouted from the stands and reduced the Arizona Diamondbacks star to tears.
Earlier this week, Marte, 31, was seen weeping on the mound at Rate Field in Chicago after he was taunted during a game against the White Sox.
His mother, Elpidia Valdez, died in a car crash in the Dominican Republic in 2017. A 22-year-old man was handed an indefinite ban by the team and Major League Baseball over the insult.
After the game Diamondbacks manager Torey Luvollo refused to reveal what the fan had said. But Marte has now explained that they shouted: 'I sent your mom a text last night'.
'What happened was in the seventh inning, I came to bat. I'm ready at the plate and I hear this fan shouting. He was on top of the dugout,' Marte told @DannyBeisbol.
'He yelled at me, saying stuff about my mom. He was like, "I sent your mom a text last night." When everything happened with my mom, I was here in Chicago. I was in this city.'
Later, Marte added: 'I think something needs to be done about the fans. 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. But anyways, we're praying for him and his family, too. May God protect them and help him heal his heart.
'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.'
Luvollo was seen consoling Marte during a pitching change in Arizona's 4-1 loss. He pointed at the fan and appeared to shout: 'His mom died, you dumb f***. Dumb f***'
'It was a terrible moment,' Luvollo said afterwards. 'Fans are nasty, and fans go too far. I love my players, and I'm going to protect them.'
Luvollo continued: 'I looked right at [Marte] when I heard...I looked right at him and he looked at the person, as well.
'He put his head down and I could tell it had an immediate impact on him, for sure... I just reacted as a dad would when I went out to change pitchers. I could see he was sobbing. It hurt.'
The fan was later ejected. As reported by ESPN they expressed remorse and admitted to the inappropriate comments and will now be denied entry into all MLB stadiums until further notice.
'[I told him], "I love you and I'm with you and we're all together and you're not alone. No matter what happens, no matter what was said or what you heard, that guy is an idiot. It shouldn't have an impact on you,"' said Lovullo, who has managed Marte since their first year together in Arizona in 2017.
It was later that year that Marte's mother died in a car accident in their native Dominican Republic.
'I've known Ketel for nine years, and he's had some unbelievably great moments and some hardships, as well,' the Arizona manager continued.
'Some really, really tough moments in his life, and I know those. At the end of the day, we're human beings and we have emotions. I saw him hurting, and I wanted to protect him.'
A versatile player and fan favorite in the Phoenix area, Marte comes from a baseball family and is actually married to Toronto Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s cousin.
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