Chicago Cubs all-star Pete Crow-Armstrong unleashed a vulgar rant towards a female fan after a simple taunt about a missed catch.
During Sunday’s rivalry game against the cross-town White Sox, Crow-Armstrong attempted a leaping grab against the outfield fence, but missed the ball, resulting in a run scoring.
As Crow-Armstrong sat on the warning track to collect himself, a female fan in an area behind the chain-link outfield fence taunted him, saying “you suck.”
Rather than ignore the heckler, PCA fired back with a vulgar taunt of his own in a shocking scene that quickly went viral on social media.
Warning: Graphic language
“You suck my f****** d*** b****,” the outfielder said to the woman, a fan reportedly named Katie.
After the game, Crow-Armstrong initially defended his comments when speaking to ESPN.
“Some lady decided to start talking s*** and I felt the need to say it back,” Crow-Armstrong told the outlet.
As for the fan, the taunting was planned, she said.
“Our goal the entire time we planned this was we knew PCA was in centre field and we’re like, ‘We’re going to heckle him at some point,’” Katie told the Chicago Sun-Times.
In a since-deleted post on X, the fan said she had been attending the game as part of her engagement party.
“Just trying to celebrate my engagement party in the patio,” the post said.
What was the aftermath of the viral clip?
A day later, Crow-Armstrong seemed to have cooled down about the incident, saying that he regretted “his choice of words.”
“I think I just regret my choice of words the most and who that affects in my life directly and indirectly,” the 24-year-old outfielder said before Monday’s game against the Brewers. “I don’t think that any of the women in my life would ever think that I would use those kinds of words regularly, especially referring to them.
“So, I’m just bummed out about the word choice, and that a bunch of little kids go and probably find their way to social media and see that as well.
“But, I am intense on the field and in a moment like that, I just let it get away from me a little bit.”
Would Crow-Armstrong do it again?
However, Crow-Armstrong also said that he doesn’t intend on toning down his fiery persona on the field, and will simply try to harness it in a different way.
“I don’t want to let that deter me from the competitiveness that I feel out on the field,” he said. “I think channelling it in a different way would probably be my next task. That’s something I should be aware of at all times, that there will be cameras and such on me.
“I’m not always going to let stuff like that fly, either. It’s just about being a little more respectful and maybe killing somebody with kindness instead of matching their level of intent.”
MLB has yet to comment on any potential punishment for the exchange with the fan.