Banned Yankees fan was friends with NFL legend: 'A menacing, wild boy'

The celebrity status of one of the banned New York Yankees fans continues to grow.

On Wednesday, four-time Super Bowl winner Rob Gronkowski wrote on outfielder Mookie Betts' glove in Game 4 of the World Series on Tuesday night.

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“Austin was a friend from college (Arizona),” Gronkowski wrote Wednesday. “Very passionate about the teams he represents. I will do anything for her. He's also a menacing, wild boy and the kind of person who would undoubtedly say he would do that and then actually do it. Insanity status since college has been confirmed.”

The incident occurred in the bottom of the first inning at Yankee Stadium. With the Yankees trailing 2-0, second baseman Gleyber Torres hit a fly ball into foul territory in right field. Betts tracked the ball, grabbed it and completed the out.

To his surprise, two fans grabbed his glove and fought with Betts for the foul ball, which was ruled an out. But one fan, Capobianco, grabbed Betts' wrist while the other, John Peter, reached for the ball as it bounced out of Betts' glove.

Betts came out anyway, while the two fans were immediately escorted from Yankee Stadium and subsequently ejected from Wednesday's Game 5. Their four season tickets for Game 5 on Wednesday were confiscated by the Yankees (for a full refund) and donated to a children's cancer patient in Bergenfield, the boys' two brothers and their mother.

“(Capobianco) was on the hockey team, the Arizona Wildcats club team,” Gronkowski said on the show. “Let me tell you, the entire hockey team was absolute lunatics.”

Gronkowski also added, “He’s all for the Yankees. I remember him talking about the Yankees all the time, how much he loves them, and that describes him perfectly, just doing whatever it took to help his team. He’s a beauty.”

NJ Advance Media's Manny Gomez and Randy Miller contributed to this report