30 years after the Jeffrey Maier play, the Yankees have lost more than a home run on fan interference

Two days before the 30th anniversary of the Jeffrey Maier game, the Yankees were on the wrong side of a fan interference controversy in the postseason.

Unlike in the 1996 playoffs -- when a 12-year-old boy from New Jersey turned what should have been an out into a Derek Jeter home run and helped the Yankees en route to a World Series title and the start of a dynasty -- in 2026 the Yankees did not get the benefit of a fan interference moment.

If you want any more proof that these are not the late '90s/early 2000 Yankees or even the 2009 Yankees, all you had to see was what happened in the sixth inning of Game 3 of the ALDS at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night.

Anthony Volpe, who grew up in New Jersey idolizing Jeter and then became the Yankees shortstop, hit what umpires ruled was a game-tying two-run home run to left. Yankee Stadium exploded. Volpe rounded the bases and the Yankees seemingly had life in a game they had to have to avoid getting swept out of the playoffs.

And then technology intervened in a way it didn’t in 1996.

The umpires got together and ordered a crew chief replay review to see if a fan in the front row had interfered with Volpe’s ball. Replays indicated he had. The ruling: the ball was not going to be caught by the leftfielder and would have hit the top of the fence if not for the interference. Volpe was given an RBI double to plate George Lombard Jr. and make the score 4-3 instead of 4-4. The Yankees went on to lose by that score, and their season was over.

Most observers feel the replay umpires made the right call. The only quibble is how can they prove the ball wouldn’t have ticked off the top of the fence and still gone over for a home run? Since the call on the field was a home run, was that enough visual evidence to overturn? The replay umpires thought it was, and that’s final.

In 1996, when Maier pulled in the ball by Jeter in rightfield, there was no replay review available. Rightfield umpire Richie Garcia called it a home run, and even though Maier’s interference was much more blatant and the ball most likely would have been caught by Tony Tarasco, the call stood.

The Yankees went on to glory, and Maier went on to the kind of fame that means every time since that there has been a fan interference moment in a baseball game, people either invoke his name or that of Steve Bartman, the poor Cubs fan who interfered with a ball that hurt the Cubs. Bartman was reviled for decades in Chicago.

Maier, who lives a quiet life in New Hampshire these days and hasn’t been called “Jeffrey” since he was a kid (it’s “Jeff” now), was a hero in 1996.

In an interview with Newsday in 2012, he said: "For the most part, it's part of history, for good or for worse. It's something that I have embraced and come to accept. I certainly don't run around letting people know who I am. I don't have a sign over my head or carry a publicist in my pocket or anything like that."

As of Thursday morning, the fan who interfered with Volpe’s shot has not been identified. Maier was feted for his actions; Wednesday’s fan was kicked out of the stadium, escorted by police and Yankee Stadium security.

The Yankees were also ejected from the postseason a few hours later by the Rays. That fan couldn’t save them because they couldn’t save themselves.

Since the winners get to write history, it feels as if the Jeter-led Yankees were destined to win in 1996 even without Maier’s help. But we will never know.

The difference is that the current version of the Yankees doesn’t have Jeffrey Maier or Derek Jeter or aura or mystique on their side anymore. The 27 championships and the pinstripes don’t intimidate. The nearly annual sight of opposing teams celebrating in the Bronx is proof of that.

Just like that fan who interfered with Volpe’s ball and was ejected from the stadium, the Yankees are on the outside looking in. Again. And it’s exactly where they belong.