Tommy Pham ignores salty banter with Padres fans, leads DBacks to win
SAN DIEGO — For three days here, the boos have rained down on Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Tommy Pham. But to hear Pham tell it, San Diego Padres fans have done much more than just boo.
After an altercation with a fan near the on-deck circle early in the game, Pham proceeded to turn in his most impactful performance yet with his new team, hitting the go-ahead homer and a triple that led to another run in the
Diamondbacks’ 6-4 win over the Padres in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader at Petco Park.
Pham spoke briefly with reporters after the game, recounting a pair of incidents that took place this week. He said that in the top of the first inning on Saturday, a fan called him a “piece of s---,” which ostensibly prompted him to call security and ask for the fan to be removed. The fan was escorted by a security guard out of the area but a Padres spokesperson said he was not ejected.
“I’m all about good banter,” Pham said. “He stepped out of line and said something that got him kicked out. The fans here, man, I just don’t get it. Not even at the field, even away from the field. It’s completely disrespectful. I don’t know. Maybe they weren’t raised right. I was always taught respect until someone doesn’t give you it. It is what it is.”
Partial video of the incident circulated on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, in which a fan could be heard denying having said what Pham accused him of saying. Rather than calling Pham names, the fan was said to have been talking about an incident that occurred the night before, according to another fan. Pham heard things differently.
“Older, white gentleman called me a piece of s---,” Pham said. “So, I don’t think that’s acceptable, especially when you’re so close to the on-deck circle. Neither do the security (guards) and, I’m sure, Pete (Peter Seidler) doesn’t think it’s acceptable, too, the owner of the Padres.”
Pham, 35, played two seasons with the Padres in 2020 and 2021, a stint that overlapped with an incident in which he was stabbed in the back outside a San Diego strip club.
Pham did not play well during his Padres tenure, hitting just .226 with a .705 OPS, and since departing he has done nothing but punish the Padres. He has hit .317 against them the past two seasons and his homer on Saturday was his sixth in that span.
He also had a notable run-in last year with former Padres slugger Luke Voit, whom he challenged to a fight. Whatever the cause, Pham, whom the Diamondbacks acquired from the New York Mets at the Aug. 1 trade deadline, clearly not popular here — and, he said, it extends beyond Petco Park. He said he was confronted by a woman outside the team hotel this week.
“A lady, she’s just not really educated in a baseball sense, she told me — she was drunk — just, ‘F you, Tommy Pham. That’s why we got rid of you,’” Pham said. “I’m like, ‘Lady, I reached free agency. They didn’t get rid of me. In fact, they tried to re-sign me in free agency.’ Just people, man.”
Pham abruptly cut the interview short after only a few questions on the subject.
So whether his big day at the plate felt that much sweeter given what has happened this weekend can only be assumed. It certainly seemed to mean something to teammates.
“I don’t know the backstory, but they’ve been putting it on him,” center fielder Alek Thomas said. “I’m sure it fuels him a little bit. In baseball, it’s kind of hard to — you’ve got to get good pitches to do good — but he’s been doing his thing and it’s pretty cool to see him silence haters out here. It’s pretty dope. I like it.”
Said manager Torey Lovullo: “These fans are awful to Tommy. I hear some terrible things coming from the stands. It’s not just the normal, ‘You’re a bum’ stuff. It’s deeper. It’s ugly. I’ve been uncomfortable with it from my vantage point.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Tommy Pham ignores salty banter with Padres fans, leads DBacks to win
