The Liga Mexicana de Beisbol has suspended pitcher Wirfin Obispo of the Olmecas de Tabasco for the remainder of the 2024 season after the pitcher attacked a fan during Sunday’s game against the Bravos de Leon in Guanajuato, Mexico.
In a recorded statement, Obispo, 39, said that a fan asked him for a ball. When he told the fan he didn’t have a ball, the fan replied with an insult aimed at Obispo and his mother, punctuating it with a racial epithet.
“The man says that to me again, and I made a decision that I didn’t have to make,” Obispo said in Spanish on the video. “I understand that I f—ed up, I messed up, I made a mistake. I threw the glove. It turns out that in the glove, there was a ball inside. Then the ball came out and hit him.”
Declaraciones del lanzador dominicano Wirfin Obispo luego de ser suspendido por la temporada en la Liga Mexicana. pic.twitter.com/YDx4xr8NU3
— Jose Antonio Mena (@jmena26) May 8, 2024
In a statement in Spanish, the Olmecas de Tabasco said, “We strongly condemn the incident that occurred the previous Sunday, in which the player Wirfin Obispo was involved and in which a supporter of the Bravos de León was injured; it is important to mention that Olmecas de Tabasco has taken charge, from the first moment of the incident, of the attention to the fan involved.”
Comunicado oficial. pic.twitter.com/VUHu3qMOpE
— Olmecas Tabasco (@OlmecasTabasco) May 7, 2024
Obispo has been a bright spot for the Olmecas thus far this season, posting a 1.80 ERA through 10 innings of work and striking out 15 across two starts for Tabasco.
The native of San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, is in his eighth season in the LMB, having previously appeared for Monterrey, Monclova, and Puebla before joining Tabasco for the 2024 season.
Obispo played in affiliated baseball in the Cincinnati Reds, Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves, and Milwaukee Brewers organizations but has yet to make it to Major League Baseball.
In four seasons of Nippon Professional Baseball with the Yomiuri Giants and Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, Obispo went 8-4 with a 4.13 ERA in 32 appearances.