Houston Astros Fans Continue To Boo Texas Rangers Slugger Adolis Garcia For No Reason

HOUSTON — Houston Astros fans continue to proudly boo Adolis Garcia.

And yet, nine months later, it almost makes no sense.

Every time the Texas Rangers slugger stepped into the batter’s box, the 39,666 fans in attendance Friday night at Minute Maid Park booed him like he was Kermit Washington, Sam Wyche or Bud Adams (ask your parents, kids!)

Let’s recap: It’s the eighth inning of Game 5 of the 2023 American League Championship Series at Globe Life Field in Arlington between the Rangers and Astros. The series is tied 2-2, and Garcia’s three-run home run off Justin Verlander has given Texas a 4-2 lead in the sixth inning.

In Garcia’s next at-bat in the eighth inning, Astros reliever Bryan Abreu nailed Garcia with a first-pitch 99 mph fastball to the left shoulder.

Everyone in the building knew Abreu was throwing balls at Garcia. Why? Maybe the Astros didn’t appreciate the way Garcia celebrated his home run, including slamming his bat into the ground after walking halfway to first base, admiring the moment. All of Garcia’s reactions were in front of his teammates in the Texas dugout and were aimed at his teammates. Nothing disrespectful happened.

Abreu and Garcia were ejected, and Astros manager Dusty Baker was ejected for throwing his cap in disgust after a discussion with the umpiring crew. The six-man crew agreed that Abreu threw the ball at Garcia with intent. MLB officials also agreed, later suspending Abreu for two games and issuing him an undisclosed fine.

MLB officials “considered the dangerous nature of the field and its potential impact on player safety,” a league statement said at the time.

Jose Altuve hit a three-run home run in the ninth inning to give the Astros the win and a 3-2 lead in the series in Houston.

That’s when the unnecessary and absurd booing of Garcia began. Every time Garcia came up to bat in Game 6, the Astros fans unleashed a torrent of rarely heard boos. As if Garcia were the villain in this Lone Star opera? No, not at all. He was the victim before he became the Astros’ executioner. In his first four at-bats in Game 6, the booing seemed to come from Garcia’s head. He was thrown out four straight times, each at-bat eliciting louder boos than the last. When he came up to bat with the bases loaded in the ninth inning and the Rangers led 5-2, the boos continued to rain down.

Until the boos turned to gasps.

Garcia’s grand slam put an exclamation point on the Rangers’ 9-2 victory to force a decisive Game 7. Garcia went 4-for-5 with two extra-base homers and five RBIs in the Rangers’ 11-4 victory in Game 7 en route to their first World Series championship.

Garcia’s first home run of Game 7 came off Hunter Brown.

On Friday night, in the fourth inning, Brown hit Garcia with a 1-0 fastball in the arm. There was no clearing of the benches or even an exchange of words as Garcia took first base.

Astros fans, however, continued their absurd booing as if Garcia had done something untoward at some point.

I’m not immune to the history of booing at sporting events. It’s not necessarily a bad thing. I just prefer that booing has meaning.

Garcia was the victim of a wild pitch and then punished the Astros in the next two games. He says he’s flattered by the boos and seems to enjoy the attention. But that doesn’t mean it makes sense.

You can follow Stefan Stevenson on X @StefanVersusTex.

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