NEW YORK _ What's next, locusts? After delays for the coronavirus and crazy rescheduling, Wednesday night's Yankees game against the Rays at Yankee Stadium was delayed for over five minutes when a drone was spotted overhead.
With the Yankees' batting after a brutal start to the game, play stopped as the Rays and umpires pointed and looked up. TV cameras caught the dark outline of a drone over the field of play.
Both teams retreated to their dugouts, umpires headed toward the grounds crew's room, where the crew chief, Chad Fairchild, was seen talking on a cell phone.
The teams resumed play after a brief conference with the two acting managers. Aaron Boone and Kevin Cash were suspended for Wednesday night's game after Tuesday's beanball.
Last month, the Pirates and Twins had a similar delay when a drone was hovering over Target Field.
FAA rules protect the air space above ballparks and stadiums during games and if they can find who is piloting the remote-controlled devices, they can face fines.
According to a report by Vice News, it's not the first time this has happened in New York City.
In May 2014, Vice found, a man was fined $1,100 for flying a drone over Citi Field, home of the New York Mets. The fine was reduced to $500.
Something similar happened at the 2015 US Open tennis tournament in New York, when a man lost control of the drone he was piloting and it crashed into a bank of empty seats during a women's singles match at Louis Armstrong Stadium. NYPD charged a Brooklyn science teacher with reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor, and two violations involving unlawful operation of a drone. A judge in Queens sentenced the man, Daniel Varley, to just five days of community service.
