"Some sports fans think buying a ticket to a game gives them the right to yell whatever they want from the stands, but Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon disagrees.
Maddon summoned security during the Rays' 9-8 spring training loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday and had a fan wearing an Orioles jersey removed for making racial comments directed at Tampa Bay center fielder B.J. Upton.
"He said something racial, and I didn't like it," Maddon said. "He can say whatever he wants, but don't go there. I didn't want B.J. to go up in the stands and do anything at that point, so I just made sure he was taken out of there."
Maddon declined to say specifically what the he heard the fan yell into the dugout at Charlotte Sports Park, but said Upton and other coaches heard it and that the intent was clear. The Rays manager said that is one line fans should not cross."