Two games into the 2025 MLB season, and fan interference is already the hottest topic in the game. While Shohei Ohtani’s home run (perhaps fan-assisted?) might be getting all the attention, Fox cameras captured another interesting exchange during Game 2 of the Tokyo Series on Wednesday.
During the sixth inning, Chicago Cubs outfielder Ian Happ fouled a ball into the shallow stands down the third-base line. Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy gave pursuit and reached into the stands to try to make the play. Muncy, however, was robbed by a fan, who casually snagged the ball in his mitt, hid it behind his back and gave a wry smile to Muncy, who was not happy.
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Turns out, the man who made the grab wasn’t just a regular fan. It was former NFL quarterback and USC star Rodney Peete. The longtime passer was in attendance for the Tokyo Series rooting on the Dodgers. That didn’t stop him from stealing a potential out from Muncy, though.
Unlike Ohtani’s home-run ball, Peete’s snag doesn’t qualify as possible fan interference. Because the ball was out of play and Peete did not enter the field of play to make the grab, everything he did was within the rules. Muncy is allowed to be frustrated about that, of course, but Peete did nothing wrong.
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Peete had good reason for making the catch. The ball was apparently heading straight for his wife, Holly’s, head, she revealed in an Instagram post.
Holly apologized to Muncy for the play, though it ultimately had no bearing on the game. Happ struck out two pitches later, and the Dodgers went on to win 6-3. The win moved the defending World Series champions to 2-0. With the Tokyo Series complete, both the Cubs and Dodgers will return to the United States to finish spring training before domestic Opening Day, which takes place March 27.
Inside Rodney Peete’s NFL career
Before stealing foul balls away from professional baseball players, Peete spent 15 seasons in the NFL. A sixth-round selection in the 1989 NFL Draft, he played the first five years of his career with the Detroit Lions. Despite being a late-round pick, he worked his way up the depth chart, starting eight games as a rookie.
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Peete left the Lions after the 1993 season, briefly joining the Dallas Cowboys for one year before landing with the Philadelphia Eagles from 1995 to 1998. He then bounced around the league, spending time with Washington, Oakland and Carolina.
Peete mostly served as a backup over the final nine years of his career, though he experienced a resurgence in 2002, when he started 14 games for the Panthers. He went 7-7 as a starter that season, setting career highs with 2,630 passing yards and 15 touchdowns. He spent two more years in Carolina but started just one more game in the NFL after the 2002 season.
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While he’s probably not too upset about his NFL career, Peete drew attention for his baseball career. He was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 30th round of the 1984 MLB Draft but did not sign with the team, instead opting to go to college.
That decision worked out for the best in the end, though Wednesday’s snag gave fans a glimpse of Peete’s slick fielding ability, had he gone down the baseball path so many years ago.
