Beer-Throwing Blue Jays Fan Sentenced To Community Service, Banned From MLB Games

The Canadian legal system has reached a conclusion in the Great Beer-Throwing Incident of the 2016 American League Wild Card game.

Ken Pagan, who threw a beer can on the field in Toronto at last year’s wild card game against the Orioles, has been given a conditional discharge. That means that he’ll avoid a conviction if he adheres to certain conditions for a year—in this case, mandated community service and a ban on attending MLB games, according to the . The court decided against an absolute discharge, which Pagan’s lawyer had argued for by citing the public humiliation that he has suffered since making the stupid decision to throw a full can of beer at another human being. (“He no longer enjoys the relative anonymity that most of us do. He’s become known… as the beer can guy.”)

Pagan pleaded guilty to mischief in the case last month.

He threw his beer toward Orioles left fielder Hyun Soo Kim with the game tied in the seventh inning. (The Blue Jays ultimately won in extras.) Pagan then mysteriously disappeared before he could be apprehended by security and ultimately turned himself in two days later. He lost his job with PostMedia, the publisher of the Toronto Sun, in the aftermath of the incident and has since been forced to turn to “less satisfying” work such as delivering pizza.

Pagan has personally apologized to Kim, and he apologized to baseball as a whole in court this week.

“My emotions got the best of me in an exciting moment and my reaction is a deeply regrettable mistake, something I’ve been torn about since the moment it happened,” he said. “I am fully aware of the disgrace I brought to the game.”

[ National Post]