Field of screams: Capturing the best Juan Soto taunts and chants from Yankee Stadium

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NEW YORK (specifically, sections 203 and 204 of Yankee Stadium) — With two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Bleacher Creatures finally got to Juan Soto. All it took was replacing vulgarity with some originality, pierced with some validity.

“You miss Judge!”

“You miss Judge!”

“You miss Judge!”

At the rhythmic chanting of those three words, Soto half-turned to face the crowd beyond right field and appeared to make a heart gesture.

“We finally got to him,” said Milton Ousland, a regular Bleacher Creature in Section 203 since the 1980s and known as the “cowbell man” since 1996. “He knew the eff-him chants were coming. We had to do something different.”

For hours, the crowd in Section 204, residing next to the original Bleacher Creatures home of Section 203, never tired of shouting a different three-worded chant.

Juan Soto got an earful of NSFW content over nine innings in the Bronx. (John Jones / Imagn Images)

In the top of the first inning alone, they started the same chant seven different times, each one louder than the last: “F— Juan Soto.”

The half inning took just seven minutes.

The Yankees fans in Section 204, carrying the emotions of a jilted ex-lover who intends to make life without them a living hell, were just getting started with welcoming Soto back to the Bronx.

“It’ll be interesting,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said before the game about his expectations for the crowd’s response to Soto’s return after taking $765 million to join the New York Mets. “I’m sure there will be some creativity in there.”

Boone ended up being right, but only kind of, saved by the regulars in Section 203.

The fans in Section 204, directly beyond where a right fielder stands, eschewed artistry for straight-up vulgarity.

Over … and over … and over again.

By The Athletic’s count, over nine innings during the Yankees’ 6-2 win over the Mets, those fans aimed the same vulgar chant at Soto a whopping 38 times.

They did mix in a few creative messages for their former star turned villain.

After a “F— Juan Soto” chant — we’ll call them FJS chants for brevity (and decency) from here — in the first and second innings, fans busted out: “We got Grisham!” It’s a clever ode to when Trent Grisham filled in for Soto last year and heard chanting about how much Soto was missed. This season, Grisham has hit 12 home runs, four more than Soto. Now, they want Grisham, the fans repeated often.

After Aaron Judge hit a single in the first inning, fans chanted at Soto, “You can’t field!”

Not all the chanting was directed at Soto. In the bottom of the second inning, someone in a blue Mets Soto jersey stood on a bleacher, turned around to face the rest of the crowd and put his middle fingers in the air. In response, the crowd chanted a word that begins with a synonym for a donkey that ends with “hole.”

Soto received some of those throughout the game, too.

Before the game, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza hoped it would be loud. Mendoza served as the Yankees’ bench coach when the Houston Astros visited the Bronx in the season after news of the cheating scandal broke. In Mendoza’s view, the louder the boos got, the more those players raised their games.

“If somebody is able to handle it,” Mendoza said, “it’s Juan Soto.”

At 7:10 p.m., Soto decided to have some fun. He doffed his helmet before stepping into the batter’s box for his first plate appearance as boos drowned out any other noise.

The Bleacher Creatures turned their backs to the field after the top of the first inning. That way, they wouldn’t even acknowledge Soto as he jogged out to right field for the first time.

“We came up with the turning of the back and that was our creativity and our way of saying, ‘You turned your back on us, we’re going to turn our back on you,’” fan Marc Chalpin said. “I don’t think we need to do much more because that also gives him too much relevance. We’re obviously rightfully upset, but we don’t want him to feel like he is the only reason we are here. We are here to watch the Yankees win.”

Chalpin added that a lot of the “regular” Bleacher Creatures don’t care for the FJS chants. It comes from a younger audience, he said, and it catches on because of how easily it can be heard on video.

“He’s lucky it’s not the old days,” Ousland said, cowbell in hand.

The FJS chants started well before first pitch. At 5:23 p.m., Soto heard them when he walked out to right field during batting practice. Only the first few rows in Section 106 beyond right field were filled at that time. That was enough for the chanting and loud boos. Soto didn’t linger, either. He stuck around just long enough to make a catch. Afterward, a fan yelled to him, “Congratulations on finally looking normal while making a routine catch.”

In Section 106, 21-year-old Cooper Hancock sat wearing a Yankees No. 22 jersey — a rarity on this night — with the word “Sellout” stapled on the back, atop the number. He traveled from San Diego. On his way to the Bronx, he stopped in a pharmacy to get the supplies. He was not the only one with the idea.

“It’s on my back because that’s exactly who he is, someone who didn’t care one bit about being a Yankee,” said Marc Johnson, who also sported a custom-made “Sellout” No. 22 jersey.

Perhaps not much of a coincidence, both Hancock and Johnson sat in rows where other people proudly showed off T-shirts previously hidden underneath Yankees jerseys that read, “F— Juan Soto.”

The FJS chants grew loud an hour later, too. That’s right around when Soto returned to right field for warmups. As he stretched, he faced the crowd. Again, his stay was brief.

Thirty seconds later, Judge appeared in the same spot. The crowd erupted in applause.

Soto went 0-for-2 with a run and three walks. He made the game’s final out, a fly out with two runners in scoring position. By then, no FJS chanting was necessary.

Besides, Yankees fans already got him to play along an inning earlier. To end the eighth inning, Cody Bellinger flied out to Soto, right at the outfield wall. After making the catch, Soto smiled, turned around and flipped the ball into the stands. The booing reached a crescendo. That is, until the fan who caught the ball tossed it right back onto the field.

The crowd then chanted something at the fan that is typically reserved for Judge: “M-V-P! M-V-P! M-V-P!”

(Top photo: John Jones / Imagn Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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