KANSAS CITY — As Kauffman Stadium welcomed the return of playoff baseball on Wednesday night with player introductions before Game 3 of the ALDS, an outpouring of boos greeted Jazz Chisholm Jr.
With a sold-out crowd packing the house, the volume of the jeers easily exceeded what any other Yankee heard.
“I love it,” Chisholm, flashing an ear-to-ear smile, said as he made his way down the Bombers’ handshake line. After the Yankees’ 3-2 win over the Royals, he confirmed his feelings.
“I loved every single second of it,” the 26-year-old said. “I ain’t never see nobody boo a bum.”
Jazz Chisholm Jr. saying “I love it” as Royals fans boo him pic.twitter.com/3ONGtZxe8E
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) October 9, 2024
Chisholm drew the wrath of Royals fans because he said their team “got lucky” after Kansas City won Game 2 at Yankee Stadium on Monday. Yankees manager Aaron Boone tried to downplay those comments the next day, only for Chisholm to double down on social media.
The Kansas City crowd certainly took note.
“He handled it well,” Boone said of the boos. “That’s good for the playoffs to have a little bit of that. I don’t think he meant any disrespect by it at all. You know, it made for a little better environment.”
The way Chisholm described it, his previous comments and tweets were actually bait.
“Oh yeah, I wanted it,” he said when asked if he expected the hostility. “That’s the reaction I wanted. So I’m glad that we got it, and it got our juices flowing. It got us going. It got the team going. We loved it.”
Royals fans remained on Chisholm’s case throughout the game, which saw the third baseman go 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
At one point, Chisholm pretended to cry fake tears as the boos drowned Kauffman out. There was also a moment where Chisholm whispered something to Royals catcher Salvador Perez.
“I told him I love this s–t,” Chisholm said of the exchange.
Jazz Chisholm was getting booed so he went with the fake tears.
pic.twitter.com/ySt9YjXn9B— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) October 10, 2024
Asked for his favorite heckle from the night, Chisholm took a second to think before laughing at his own story.
“There was this like 27-year-old man and I think he was mimicking the girl on the side of him. And he was like, ‘You’re 0-for-3,’” Chisholm recalled, parroting an extremely high-pitched voice. “But he looked like a big man! So when he did it, I almost cried. It was funny.”
While Wednesday was the first time Chisholm turned an entire stadium against him, the colorful character has brought some swagger to the Yankees ever since they acquired him from the Marlins prior to the trade deadline.
In addition to a lively persona, Chisholm also learned to play third base on the fly while slashing .273/.325/.500 with 11 home runs, 23 RBI and 18 stolen bases over 46 games for the Yankees.
He’s added two hits and an RBI this postseason, as well as a ton of confidence and energy.
“It’s been great,” said Giancarlo Stanton, who crushed a go-ahead homer in Wednesday’s win. “Popping homers left and right, is a sparkplug on the bases, turning singles, walks into doubles, triples. He’s been and will continue to be huge for us.”
Chisholm will also likely continue to be a nuisance when given the opportunity.
Asked if being a troll gets him hyped, he replied, “Yes, 100%,” before repeating himself.
“I love it.”
