Cody Bellinger Shrugs Off Unusual Rival-Fan Taunts With a Laugh

NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 04: Cody Bellinger #35 of the New York Yankees looks on during the game against the Cleveland Guardians at Yankee Stadium on June 4, 2026 in New York, New York. (Photo by New York Yankees/Getty Images)

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The New York Yankees are continuing their push near the top of the American League playoff race, and Aaron Judge’s absence has placed a heavier offensive responsibility on several veteran members of the lineup.

Cody Bellinger has been one of the players asked to carry more of that load during New York’s recent stretch. His increased role has also made him a more visible target for opposing fans looking to disrupt his focus.

During the Yankees’ recent series in Cleveland, Bellinger drew a series of unusual taunts from fans at Progressive Field. The Cleveland crowd booed throughout the matchup, but Bellinger became the focus of more targeted and oddly specific heckling in Wednesday’s game.

Professional heckler Trevor Gilmore and his group of taunting fans took over a section of the left-field bleachers, according to Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News. Gilmore, who has built an online following around his baseball stadium insults, later described the lines aimed at Bellinger.

“I told him that I heard his Chia Pet had alopecia and that he brightens a room every time he leaves,” Gilmore said. “I heard that his first dance with his mother at his wedding was oddly sexual.”

Rather than react with frustration, Bellinger said he found the exchange amusing after the Yankees’ series victory.

“I thought it was funny, honestly,” Bellinger said, according to Phillips. “They had some good, funny chirps. They had some unique lines, just talking about random stuff.”

The comments came shortly after Bellinger’s teammate Jazz Chisholm Jr. had a more heated reaction to chants from Guardians fans in Cleveland. Chisholm hit a go-ahead home run in the eighth inning of a 3-2 Yankees win on Tuesday, but he acknowledged that the “overrated” chants affected him earlier in the game, when he struck out after overswinging at a pair of pitches.

For Bellinger, however, the encounter with professional hecklers appeared to be less of a distraction and more a reminder of the atmosphere that comes with playing meaningful games in a high-profile sport.

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