CHICAGO — The banning of a Chicago White Sox fan from Rate Field for inappropriate heckling of Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte was a good first step.

Sending a message that such behavior won’t be tolerated was the least the Sox could do to make up for the ugly incident during Tuesday’s game, when Marte was brought to tears after a 22-year-old fan allegedly yelled derogatory comments about Marte’s late mother, Elpidia Valdez, who died in a car accident in 2017 in the Dominican Republic.

With so few people at the ballpark, the heckling from behind first base was easily heard in the Arizona dugout, where manager Torey Lovullo and bench coach Jeff Banister pointed out the heckler and got him ejected by Sox security.

The Sox announced Wednesday the fan is banned from the ballpark “indefinitely” — which Lovullo felt was the appropriate response — and The Associated Press reported the ban extends to all major league parks.

“I am (OK with the ban), to be honest with you,” Lovullo told reporters before Wednesday’s game. “I had a little bit of an interaction with him as I was yelling at him. He wasn’t getting it. He was very pompous. It didn’t sit right with me.

“So there was probably a review of it and everybody saw that. We need better baseball fans. Baseball deserves better.”

Chicago deserves better too.

This kind of behavior isn’t reflective of Sox fans or the city. Wrigley Field has its share of idiots, as do most venues. The explosion of sports betting might not be the reason for the increase in personal invective being spewed at games. But it does seem to have picked up in the last few years as more states have legalized gambling.

The Sox can’t monitor the behavior of every fan, though they should investigate how long the personal attack lasted and whether it could’ve been stopped earlier. But Marte’s emotional reaction, crying on the field after the remarks apparently triggered him, gave the Sox organization another black eye.

Lovullo took pains to absolve the Sox, pointing out they were very “supportive” of his request to have the offender ejected. The Sox also put a message on the video boards during Marte’s first at-bat Wednesday that read: “Baseball is family. The White Sox community supports Ketel Marte.”

Athletes hear insults often. They’re supposed to be immune because the pay is good and they’re relatively famous. But they’re still human.

“You know there are lines you cannot cross and you know when you hear it, you’re always going to speak up for it, and I thought Torey did a great job of handling that last night,” Sox manager Will Venable said.

Unfortunately for the Sox, it was another nationally publicized episode involving their fans, which includes the 2002 game when a father and his 15-year-old son attacked a Kansas City Royals coach, a 2003 game when a fan attacked umpire Laz Díaz and the mysterious gunshot incident of 2023 in which two fans in the bleachers were struck by gunfire. Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf is being deposed in a lawsuit by one of those fans. The incident has yet to be explained.

The vast majority of fans never would think of heckling a player. The ones who do think they’re being clever and often say things they never would say if they were alone on the street with that person. They know a player can do nothing in return or risk being suspended.

I covered the Sox in 1996 when a fan in Milwaukee made racist remarks to Sox outfielder Tony Phillips, who came out of the game, confronted the fan, punched him and got arrested. MLB absolved Phillips and he served no suspension, but that was a different era.

Now more fans are emboldened to say something, especially if a player might have cost them money.

“It was just a gross comment,” Lovullo said. “You wouldn’t say that out loud to anybody, let alone somebody who lost their mom. We’re well aware of the bettors, the ones who are frustrated and vent and say things because they lost a bet. We’re aware of them, but this one definitely crossed the line.”

It didn’t take long for someone to post a video of the fan, shaming him on social media without including the offensive remark. Hopefully the 22-year-old learned a lesson, but who knows? We are living in bizarre times, when someone as powerful as the president can toss out insults at a rapid clip without impunity.

With the Marte incident now a national story, perhaps it can be a teaching moment and lead to a more civilized atmosphere.

“That’s a really, really good point,” Lovullo said. “At the end of the day, we have to talk about certain things and be real about what’s happening in society. I’m not here to get on my soapbox. I’m the manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks and I’m very proud of that.

“But I see things, hear things, and when you can strike up conversations and create awareness for things that are important in this country, in this society, that’s our job.”

Baseball needs more people like Lovullo. He handled the situation Tuesday like a caring father, not just a boss, consoling Marte on the field and making sure he was OK when they got back to the team hotel. Lovullo always has been good at his job and is one of the game’s most respected managers. But Tuesday he showed that being a mensch is as important as X’s and O’s.

Hopefully other managers, general managers and baseball people use their own soapboxes to further discussions about what’s happening in society that encourages idiots to advertise their idiocy.

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