The drama and fireworks on Day 2 of the Alex Rodriguez arbitration hearing appeared even before he did. The Yankees star’s biggest supporter and the organizer of the pro-A-Rod protest in front of Major League Baseball’s offices ended up hospitalized after a morning clash with a security guard.
Fernando Mateo, the president of Hispanics Across America — which has aligned itself against MLB and Yankees president Randy Levine — was taken to Weill Cornell Medical Center after an 8:30 a.m. run-in with a female security guard who he claims threw hot coffee at him and left him with a sore neck and back.
“I have very bad back spasms, and my neck, I can’t even turn it,” Mateo told The Post. “When she threw the coffee at me, I turned back to make sure it didn’t hit me in face. And then one of the other security guards pushed me.’’
Mateo said the hot coffee hit him in the chest, but he suffered no burns.
“I was wearing two layers, so no,” he said. “But that’s because I pulled my head back so she didn’t get me in the face.
“It’s not good. I’m in pain. We came out here for a peaceful demonstration. I don’t look for trouble, I’m just trying to do a job. There’s no reason for this aggravation, this assault. It’s unacceptable. It just shows Major League Baseball has issues up and down the ladder. There are security people treating us [this way]. I feel like we walked into an ambush.’’
According to witnesses among the throng of 50-some protesters – including HAA executive director Sergio Rodriguez – the confrontation started when Mateo attempted to move a barricade to allow pedestrians on the Park Ave. sidewalk to get around the group of assembled protesters.
“For no reason, simply because I was wanted to accommodate the pedestrians — all I was trying to do was move [the barricades],’’ Mateo said. “There was no reason for them to react like that. I did pressure Bud Selig a time ago to invest money in Latin America for drug testing, but there was no reason for them to react like that.’’
Mateo said he was taken to the hospital after his blood pressure spiked following the coffee scalding.
“My blood pressure went up to 190 over 120, I almost had a heart attack,” he said.
He has a lawyer and told police on the scene that he wants to press charges.
“He was trying to move the barricades to try to give the people an opportunity to walk, the pedestrians,” Sergio Rodriguez said. “She went and yanked the barricades and said basically that it was a police barricade and nobody could move it. So the people could walk, he moved it again, and she threw coffee on him because she said he ripped [the barricade] out of her hands.”
The security guard was then asked by police to return to the building. A law enforcement spokesman said police are investigating the incident, but added no report had been filed.
“There was an incident at 8:30 am between one individual and one of MLB’s private security. That individual had moved a barrier, security intervened, that individual pushed the barrier,’’ the spokeman told The Post. “There was a tussle, coffee spilled on both the individual and the security. It appears unintentional.
“As a result of the tussle, the coffee was spilled. That individual was taken to Cornell Hospital. There is still an investigation ongoing, but to my knowledge no one has filed a police report.’’
Nevertheless, Mateo’s lawyer, Sanford Rubenstein, is on the case.
“Fernando Mateo deserves justice, in that if he is attacked wrongly, hot coffee thrown at him, whoever did that, and we have a photo of the woman who did it, should be held accountable,” Rubenstein said. “We have reported this to the police. They are investigating. Fernando is currently hospitalized because of this attack. We will keep you posted.”
Rodriguez is appealing a 211-game suspension over his alleged involvement with Biogenesis and use of performance-enhancing drugs. He stepped out of a black SUV with lawyer Joe Tacopina at 9:30 a.m., after the Mateo dustup. He greeted the supporters and thanked them in Spanish before heading inside.
Anthony Bosch, founder of the shuttered Biogenesis anti-aging clinic in South Florida, was on hand to resume testimony for MLB. Spokeswoman Joyce Fitzpatrick said Bosch would return Wednesday.
Rodriguez departed MLB headquarters at 6:18 p.m. “I feel good,” he said on the way out.