No signing bonus for the 'riffraff' at Dodgers games

There's a new rule in Dodger Stadium that allows only the rich kids to get autographs, while keeping the unwashed away from box-seat holders.

I'll let e-mailer Russell Wise explain.

"My friends tell me I bleed Dodger blue. My faith, though, in the Dodger family, has been shaken. I was lucky enough to get tickets to last Wednesday's game. My seat was on field level section 33, row C, the closest I have ever been to Major League action.

"Wednesday morning I told my group of 5th grade students that I was going to the game. As a teacher's assistant at the Blythe Street School in the San Fernando Valley, I enjoy getting kids excited about school and physical education.

"I have talked to my students at length about the math behind baseball and the heart and competitive drive you must have in life, school and in sports. One child in particular, Keanne, has been talking to me nonstop about the Dodgers. We often talked about who would win the last outfield spot, Ethier or Pierre.

"Keanne asked me if I could get a ball signed for him. He even tried to give me money to pay for a ball. I told him not to worry about the ball and that the autograph would be all his.

"I showed up at the game two hours before the opening pitch and found my seats. Three rows from those new box seats -- I figured it would be a snap to get an autograph. When I made my way toward the stretching players, ball and pen in hand, I was rebuffed. 'New rules,' the attendant said.

"I have been going to Dodger games since I was 9. I remember waiting in line, with dozens of other kids, for Brett Butler to sign my ball. I begged and pleaded with the attendant to get an autograph. I tried to tell him about Keanne.

"Then I saw kids turned back from that magic line between regular seat and box seat. I couldn't believe it, their parents couldn't believe it, and the whole time the privileged few, in the new box seats, got as many autographs and pictures as they liked. At that moment I actually questioned my Dodger loyalty.

"The Dodgers to me have always been about family and tradition. I never thought I'd see the day where a regular kid couldn't get an autograph at a ball game.

"I told Keanne about the incident and he assured me it was 'OK.' He said, 'I'll try, if I go this year.' However, something tells me his single mother will not be able to afford the seat just to get an autograph."

I CALLED Dodgers customer service, got "Joe," and he confirmed the new rule. He said he wasn't quite sure now how youngsters were supposed to get autographs.

"I don't have any information on that," he said.

He mentioned an area in center field where fans are allowed to come on the field before games.

"I'm pretty sure you can get autographs out there," Joe said, and I'd like the name of the major league baseball player who turns his back on batting practice, fly balls landing all around him, just so he can give someone an autograph.

When I asked if I could discuss the situation with someone else, he said he was the guy, and took down my name and number.

I didn't hear from Joe again, so I called the Dentist, the Dodgers' new PR guy, who doubled as PR guy and dentist for the Red Sox.

He said the biggest complaint from Dodgers field box-seat holders "was the crowded conditions pregame at their seats and on the concourse from fans trying to get close to the players."

I always thought the rich were the last to arrive, batting practice over and fans returning to their seats before the boxes filled up. The McCourts never take their seats until after the national anthem.

But then I blame the McCourts, who supposedly are big on tradition, just not the tradition of kids getting autographs before games.