It’s Strike 1 on the Mayor

On opening day of a new baseball season, someone like the mayor quite often throws out the first ball. That’s tradition in a game of tradition. The California Angels (who play in Anaheim but shun the name) shucked tradition last Tuesday at an opening day luncheon. They threw out the mayor.

Well, at least they refused to let him sit at the head table with other dignitaries or to make a speech. Then the ball club added the major league snub of refusing to even accept a city proclamation wishing the team a successful season. In the past whenever the city pitched a proclamation, the take sign was always on. No one had ever before stuck the city with one.

There has been bickering, sometimes involving lawsuits, between the city and the ball club for the last several years over ticket sales, television revenues and development of the stadium parking lot. So the Angels, in no mood to play politics, decided to play hardball at the luncheon and throw at the mayor’s head.

It’s a nasty game. Continued animosity and legal disputes between the city and the ballclub can only cost Anaheim taxpayers and baseball fans more money. Now if the Angels can only be as mean and tough on the American League as they were on the mayor at Tuesday’s luncheon, it ought to be a real wild season around Anaheim stadium, on the field and off.