Baseball Battles Rowdies, Trying to Keep the Game Family Rated

Baseball has been called America’s pastime, been used as a description of Americana along with hot dogs and apple pie, and, even in these days of high prices, remains a sport that is still affordable for most families.

Baseball is loading the kids into the station wagon and heading for the ballpark.

It’s going to the game with your father and hearing him tell how Stan Musial used to hit, or how Bobby Thomson hit that home run to win the 1951 pennant for the Giants.

It’s having your kids eat you out of the ballpark and into the poorhouse at the concession stands.

Yes, baseball is a family sport.

But sometimes, due in large measure to some fans’ abuse of alcohol, some outings turn into family horror stories.

Some parks have even been described as outdoor taverns, where patrons go to drink rather than cheer. Rowdies, though perhaps small in number, usually travel in groups, are loud in volume and can irritate, scare or even threaten fans away from the ballpark for good.

Recently, for instance:

--Fans harassed outfielder Rick Miller’s family at Anaheim Stadium when his team, the Boston Red Sox, was playing there July 5. Security guards ejected 27 people from the game.

--At Yankee Stadium in New York, a pregnant woman was shot through the hand.

--The bleachers at Tiger Stadium in Detroit had to be closed because of prolonged rowdiness and the growing use of profanity, and the Tigers now sell low-alcohol beer.

--Eleven men were arrested in Pittsburgh after they had fought with security guards. The men had been pelting fans with peanuts and dousing them with beer.

--At a Blue Jay game in Toronto on July 17, the sale of beer was shut off in the sixth inning after some people had come to the park drunk. They continued to drink during the game, and threw beer on other fans and started fights. Police were eventually brought in and 40 people were ejected.

--During a series between the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals at Shea Stadium in New York, 125 people were ejected and 15 summonses were issued.

That’s not to say that the problem is a new one. The popular beer nights of the early 1970s finally had to be discontinued because of the rowdiness they generated. On Nickel Beer Night at Cleveland in 1974, for instance, brawls erupted and hundreds of fans charged the field attacking Texas Ranger outfielder Jeff Burroughs. In Milwaukee during one of the beer promotions, a fan urinated on a policeman from the upper deck.

Giveaway days at the parks also have backfired. Bat Day bats once were thrown onto the field at Yankee Stadium, and Red Sox seat cushions once covered the outfield at Boston’s Fenway Park.

Language, too, has frequently fallen to the X-rated level, with obscenities and chants drowning out the organist. Female fans face special problems. Often they are verbally assaulted by men who have had too much to drink. At others, the language at best can be described as PG-13.

These and other incidents have forced baseball to take a long look at itself. Baseball, in fact, is so sensitive to the problem that the commissioner’s office would not release figures on arrests and ejections this season.

Baseball maintains, however, that it is aware of the problem and is seeking to remedy it.

“We demand a family atmosphere from every ballpark. We want every ballpark to be family oriented,” said Rick Cerrone of the commissioner’s office. “Each club has to do it in their own way. There is no one set way.”

Major league baseball employs a security representative in every city and also has regional security people who monitor stadiums and report to the office.

“We’re definitely in touch with the situation,” Cerrone said. “There is a big improvement from last year to this year when you talk to the security people. They saw a lot of things they didn’t like last year and are working to improve them.”

Each of the 26 major league teams has a director of security, or someone in a similar capacity, who is responsible for policing the park. Lately, they have taken a hard line on troublemakers.

“We don’t put up with anything anymore,” said Dave Schaefer, director of security for the Chicago White Sox. “If we see someone who is close to being inebriated or causing trouble, we throw them out. You can’t permit anything to go on and you must show the fans that your intentions are to make the park a family atmosphere.”

The White Sox also started a public relations campaign in 1981, posting signs and running commercials explaining what behavior would not be tolerated and that good fans should help the security force.

Schaefer said it is working. “We’ve had overwhelming support by the fans and the incidents have decreased by 70%. We still have incidents here and there, but the contrary used to be true. The atmosphere at Comiskey Park has changed drastically in the past few years since the program was initiated.”

The ejection of 40 people July 17 at Toronto, however, didn’t seem to bother Fred Wooten, director of park operations for the Blue Jays.

“We consider it a tough night when 40 people are ejected, but when you’re dealing with a large crowd, that isn’t that bad of a ratio,” Wooten said. “We’ve been running about the same as last year in ejections, but as soon as we run into troublemakers we call in the metropolitan police.”

Bob Smith, director of stadium operations for the Dodgers, has his own theory on the best way to control fans in the ballpark.

“We stress to all our employees to be polite, especially the parking attendants because they are the first people you meet,” said Smith, who has been with the Dodgers in this capacity for 20 years. “They set the tone for the evening. Other employees should follow suit. A family mood makes the rest of the night easier for everyone.”

As of Wednesday, there had been 14 arrests this season at Dodger Stadium, according to Smith. Toronto surpassed that in one night.

Other tricks such as spotters with binoculars in center field and plainclothes officers have helped keep things quiet at Dodger Stadium.

Another key, according to Smith, is to have ushers who know their sections and recognize potential problems.

Fans moving from section to section reportedly caused the Miller incident at Anaheim Stadium. Kevin Uhlich, manager of stadium operations for the Angels, was distressed by it but sees it as the exception.

“We wanted to react on that incident quickly and wanted to assure people that the incident was isolated. We do not want to punish the majority of people who are at Anaheim to have a good time,” he said.

The Angels have ejected 551 fans this season, a 60% increase over last year. There also have been about 100 arrests, said Sgt. Jack Parra of the Anaheim police.

Uhlich said, however: “The problems around here are diminishing and the fans are behaving better than I can recall in a few years. The high numbers are a reflection that the security staff isn’t going to put up with anything.”

He acknowledged that fans from other sections moving into the box seats and other areas were a source of trouble.

The Miller incident was caused by fans moving, and the Angels have instituted a get-tough policy. Tickets are now checked and re-checked.

The Dodgers have ushers stationed at key points to stop fans from moving from section to section. It is very difficult to move around at Dodger Stadium from level to level.

“We want to protect the season ticket-holders and the fans who pay for the best seats,” he said. “We tell our ushers to walk up and down the aisles and be seen, and also to recognize what they see as strangers. We have the ushers work the same sections.”

The Dodgers, along with another team successful at policing its stadium, the Kansas City Royals, employ their own security forces. This gives the team selection over who is hired, leading to stability in the security force.

“We hire all of the crowd control people, and you have to get a special person to do this kind of job, because they certainly aren’t making a ton of money,” Herk Robinson, the executive vice president of administration at Royals Stadium said. “We like the idea that our average usher has at least five years of experience, plus we’ve only had six openings (with a staff of more than 100) in the last two years.”

A recent potentially volatile series with the Yankees at Kansas City--there was one sellout crowd of 40,635 with 2,000 standing customers--brought no arrests or evictions. The Royals’ security force had more than 100 people on duty at the ballpark, and police were in attendance.

“It’s a tribute to our staff when no one gets hurt or we don’t eject someone,” Robinson said. “But we’re kidding ourselves if we think that something can’t happen at this ballpark. We’ve been very lucky so far and have only had a few small incidents.”

The Angels may have their strawberry daiquiris and the rest of the league may have mostly beer, but alcohol is alcohol and it can lead to rowdiness, which sometimes leads to violence.

“We want to discourage any problem of alcohol and want to encourage whatever steps the club feels are necessary,” Cerrone said. “We tell them to look at their own situation rather than suggesting one type of remedy--selling low-alcohol beer, cutting off beer sales in a particular inning or other measures.”

After the Miller incident, the Angels chose to stop selling 32-ounce beers, and limited customers to two beers at a time.

The Dodgers have been stopping beer sales this season after the eighth inning. They also impose a two-beer limit, although that doesn’t prevent someone from coming back again and again.

“It was definitely worse last year, before we had the cut-off point, and of course you’re going to hear the complaints especially if the game goes into extra innings,” said concessioner Daniel Jasso of La Puente. “This year is a big improvement over last year.”

Although some fans object to the tough stance, many applaud.

Ray Lewis of Torrance is among them. He attends a game a week with his three children.

“I was at Anaheim a couple of weeks ago and there were a couple people who were really rowdy,” he said. “They were yelling and annoying everyone. I looked back and the guys had about five or six beer cups stacked together.

“I had three kids with me, so you kind of hide and stay away. I like to have a beer at a game, but not in excess. There’s a definite correlation between alcohol and violence at the games.”

Sometimes fans and families can’t run and hide. Getting doused with beer or obscenities, unfortunately, has been tolerated in some parks.

There have even been beer fights.

“We had a problem with beer fights before, but it has been cut down a lot this year,” said Dodger usher James Pardom of Los Angeles. “It used to get bad enough for a lot of people to get kicked out. But, beer seems to be the only problem here.”

Some women that go to the ballpark have to put up with suggestive remarks. An in-person obscene phone call might be the order in the Fenway or Yankee Stadium bleachers. But, on the tamer side at Anaheim Stadium, she would be rated as a starter (cute) or have a major league fastball (gorgeous) or be relegated to the bullpen (less than cute).

The problems caused by beer sold in the stadium often are serious enough, but alcohol smuggled in adds to them.

The Baltimore Orioles determined that alcohol brought into the stadium from outside was the problem. Fans with coolers were asked to enter a special gate and have it inspected for alcohol.

“Unfortunately, there is a small minority among our fans whose rowdy conduct and obscene language tend to spoil a day at the ballpark for those around them,” said General Manager Hank Peters of the Orioles. “It is our feeling that overindulgence in alcoholic beverages is the principle cause of that misbehavior.”

The cooler inspection in Baltimore has been in effect since July 8, and, according to Bob Brown, Oriole public relations director, the situation has improved tremendously.

The Padres banned containers last season and most other teams have rules banning carry-ins.

Even so, tailgate parties and drinking in parking lots sometimes bring the fan in drunk, and the final outburst occurs in the stadium. The Angels and Dodgers both spend time policing the outside of the stadium.

Eleven of the 26 major league clubs have chosen to close the beer stands before the end of the game, and over-consumption has become such a problem that four teams have options to shut off the beer whenever they consider it necessary.

Some parks have special problems, such as Milwaukee’s County Stadium and the Metrodome in Minnesota. Busloads of fans from outlying areas frequently travel to the games in buses sponsored by taverns. Sometimes those fans arrive at the game drunk and make life miserable for other fans.

“That is the only time we have a major problem,” said Tom Mee, public relations director of the Twins. “The fans from western Wisconsin who come to the Twins’ games seem to take pride in their beer drinking.”

The San Francisco Giants have even switched to mostly day games, partly because of fan rowdiness. Night games and the cold weather around the Bay Area, coupled with the alcohol, brought out the rowdiness in fans.

“When we hired our own security staff and brought in more day games, things improved dramatically,” said Duffy Jennings, public relations director for the Giants. “Fights still break out, but it’s nothing like in the past years because enforcement is taken seriously.”

The ultimate remedy may be what the Red Sox did temporarily--shutting the beer off completely. But, with the financial stake that most teams have in concessions, it may take a mandate from the league office. Two teams are owned by breweries, the St. Louis Cardinals (Anheuser-Busch) and the Blue Jays (Labatt’s).

Family sections or non-alcoholic sections have been established in some stadiums for fans who wish to enjoy the game sans beer. As of this season, seven teams had sections set aside and the number is expected to increase next year.

The Seattle Mariners are the only team with family seating available in all price ranges with nearly 6% of all seats set aside.

“When we first discussed the family section, we thought of forcing a family to be in a particular price range and we didn’t want that,” said Bob Porter, Mariner public relations director. “We have the space available at the Kingdome and most other clubs don’t have that.”

When the Mariners changed to the family sections this year, season ticket-holders had to be moved. But, not one of them chose to move, according to Porter.

The Dodgers were the first to institute a family-type section when the pavilions were designated as beer-free in 1972. “We stopped it temporarily but when we got letters from fans congratulating us on our efforts we decided to continue it,” Smith said. “It was just getting too rowdy and we were getting a lot of complaints.”

Most of the fans questioned did not even know that there was no beer sold in the pavilions despite signs outside. “Once in a while we’ll have fans asking to exchange their ticket because there’s no beer, but not that often,” Smith said.

The problem with a family section is that some parks can’t accommodate them, especially if it means displacing season-ticket holders.

Another criticism is that the fans who choose such sections would be forced into the “Bob Uecker seats.” There is another objection. “When you bring in an area that has no alcohol, you’re almost saying that you can act rowdy in the other sections in the ballpark,” said Bob DiBiasio, public relations director for the Cleveland Indians.

Even so, more and more clubs probably will provide family sections. After all, the sport still sells itself as a family sport.