Fans Suit Up for Baseball Season

Every spring for 15 years, Mike Say, Ruth K. McCray and two other people met to draw lots to decide which California Angels’ games they would watch with the four season tickets they shared.

According to Say and McCray, the tickets were choice--field level behind first base. Each cost $648 per season.

Say and McCray were counting on sharing the tickets again this year. But in an Orange County Superior Court lawsuit, they claim that one partner in the season ticket deal, Dennis M. Alevizon, has taken control of the tickets and will no longer share them.

The lawsuit also claims that the seats are in a unique and prime spot that cannot be duplicated because the four partners have continuously purchased the seats for the last 15 years. The fourth partner was not identified in the suit.

Say and McCray claim that this year they again paid their one-fourth shares to the Angels’ ticket office. The tickets were mailed to Alevizon, who, they claim, has refused to relinquish them.

In the lawsuit, Say and McCray said they have been willing to pay $3,000 to keep at least two of the field-level seats. The prospect of not watching the Angels from the choice seats this year is distressing enough that they are seeking $500,000 in damages from Alevizon, besides asking a judge to order him to turn over their tickets.

The lawsuit was filed as the Angels, who came within one out of a World Series berth last year, have set an all-time record for season ticket sales. As of Friday, the Angels had sold 18,080 tickets, surpassing the record of 18,075 set last year.

“It’s the best start we’ve ever had,” said Susan Weiss of the Angels, adding that all three levels between first base and third base are already sold for the season.

Location, not ticket price, is the issue, Say and McCray said in their suit. The best seats they could get now would be on aisle 44 around the right field foul pole, Weiss said.

Donna P. McCray, McCray’s daughter and lawyer, declined comment, except to say that the lawsuit claims that $3,000 already has been spent in an effort to get the tickets. Alevizon’s attorney, Mark Susson, had little to add.

“Most of the allegations are either exaggerated or untrue,” said Susson, declining further comment.

According to the lawsuit, the four original parties “recognized from the beginning of the agreement that the location of the seats was unique and the only way to obtain consistently good seats was to purchase season tickets.”

Alevizon, a lawyer, has for years tried to purchase additional tickets, but seats available have never compared to the original block of four, the lawsuit states.

Season ticket holders also get first rights to tickets for coveted post-season games, which had something to do with the dispute.

On March 3, Alevizon informed Say and McCray that he was “cutting (their) shares because he was upset that Ruth McCray had purchased Mike Say’s postseason tickets” last year when everyone knew that Alevizon also wanted them for his firm.