Ticket Scalpers Join Angels in a Losing Season at the Big A

No matter how bad the Angels are playing on the field, Anaheim police say there is one loyal group of “fans” who are never too discouraged to stay away from the Big A.

Many of them arrive hours before game time to stake out their positions, but are out of the parking lot before the national anthem’s end. They are ticket scalpers. And even with the home team lurching through a lost season, the off-field pros never seem to miss a game.

“We got bombed with them on the Nolan Ryan game,” said Police Sgt. Gerald Stec, referring to the appearance last month by the former Angel great whose uniform number was enshrined in a pregame ceremony. “It’s been a constant thing, ever since the place opened.”

The sergeant said the horde ranges from “the average Joe who’s just trying to unload a couple seats” to “pros who come in from L.A.”

With the Angels a seemingly hopeless 15 games back in the standings going into Saturday’s game, authorities said a number of these outlanders have been representatives of large ticket brokers attempting to unload seats they bought in the spring when they had banked on a more competitive season.

The prohibition against scalping covers all attempts at reselling tickets at the stadium and on all other city property and carry typical fines of about $100, court officials said.

Capt. Peter DePaola said the department does not compile separate statistics for ticket offenses. “It’s like asking me how many tickets we’ve issued for running red lights,” he said.

When the Angels are playing popular opponents, such as the New York Yankees, Stec said, it is not uncommon for police to issue as many as half a dozen citations per game.

“It happens right in front of the ticket window,” said Leslie Flammini, a 20-year Angel employee. “I have a friend who works one of the booths, and she has to knock on the window to try and shoo them away. It’s a common, ordinary, daily occurrence.”

Aware of their presence, security officers perched high above the ticket booths, on top of the stadium offices, not only survey pregame traffic conditions but are also on the lookout for the daily scalping traffic.

On occasion, stadium General Manager Greg Smith has joined the rooftop squad and has witnessed transaction after transaction. Of particular concern, Smith said, have been those people who used young children to “beg” for free tickets.

“I have also watched it happen from my (stadium) office window,” Smith said. “When I see it occur I call the police, but usually it’s too late by then.”

Ticket brokers admit that the poor season records compiled by both the Angels and the Dodgers, coupled with a down economy, has slowed demand for the baseball tickets they stockpiled early.

“Everybody is having trouble selling tickets,” said David Bort of Tyson’s Choice Ticket Service in West Hollywood. “I won’t sell them at a loss, but there are people who are trying to get rid of them for anything they can get. I’d rather use my stock to send friends for free, and this year I’ve done that.”

For local authorities, the scalping problem takes a different twist when you factor in the 200 tickets stolen from Angel season ticket holders this year. Taken either from the mail, from offices or homes, Stec said the tickets are sometimes peddled on stadium property--again to unsuspecting fans.

The transactions often lead to embarrassing encounters with the theft victims, when they arrive to claim their seats with reissued tickets only to find the “poor John Doe” who thought he bought a good seat out front.

On those occasions, the unknowing buyers generally are not cited, but they are escorted out of the stadium, always a few dollars poorer.

“The people who buy those seats are usually three or four people removed from the suspect,” said Lt. Jim Flammini, who once directed the stadium’s police operations. “Any ticket scam you can think of, the people out there have probably tried.”