It’s a Banner Day for Fans in San Diego

Declaring that free speech is as much a part of baseball as the seventh-inning stretch, the American Civil Liberties Union announced Tuesday that the San Diego Padres would no longer prohibit fans’ stadium banners that criticize the franchise and its management.

After numerous complaints from fans--who threatened lawsuits after being ejected and having their banners confiscated during 1993 home games--the ACLU launched discussions with the team. As a result, no restrictions on the critical content of signs or banners will be imposed next season.

ACLU officials, who spoke with the approval of the Padres’ management, said the agreement should serve as a warning to teams across the country that play in stadiums financed by taxpayers. The Padres play their home games in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, which is publicly owned.

In 1989, the ACLU filed complaints against the Cincinnati Bengals football team and the New York Yankees baseball team--which play in publicly owned stadiums--and won concessions similar to those announced in San Diego.

“By affirming that fans may display signs and banners that are critical of the team’s ownership and management, the Padres have upheld this tradition,” ACLU representative Linda Hills said Tuesday.

The controversy arose in June, on the day all-star third baseman Gary Sheffield was traded from the Padres to the Florida Marlins. Sheffield’s departure was part of the unpopular cost-cutting moves in which the Padres lost more than a dozen players from the team’s 1992 roster.

Anti-Padre banners were much in evidence after Sheffield’s departure and again weeks later when first baseman Fred McGriff, the National League’s 1992 home run champion, was traded to the Atlanta Braves for a trio of minor league prospects.

Edward Lucero of El Cajon said he was grabbed by the neck and thrown out for displaying a banner that read: “Thanks Fab 14 (referring to the Padres’ owners) for making the Pads the laughingstock of baseball.”

ACLU attorney Lane McVey said the Padres agreed to the change in policy responding to “full and frank discussions” lasting several months.

“Our chief concern was that the Padres would no longer use their policy to censor fans critical of the team’s management and ownership,” McVey said.

ACLU official Hills called the agreement a victory for children.

“Hopefully, some kids now know a little more about their right to free speech and the importance of defending it wherever it is threatened--the ballpark included,” he said.