Fans Ready to See--but Not Forgive--<i> Real</i> Angels

If you field a team, they will come.

But not nearly as many as before.

In years past, the Freeway Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and California Angels typically drew about 45,000. This year, with replacement players donning major league uniforms, only about 22,450 showed up Friday night for the exhibition rivalry, according to Anaheim stadium officials.

Despite the attendance and grumbling over the nearly eight-month players strike, the Big A still took on the atmosphere of a major league baseball game. The bagged peanuts still flew, the beer still flowed and the fans still cheered.

“I didn’t care if I had to cross a picket line to get in here,” said Flo Heaven, 71, a retired secretary from Midway City, who sat a few rows back from home plate. “I needed a baseball fix.”

And youngsters still waited in line for a major league autograph, even if they had no idea who was signing them.

“I can’t really read it. I don’t know who it is,” said 10-year-old Jeff Hocking from Villa Park, staring at a replacement Dodger autograph on his baseball. “I’m doing it because I figure it might be worth some money later.”

For the baseball fans who came to watch the first Angels game in Anaheim Stadium this year, it wasn’t the quality of the players that mattered so much as the game.

“I called into work today and said, ‘I’m taking my kids to a ballgame,’ ” said Robert Paterson, 27, of La Habra with his sons Robert, 6, and Duncan, 5. “This is America’s pastime.”

Many fans complained that striking major leaguers have been corrupted by sky-high salaries and said they now feel a loyalty to the replacement players.

“They aren’t replacement players to me. I’m mad that the news media call them that. They are our team,” said Peggy Anderson, 64, from Monrovia, who also flew to Tempe, Ariz., to root for the Angels during spring training this year. “I like how hard they play.”

Mike Campbell, 26, a California Highway Patrol officer from Trabuco Canyon, agreed: “Baseball is all about the guys who want to play, and those guys out there want to play. I’ll come to every game to support them.”

Still, news that a federal judge’s decision Friday may soon end the long strike was greeted with relief by most fans.

“I would prefer to see the real thing,” Marisa Miramontes, 17, from Anaheim. “They play better.”

Other fans didn’t intend to forgive so easily.

“We’ll be here if they come back,” said Anderson, who has missed a few Angels home games in the past 17 years. “But I’ll boo them on every error they make.”

A few angry fans said they would boycott the ballgames if the original team returns.

“I can’t stand the idea of a spoiled-brat millionaire going out on strike,” said Roger Rhyne, 61, from Anaheim Hills and a longtime Angels fan. “I made a vow to myself if the major leaguers come back, I won’t attend any more games and I won’t watch them on TV.”

“They’ve taken the fun out the game,” he added. “They turned it into a business.”