They’re Game to Work

As the Anaheim Angels battled the Chicago White Sox at Edison Field on Monday, a struggle of another kind was going on in the stadium: Some die-hard fans were trying to do business while enjoying a ballgame on a workday afternoon.

“There are probably more real estate reps, title reps and loan officers at the ballgame right now than in their offices,” John Schultz, a loan officer from Santa Ana, confided between cell-phone conversations with a client in Las Vegas. “I’m just having fun--making business out here on a beautiful day.”

He was among about 31,000 fans at Monday’s game, one of only a handful scheduled on weekday afternoons this season. Some took the day off or, in the case of several thousand Disneyland employees, took advantage of special promotions sanctioned by their employers.

Others, though, admitted to playing hooky or trying to serve two masters: their bosses and America’s pastime.

“Day games are very popular in baseball,” Angel spokesman Tim Mead said, “because when baseball originated it was a day game. And this is the age of the cell phone.”

That was apparent as a virtual army of mobile-phone bearers--many of them wearing ties--streamed past the concession stands with ears glued to phones.

“You can’t hear anything inside the stadium,” Schultz said. “There are lots of cell phones in there--pretty much my whole company is here. I’ve learned to adapt--my hand is my notebook. The big thing is, when someone pages you, you call them right back.”

Gilbert Medina found himself embroiled in a discussion of imported jalapeno peppers just as the White Sox were pulling ahead. “One of my suppliers invited me here,” said Gilbert, who works for a food distribution company in Riverside. When a customer called from Northern California asking about the jalapenos, Gilbert had to walk to a stadium gate to escape the crowd noise and call a supplier in Mexico City. “I think I can get them,” he explained after he hung up. “I’m going back to watching the game.”

George Chabot of Yorba Linda, general manager of a manufacturing company, was at the game with a customer. “I’ve got my radio with me, so I’m on call,” he said. “I didn’t tell the guys I’d be at the ballgame, though--I just told them I wouldn’t be back.”

Meanwhile his customer, Pete Peterson, was chatting on a cell phone. “I’m doing PR today,” said Peterson, a framing contractor from Homeland. “I have a good crew, but the people under the foreman don’t know where I am--they don’t need to know.”

A few of the fans talked business face-to-face in the stands.

“We’re not really off,” said Jon Morrison, an educator from Wrightwood, who was at the game with his brother, an education counselor. “We’re in planning sessions--this is an environment in which we can talk.”

Some admitted that they had, indeed, skipped out on other obligations. “I ditched school to come,” said Mark Tafolla, a student at Fullerton College. “I told my teacher I had a chiropractic appointment. You’ve got to sacrifice something for the Angels, right?”

His sacrifice didn’t help: His team lost, 8-1.