The Show Goes On

Dodger Stadium opened Monday night near the left-field corner, at a stubborn gate banged open by the right foot of an usher.

Not yet a week since terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the Dodgers played baseball, and 40,676 fans came to see.

The game sighed and trudged back to work, to a place girded by LAPD officers, a more wary stadium security force, and closed circuit cameras.

A bomb-sniffing dog probed the stadium from dawn to dusk, and will again today. Small bags and purses were inspected near the turnstiles. Backpacks and coolers were turned away. Paul Lo Duca was asked for picture identification on his way into the stadium, and then started at catcher for the Dodgers.

Police Chief Bernard Parks was nearby when the national anthem turned to applause. Supplementary patrol cars from his Northeast Division toured the streets of Elysian Park as Kevin Brown threw the first pitch.

And, then, ultimately, despite the hardened precautions, despite the taut jaw lines of white-shirted security guards, despite the ache that would not go away, the prevailing opinion was that it felt mostly like baseball again.

Amy Esparza’s usual parking space was eliminated because of baseball’s decision to eliminate vehicles within 100 feet of the stadium. Many of those spaces are reserved for the handicapped. Esparza, from Northridge, is in a wheelchair. Her new spot was about 10 feet from the former one.

“If I have to wheel a little farther to feel a little safer,” she said, “then I’m OK with that.”

Simi Valley’s Claire Gallacher was delayed for half a minute as a humorless security guard picked through her purse. She smiled and shrugged.

“It’s a little inconvenient,” she said. “But, it’s for our own protection. I’m an honest person. I have nothing to hide.”

There were, apparently, no unusual delays getting into the parking lot or the stadium.

Behind home plate near game time, Parks passed a fellow police officer and nodded. Then he turned, tapped the young man on the shoulder and said, “Keep smiling, son. It’s OK to be light.”

The officer’s shoulders fell, and a smile creased his face before he disappeared into the crowd. Parks gestured to the stadium around him, filling as he spoke.

“They should not have a fear of enjoying themselves,” he said. “We have increased our presence. We do not give numbers. We only say it is more than adequate. But, the image is important. [Fans] see something is different. But, we don’t want it to look like a lock-down camp.”

The game returned to a handful of new rules mandated by baseball. Coolers, backpacks and large bags are not allowed. Bags could be--and likely would be--inspected at park entrances. Parking was restricted. And stadiums were to be inspected before opening each day.

Baseball does not have the authority to limit traffic in the air space above its stadiums during games, and the FAA so far has chosen not to.

“We, unfortunately, are not able to prevent everything,” Parks said.

Sandy Alderson, baseball’s executive vice president, on Monday afternoon was briefed on stadium procedures, observed meetings attended by Dodger employees and spoke with both managers. On his llapel he wore a small pin of an American flag over an outline of the New York City skyline, as it stood seven days ago.

He came as a representative of the commissioner’s office. And just to be, you know, sure, at a time when few can be.

“We’re trying to do our part to get people back to some sense of routine,” he said. “If baseball is nothing else, it’s part of our routine.

“We’re as confident as we can be. There’s always the element of the unknown.”

San Diego’s Tony Gwynn felt it before he hit the stadium.

“It was really strange coming here tonight,” Gwynn said. “In the past, I got to Dodger Stadium and I got thinking about all the times when I was a kid coming here and watching the Dodgers play. Today I got here and a guy stopped me before I got to the [parking] gate. He checked who I was and let me go to the gate. Then he checked who I was and let me in. I get to the stadium, then we see guards here, then there are security guards walking around the stands. I walked into the clubhouse and there was a dog sniffing around every cubicle. You want to ask why, but you don’t, because you know why. This has made us cognizant about everything in our lives.”

Asked if he believed he were secure, Gwynn raised his eyebrows.

“Right here, right now, I feel safe,” Gwynn said. “Out there [on the field], I’m not sure.”

Doug Duennes, Dodger vice president of stadium operations, said he should be reasonably sure. He has managed stadiums for 26 years. His director of security, Roy Sukimoto, has guarded things--and people--for 25. They implemented the closed-circuit cameras before last season, and the Dodgers already had a surveillance room and a command post, all suggested by baseball officials.

Duennes told his employees, “Be vigilant, be focused on what you’re doing. But don’t be too grim about it.”

And then they opened the doors.

“Believe me,” Sukimoto said, “I’m very concerned with fans here. We’ve taken all of the critical steps. What’s left is a sense of urgency, and of responsibility.”

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Times staff writers Chris Foster and Paul Gutierrez contributed to this story.