Are They Down to Last Strike?

Like scores of baseball fans who attended the Angels’ game against the Cleveland Indian on Friday night at Edison Field, Rick Grissom reacted with anger and disappointment to the news that the players union had set an Aug. 30 strike date.

And the 26-year-old Rancho Cucamonga resident sounded a warning that he thinks players and owners might want to consider before allowing the major leagues’ ninth work stoppage since 1972.

“I think they have to get it done,” Grissom said. “I think people have had it this time. I’m a huge baseball fan and I don’t know if I’ll come back.”

Several fans said they were still smarting over the most recent strike in 1994, which resulted in the cancellation of the World Series, and vowed not to return if the players walk out again.

“I’m getting back into the swing of it,” said Mike Ducharm of Huntington Beach, “just to have it happen again.”

Ducharm, who said he is vice president of transportation for Sysco Corp., a food-service marketer and distributor that supplies Edison Field, wondered why baseball couldn’t be more like his industry in terms of handling contract disputes. In the event of a dispute at his workplace, Ducharm said, “we sit down and try to be reasonable and work it out.” Not once in more than three decades have the sides failed to reach an agreement, he said.

Though fans differed on whether players or owners were to blame, most said they hoped an agreement could be reached before the deadline.

This was especially the case among Angel fans such as Grissom, whose team leads the American League wild-card race and could make its first postseason appearance since 1986.

“It’s so hard because I’m so into this season,” Grissom said. “Finally we’re getting some success and there’s a strike looming.”

Said Al Salfrank of Norco: “It would be very disappointing. It’s a very exciting time of year for these guys right now.”

Several fans worried about the effects of a work stoppage on their children. Willie Hernandez of Irvine glanced at the three kids he brought to the game, all wearing Angel caps, and asked, “Are you going to deny these kids baseball?”

Others said the season has already been ruined--strike or no strike--by the greed of those who own the teams and play the game.

“We shouldn’t be here right now,” Mark Paxton of Corona said while standing in line to enter the ballpark. The only reason Paxton and coworker Tony Sadler attended Friday’s game, they said, was because they received free tickets from their employer. “I wouldn’t be here otherwise,” Paxton said.

The timing of the strike, less than two weeks before Sept. 11, wasn’t lost on teenager Barry DeMartini of Santa Rosa, who attended the game with his family.

“I think it’s a bad time for America,” DeMartini said. “America needs a World Series because of Sept. 11.”

The end of August also might be an inopportune time to strike for less obvious reasons.

“Let’s assume it happens,” Hernandez said. “September [5], football season starts. All the fans are going to go from baseball to football without missing a beat. Baseball’s going to get beaned.”

William Black Jr., 36, of Twentynine Palms said he has another, more personal reason for his uneasiness regarding a possible strike: His father, William Black Sr., is in declining health and may not be around to see another playoff race.

Said Black: “We’re hoping he will hang on to see the Angels reach the World Series.”

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Staff writer Dan Arritt contributed to this story.