Little Rock’s Drew Smyly won his first Major League game on April 28, at of all places, Yankee Stadium, smack dab in the middle of the Bronx. A New York taxi driver once told me, after I had asked about driving by Yankee Stadium for a glance, “Sir, you don’t want to go there at this time of year.” I figured if the cabbie didn’t care much for traveling in that neighborhood, there was no need for a follow-up question.
An aunt in Pasadena once sent me to a Dodgers game with a co-worker. I saw Don Sutton (then with Houston) pitch against Burt Hooten of L.A. Dodger Stadium is nestled in Chavez Ravine. It’s a beautiful park, but I’m not sure there is a good time of year to be in the neighborhood. It’s a gang-infested area.
Justin Bieber recently joined a long line of celebrities booed at a New York Knicks game, but that’s nothing compared to the ruthlessness of the Philadelphia sports crowds. Remember Santa Claus being booed and pelted with snow balls at an Eagles’ game?
So, you think U.S. sporting venues are tough?
I give you Venezuela. Perhaps no one should be surprised that this country, where its president is Hugo Chavez, has deplorable playing conditions. But when Philadelphia and New York fans are lightweights compared to those in and around Caracas, well, you get the picture.
A friend of mine was playing winter ball once in the Venezuelan League, and his details of the playing conditions would make the most seasoned hockey fan cringe. Gambling was rampant in the stands, he said, and fans basically used games as their own party, where drinking straight from the bottle during his time was seemingly more the rule than the exception.
If you made an error, some fans would taunt you with comments that made you fear for your life, my friend said, because they blamed you for losing that week’s paycheck. If you were an American, the threats were even more raucous, and you prayed they didn’t know the hotel in which you were staying. One American player committed back-to-back errors at third base late in a tight game and was forced to fly out of Venezuela that night, my friend said.
Sometimes, athletes can fight back. Former Cubs and Diamondbacks star Mark Grace once told a story of a late-season game between Chicago and the New York Mets at Shea Stadium where both teams were well out of the race and the crowd was very sparse. Shea Stadium was notorious for having some fans that stuck out more than others for their behavior, perhaps because their stadium was so empty at this point in the season.
However, Grace said, one seated a few rows behind first base on this particularly miserable September day was worst than usual. The fan got very personal, shouting expletives about Grace’s mother. The ushers never said a word to the fan, who could be heard anywhere within the confines of the park. Grace imagined the ushers were probably laughing right along with the fan.
Around the 6th inning or so, Grace had heard enough, and although he never acknowledged the fan, he decided to do something about him. While in the dugout, Grace chatted with Cubs shortstop Shawon Dunston, who had a rocket of an arm. His throws from deep in the hole at short looked like a Nolan Ryan fastball.
Dunston knew what Grace wanted, and very few words were needed. As they returned to the field, Grace rolled a slow “warmup” grounder that Dunston charged and fielded behind the pitcher’s mound. Grace recalled that Dunston took two long crow hops and unleashed a ball that hit its target with great accuracy. The collision with the vacant seat next to the loud-mouthed fan sounded like a sonic boom, Grace said, and the fan stood practically petrified for a moment before taking his seat. It was shock and awe to the nth degree.
Not a peep was heard from the fan the rest of the game.