Rivals step up so two cities can move forward
Dodger fans are NOT welcome in SF or at ANY stadium outside of Dodger stadium/prison compound – a message
left by an anonymous poster on an MLB-sanctioned social media site, about 30 minutes before the first pitch of Monday’s Giants vs. Dodgers game.
SAN FRANCISCO – After all the tears and unanswered questions, beyond the threats and fears, despite the amplified security and tense conditions, it took a pair of baseball players from opposing teams to cause mass lumping of the throat.
Dodgers infielder Jamey Carroll addresses fans at AT&T Park before Monday's game. Both teams called for rival fans to root passionately but not resort to violence. (AP Photo)
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He’s hardly a skilled public speaker, just a first-rate pitcher, so when Jeremy Affeldt approached the microphone near the mound at AT&T Park, his hands already were moist. Barely 10 seconds passed before he, too, felt a clutch in his chest. Never did anyone think this mid-April game on a typically cool night would come to this – to officers with guns atop neighborhood buildings, to street closings, to undercover gang detectives looking not so undercover, to the Giants and the Dodgers meeting midfield and hugging.
But the storied rivalry, fairly atypical since the teams called New York home, took a tragic spin earlier this month when Bryan Stow, a 42-year-old Giants fan and father of two, was brutally attacked in the Dodger Stadium parking lot by two perpetrators who remain at large, and nothing about this rivalry will ever be the same.
The Giants dedicated Monday night’s game to Stow, the paramedic from Santa Clara County who is still in coma because of the brain injury he sustained during that beating on opening day. His co-workers, more than 100 strong, were present, collecting donations to help with his medical bills, and that sight alone was enough to bring tears to the eye.
That’s not the lone reason Affeldt looked and sounded as if he, like most everyone else present, could use a box of tissues.
“We thank you for your love that you’ve shown, your kindness. Both Dodgers and Giants fans, we appreciate you,” Affeldt told the antsy crowd during an emotional pre-game speech. His voice softened, he gulped, gulped again, and then he picked up steam. It was quite something, watching both teams stand behind Affeldt, shoulder to shoulder, a unified splash of sportsmanship.
Affeldt spoke of honoring the rivalry, respecting each other as fans; he reminded the crowd it had rights as fans, the right to cheer. Even, he said, and now his gulps had been replaced by a smile, “the right to wear Dodger blue.”
Those two words – dirty words, in the gorgeous park by the Bay – brought boos and laughs and more boos for those laughing, and it felt as if the ominous mood had cracked. When Dodger infielder Jamey Carroll took the mic, he of course was greeted with catcalls, but he finished to loud cheers.
“We want you to have passion and competitive banter,” he told the crowd. “There’s not room in this game for hatred and violence.”
Though the circumstances were vastly different, the communal spirit reminded me of those emotional scenes in New York in the weeks following 9/11. When the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves embraced and cried together at Shea Stadium, it just felt right. A short time later, when Red Sox fans at Fenway Park displayed signs reading "Boston Loves New York" before a game against the Yankees, it felt for a moment as if civility had finally won.
And there was a banner waving in the cool breeze here Monday night. It read “Peace Love and Baseball.” It sure seemed like civility was again in the house.
Yet outside the ballpark, reminders were everywhere of Stow’s horrific beating and the ugliness that ensued. The threats of retaliation posted on social media sites, the undercurrent of something evil percolating, had prompted additional security measures that equaled those used during the World Series.
Security forces were 30 to 40 percent larger than those employed at a typical home game, according to Jorge Costa, Giants senior vice president for stadium operations. He urged fans to use social media if they felt trouble brewing, by texting "80899" followed by "security" in the body of the text, with details about the area of concern. Beginning at the top of the seventh inning, there were to be special road closures in the South Beach and Mission Bay neighborhoods, a plan that will continue throughout the series.
Alcohol sales could be stopped before the usual seventh inning cut-off time, said officials, if they felt rowdy fans were getting out of hand.
