Baseball Moves to Curb Unruly Fan Behavior

Fans who come to the ballpark to disrupt rather than root will find the baseball establishment determined this season to restore the wholesome atmosphere of the game.

The problem of rowdies at baseball games has become so bad that behavior is not only considered boorish, but criminal.

In New York recently, Robert Adaire was sentenced to 15 days in jail and ordered to pay a $300 fine for kicking and hitting security guards who tried to eject him from Shea Stadium for being rowdy in the stands last season.

When the 28-year-old Adaire was convicted for assault and disorderly conduct, Queens District Atty. John Santucci issued a warning that rowdyism will no longer be tolerated as regular fare at the ballpark.

“We don’t regard these rowdies as sports fans,” Santucci said. “We seek jail against them. There’s no sportsmanship to their conduct. They just spoil the game for the rest of us. They deserve incarceration as well as ejection.”

Santucci said repesentatives of his office would meet with Shea stadium officials to “coordinate how rowdyism cases will be prosecuted--in a word vigorously.”

And where do the Robert Adaires of the world arise? New York University Philosophy Professor Robert Gurland, who teaches a course, “Experiencing Sports,” says they are a product of TV.

“With the advent of television you have two levels of fan’s expectations,” says Gurland. “The spectacle includes not only the game, but the people in the stands. In effect they inject themselves as some peculiar adjunct of the game. They perceive themselves as performers.

“The ballpark then becomes a place not to just watch the game, but to be seen as well.”

Gurland also argues the game itself has been corrupted and that in turn has led to a corrupting influence in the stands.

“Baseball has become a vehicle for selling beers or selling cars or selling whatever it is you want to sell,” Gurland said.

Although the baseball commissioner’s office does not keep any data on crowd control, spokesman Chuck Adams says that rowdyism is not on the increase at ballparks. Last year the Major Leagues began a promotion glorifying baseball as a game to which you can bring the whole family. But promotion has not worked completely.

In Detroit general manager Jim Campbell closed the bleachers at Tiger Stadium because fans were yelling an obscenity based on a beer commercial.

In San Diego, a slew of ordinances regulating fan behavior, including running on the field and loitering after the game, were passed. The action was a formality since police have been enforcing them for a few years.

At Yankee Stadium, a woman attending a Fourth of July game with her family was shot while watching the contest.

“We want the ballpark to be a place for the family,” says league spokesman Chuck Adams. “We are re-establishing that fact with an on-going program.”

That program is in the form of a seminar offered by the league each year on crowd control. Adams points out that other steps have been taken to reduce the problem of rowdyism in the stands. Most of the action centers on limiting or in some cases banning the sale of beer at the stadium.

The Chicago Cubs last year added more seats to the bleacher sections at Wrigley Field and at the same time created a non-drinking or family section.

The Tigers last year instituted the sale of low alcohol beer in an attempt to control the crowd. In other stadiums, beer sales are stopped in the late innings.

“We found that it was only a small proportion of the crowd that was causing the problem,” said Tiger spokesman Bob Miller. “But our attitude is that one is too many.”