It’s The Year Baseball Slaps Itself In Face Fans Tired Of Arrogance And Greed, And Of Getting Knocked Around, Too

Down on Main Street, near the Short Stop restaurant, across the way from the Home Plate memorabilia shop and next to the Babe Ruth bust in the wax museum, they’re worried.

Listen to the fans in baseball’s birthplace, hear what they’re saying about the game outside old Doubleday Field, and it sounds like trouble.

Every day, it seems, baseball gets a new black eye.

“It’s not the same as when I grew up,” said Andrew DeLeo, 26, of Philadelphia as he left Monday’s annual Hall of Fame game between the Detroit Tigers and Chicago Cubs after only two innings. “The game used to stand for family, for good things. Now, it just stands for greed.”

Mike Schmidt touched on that subject Sunday during his induction speech, saying today’s players do not realize how good they have it.

“Mike was absolutely right,” Hall of Famer Bob Feller said. “The players are arrogant, not appreciative. They don’t have any contact with the fans.”

Actually, there’s been too much contact lately, it seems.

Two weeks ago, Jack McDowell flipped his middle finger at the crowd in Yankee Stadium after being booed. On Saturday, Baltimore Orioles scout Deacon Jones scuffled with some fans in the stands.

Then on Sunday, Chili Davis of the California Angels gave baseball another bad mark when he poked a fan in the face after being heckled in Milwaukee. Problem was, the fan Davis poked was not the one who was hounding him.

A.L. president Gene Budig, in Cooperstown for the weekend ceremonies, said he had not had a chance to talk to Davis about what happened. Budig will be out of his New York office until late in the week, meaning it may take a week until the investigation is complete.

“Obviously, it’s something we’re concerned about,” Budig said. “I don’t know the facts yet, but certainly an on-field altercation is not the kind of thing we like to hear about, especially this year when we’re trying to reach out to the fans.”

Ralph Kiner, one of several Hall of Famers at Monday’s game, pointed out that this is not the first time there have been problems between players and fans.

“You can go back to Ty Cobb going into the stands and punching out people,” Kiner said. “I played the game, and I got booed and I got heckled, so I know what it feels like. You never like it, but there’s got to be a point of control.

“I’d say it’s understandable, but it’s never excusable,” he said.

Tigers general manager Joe Klein, who had not yet heard about Davis’ incident, winced when he learned the details.

“You hate to hear that,” he said. “This year, of all years.”

“We have a lot of work to do, trying to win back fans,” he said. “But I would say that some of the problems you hear about are not being caused by true baseball fans.”

But the problems are real, players admit.

“We all know the fans have been the losers with what’s happened in the last year,” Tigers star Kirk Gibson said. “The game is a little unhealthy now compared to what its been.”

“We’re trying to do what we can,” said Sammy Sosa of the Cubs. “You try to sign autographs, you try to talk to the fans.”

Certainly, there was plenty of good will Monday at cozy Doubleday Field, where Abner Doubleday supposedly laid out the first baseball diamond in 1839.

Schmidt flipped a ball into the sellout crowd of 9,791, as did several other current players. Tigers manager Sparky Anderson posed for pictures and many more talked with fans.

“Some of them sign, some don’t,” said Chris McDowell, 14, of Elmer, N.J. “Most of them are all right, I guess.”

While he was talking from the Doubleday Field parking lot, the Tigers and Cubs were playing inside.

“A guy came up and gave us two tickets,” said Roland McDowell, Chris’ dad. “We gave them to my wife and daughter. We said we’d just as soon walk along Main Street and buy T-shirts and stuff.”