No Fun and Games

A California man who was visiting New York this week narrowly escaped serious injury when someone threw a knife at him in the Bronx. That would ordinarily be regarded as a fairly commonplace incident, except in this case the victim of the assault was Wally Joyner, the first baseman for the Angels, and the scene of the attack was Yankee Stadium. The foot-long knife, thrown from the stands as the Angels were leaving the field after besting the Yankees, hit Joyner on the arm but didn’t wound him. He was lucky. In one moment of ugly stupidity Joyner’s career, perhaps even his life, could have been ended.

Violence isn’t new in Yankee Stadium. In a World Series game a few years ago a Dodger outfielder almost had his head taken off by a thrown bottle. Last year a pregnant woman sitting in the stands was shot through the hand. New York, though, is hardly unique in being a dangerous place for fans and players. In a number of cities in recent years ballplayers have found themselves the targets of such things as lead weights, steel-tipped darts, transistor batteries, golf balls and firecrackers. In Pittsburgh a few years ago someone threw an entire bag of nuts and bolts at a Pirate outfielder. In the words of one sportswriter this hinted strongly at premeditation, since nuts and bolts aren’t the kind of thing that you pick up at a concession stand.

Stadium unruliness, if life-threatening assaults can be called that, has been linked in many places to beer sales or to spectators who show up already drunk. Detroit last year had to close down an entire bleacher section in an effort to curb trouble-making. In other stadiums beer sales have been restricted, while almost everywhere security staffs have been increased. But still the rowdiness goes on. Beer and food are showered on fans, obscene chanting threatens to become routine, beach balls thrown around in the stands sometimes draw more interest than the play on the field.

Baseball--which has survived gambling scandals, drug scandals and even artificial turf--no doubt will survive louts in the stands. Meanwhile, players and fans are being endangered, and some of the fun has gone out of visiting some ballparks.