"My friends tell me I bleed Dodger blue. My faith, though, in the Dodger family, has been shaken. I was lucky enough to get tickets to last Wednesday's game. My seat was on field level section 33, row C, the closest I have ever been to Major League action."This is a travesty. Isn't the pre-game autograph ritual a Baseball tradition? I did it as a child. Heck, I still do it today from time to time. I'm sure most of you tried to get autographs before a game too. How could they be so callous and arrogant?
...
"I showed up at the game two hours before the opening pitch and found my seats. Three rows from those new box seats -- I figured it would be a snap to get an autograph. When I made my way toward the stretching players, ball and pen in hand, I was rebuffed. 'New rules,' the attendant said.
...
"Then I saw kids turned back from that magic line between regular seat and box seat. I couldn't believe it, their parents couldn't believe it, and the whole time the privileged few, in the new box seats, got as many autographs and pictures as they liked. At that moment I actually questioned my Dodger loyalty.
"The Dodgers to me have always been about family and tradition. I never thought I'd see the day where a regular kid couldn't get an autograph at a ball game.
Simer's goes on to write that the Dodger solution is to open up the centerfield gate. Of course, this no solution at all. Players rarely ever roam to deep centerfield, and, from some accounts, players have not been found there the past three games in LA.
Story Link: LA Times: