Posted on 10/25/2005 8:42:45 AM PDT by Jalapeno
By JOSE DE JESUS ORTIZ
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen issued a public apology on behalf of his organization to Astros second baseman Craig Biggio, whose wife was slapped by a fan in the stands at U.S. Cellular Field.
"I feel like it's our fault, and I talked to (Biggio) about it, and he knows we're sorry," Guillen said. "He knows it was something we couldn't control. It wasn't like a fight. (The fan) hit the lady and left."
The incident occurred on Sunday night during Game 2 of the 101st World Series at Chicago's ballpark, where several members of the Astros' traveling party were harassed.
"He slapped her and ran," Biggio said of the fan who struck his wife, Patty. "She ran after him. My brother-in-law ended up putting him against the wall. That's pretty sorry."
Asked if Patty had been hurt, Biggio said his New Jersey-raised wife held her own.
"You don't slap a New Jersey girl and get away with it," he said. "That happens sometimes. It's terrible. It's over."
Added Guillen: "I wish she would have grabbed something and broken his head. If that happened to my family, it would have been a big problem. ... People should just go to the game and not bother people next to you, or you're not a White Sox fan or a baseball fan. Just enjoy the game. Drink if you want to drink; just respect the people next to you."
No criminal complaint was made against the fan, according to Chicago police. Chicago defended
Biggio, manager Phil Garner, general manager Tim Purpura, catcher Brad Ausmus and several of the Astros were adamant that a few cowardly acts weren't indicative of the White Sox or Chicago fan base.
"The word was that the guy had been gouging her a little bit, pulling her hair and just doing some stupid things, things that are just not necessary," Garner said. "Have your fun. This (World Series) is a great thing for them and a great thing for us. Cheer and be as loud as you want to be and whatever else, but don't do that.
"I can't imagine Patty Biggio ever saying anything that would incite anything, either. I just can't imagine that. Even if she had, there's no excuse."
Despite the incident, Garner said he heard the Astros' traveling party had mostly positive experiences with the fans.
Nonetheless, Guillen did not hide his disgust at the treatment Patty Biggio received.
"On behalf of the White Sox organization, I just don't think we could control that," Guillen said. "But I think the family is a big part of my life. I think especially the kids. And when that happened in the ballpark, you feel you need to be supportive.
"When you're a man and you hit a lady, no matter whose wife it is or whose sister it is, you respect them. But it's something that's tough to control. It happened so quick." More harassment
Although Patty Biggio was the only Astros wife who was slapped Sunday, she wasn't the only member of the traveling party who was harassed. Ausmus said his wife, Liz, endured some vulgar taunts and a few vulgar hand gestures throughout the night.
"Some of the treatment that the Astros families received at U.S. Cellular Field was a huge black eye for the city of Chicago," Ausmus said. "Now, I understand that's not indicative of all the people in the Chicago area, because I have friends and relatives there.
"I know the people of Chicago are overwhelmingly good people. But if I was from Chicago, I'd be embarrassed by the way the Astros' families were treated by the White Sox fans. My wife didn't get hit or anything, but people flipped her off and were screaming at her."
The attendance at U.S. Cellular Field was announced as 41,432 for Game 2, and the crowd was obviously overwhelmingly in support of the White Sox. With that in mind, Ausmus said there was little the Astros' family members could do in response. "You don't want to get caught in a situation where you're inflaming the masses," Ausmus said. "So I think as an Astros fan at a visiting park, you pretty much have to swallow it."
'Bring him to me'
Maybe so, but Guillen insinuated that he would have definitely defended anybody in the Astros' traveling party.
"I know the security in Chicago is doing a great job," Guillen said. "And when something happens so quick, you can't blame anybody. And the guy that did it, he should be brought to Biggio, and he's the one that can hopefully get him back.
"I told the police, 'Don't put him in jail. Bring him to me in the dugout.' But hopefully, that won't happen again."
Shortstop Adam Everett heard a little bit about the incident, but he knew more than enough to form his opinion.
"That's real weak," he said. "That's bad. I don't care where you're at, to hit a woman is not good."
We met MANY Red Sox fans before/during/after each game - many of them were "Blohards" - who dared not wear Red Sox gear (I didn't the first time I went to a BOS/NYY game). So there were even more Red Sox fans there than they realized, at least at the games we attended... ;-D
But the World Series seats are costing $500 and up. Only the rich will be attending.
And just how do you suppose Yankee fans are treated at Fenway?
(And I couldn't care less about the Yankees.)
Frankly, I'm surprised the guy didn't pull back a bloody stump!
I've been to Fenway many times, but only to one NYY vs BOS game (tickets are nearly impossible to get for these games at Fenway). At that particular game (7-17-05) I observed nothing unusual with the exception of a couple of "police actions" going on out in the bleachers - some brawlers being hauled out.
With my Red Sox fan in Yankee Stadium experience, I was on the lookout to see if any trouble would occur that day. I was surprised to see many Red Sox/Yankee couples there and groups of friends wearing Yankees/Red Sox jerseys. I was amazed at how calm everyone was considering the "stories" I've heard in the past about NYY/BOS games.
The comment I posted about Yankee Stadium were just my experiences there during five games over two years. If anyone else has stories of Fenway or Yankee Stadium during BOS/NYY games, negative or positive, I urge them to post them here.
As a Red Sox fan (wearing a Red Sox shirt and/or hat) in Yankee Stadium I expect friendly ribbing, or even fans to get in my face about how "the Red Sox suck", etc. But being called vulgar names with the accompanying gestures is is a bit over the line, IMHO...
What's a couple hundred more for some beer?
"Guillen's a phoney. He'll kick anyone's butt who gets in the way of his fun."
Hey King. Get down off your high horse.
...Today, however, that beer and baseball marriage seems to be somewhat rocky, bolstered in Chicago when some nitwit grabbed the hat from LA Dodgers catcher Chad Kreuter back in 2000 in Wrigley Field. Eighteen Dodgers went into the stands looking for revenge before security woke up and brought back some order. Not to be outdone by this incident on the Windy City North Side, a father-son team of local hillbillies attacked Royals first base coach Tom Gamboa in 2002 at new U.S. Cellular Field (nee, Comiskey Park), followed by the attack on umpire Laz Diaz by a tatooed, rougher looking version of Tommy Lee, by the drunken and self-professed White Sox fan.
But don’t think that fan violence at ball games is a contemporary affair. Back in 1986, a Bowie knife with a 5-inch blade was tossed at California Angels rookie Wally Joyner by a “fan.” The butt of the knife hit Joyner and luckily did no harm. There was no indication that alcohol played a role in this episode but in 1974, the Clevland Indians decided to hold a 10-cents-a-beer night! After the fans took full advantage of the cheap beer (figured later at around 60,000 beers sold), they decided to storm the field in the ninth inning. While umpires, coaches, and players slugged it out with roving gangs of drunks on the field, the umpires called the game in favor of the visiting Texas Rangers with a 9-0 forfeit. Until that decision was made, the game was tied 5 to 5.
So what’s Major League Baseball’s reaction been to all of this? At U.S. Cellular Field, fans can still purchase four beers at the seventh inning beer sales cut-off point with assurances of Sox spokesman Scott Reifert that all vendors at the park have been trained to detect drunken fans who aren't to be sold another drink. Wink, wink. Question Scottie. Will that detection take place before or after your vendors start unloading four-drink purchases in the bottom of the seventh?
Wrigley also has a beer sales cut-off point. Last I heard, Fenway has a two beer purchase limit. Yankee Stadium bans beer in certain sections of seating, all of this leading to the possibility that sales of alcohol might one day be banned at all baseball stadiums.
But nah. Ain't gonna happen, especially when Labatt once owned the Blue Jays, Coors owns the naming rights to Coors Field, the Budweiser Clysdales still run around Busch Stadium, the Milwaukee "Brewers" play in Miller Park and Budweiser is the "official beer" of Major League Baseball. Add to this, the opinion by Kevin Hallinan, MLB's senior vice president for security and facilities, who has stated that any proposed banning of beer sales at ballparks would be "inconceivable."
The simple fact is that beer generates a stream of cash that would cripple Major League Baseball tomorrow if that flow was cut-off. Now don’t get me wrong. I write about beer for a living, go to beer tastings at least once a week, and have woken up on more than one occasion with a headache that only a beer and tomato juice cocktail could cure. I’m not a neo-prohibitionist. But it's a terrible thing to say, but it will probably take a death of a baseball player by some moron with a weapon running on to the field or a deadly assault on an innocent fan in the stands before the MLB comes to terms with a problem that Chris Von der Ache never saw coming.
I don't think we should make blanket negative statements when confronting the heinous actions of a single fan... unless of course we're talking about PhillyFan.
I fully agree.
I know it happens at Yankee Stadium...but I've been told the same happens at Fenway. (Perhaps less so because it's tougher for opposing fans to get tickets.)
(As I said I have no interest in either club.)
I wouldn't be surprised if the crowd in Houston have a "welcome" prepared for the sox too. I heard on the radio this morning that the astros wanted to close the stadium dome tonight to make the noise louder. A Texan once told me that "Texans cheat". The player families should not have been harrassed, and it was despicable behavior. But I'll hang on to my sense of outrage for now.
A sad event! Fans need to GROW UP!
Fans should police their own home parks. If someone on your side is out of line, you should do something about it.
Bud Selig is not going to let Houston close the dome. He said if the weather is not inclement, then the dome should stay open.
Here's a tip for this hero, if you want to slap a woman, don't pick the wife of a professional athlete who makes his living swinging a wooden bat.
When the home team cannot hold a 4 run lead In their own park and the opposing team makes 3 errors and STILL wins, you have to question the heart of the Astro's.
Agreed, but...remember...the Astros have done this all season. They have never made it easy on themselves...and have always played from behind...in one form or another.
Remember 15-30? Granted, they simply didnt get it done last night...in a big way, CHISOX won fair...but...there may be enough magic left in the season to run the table.
Remember BOSOX vs NYY in the ALCS last year? It's possible.
Ahhhhh, man I hope that tylenol kicks in soon.
Indeed I do remember the RS-NYY ALCS series. I am a NYY fan and have been for more then 50 years. I freely admit their losing in that series represented the biggest choke in the history of sports, any sport. Making it even worse for a NYY fan is that the RS, whose entire history is one of choking, was the team that pulled off the miracle of the century, either last or this, take your pick.
But can this happen 2 years in a row? Well, if you had asked me last year to offer odds on a bet the RS would take the NYY after being down 3-0, I would probably be in the poor house at this time. After witnessing that comeback I will never say never again.
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