Re: OT: Smoking and Stadiums
Wrigley Field's old Family Section used to have a very nice, but much too accommodating usher named Ray for a number of years. Ray used to repeatedly ignore the rules to help his buddies. Among the things he did was to let friends (including me) up into the Family Section without proper ticketing (it was a section restricted to ticketholders only). He'd also pick up an occasional stray baseball in the section just before the gates opened and give it to a pal he knew (occasionally me). The one bad accommodation he made, though, was to allow bleacher fans who wanted to smoke to go to the ramp of the Family Section (connected the section to the bleachers) to light up. Problems were that the section was of a smoke and alcohol prohibited nature. Plus, the ramp he let smokers use was the same ramp I stood on to play home runs!. Eventually, though, his bending of the rules caught up with him, as a c.2001 favor rendered was caught by a supervisor, who lit into him so vehemently in public that Ray quit. He came back the following season, but was not allowed to work anywhere near the outfield seats, being reassigned to the box seats near home plate.
Dave M.
Chicago area
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Re: OT: Smoking and Stadiums
at rangers ST a couple years ago i saw ron washington smoking in the dugout. At the ballpark in arlington they have areas around the perimeter where people can smoke.Leave a comment:
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Re: OT: Smoking and Stadiums
Some of my earliest memories of night games at old Comiskey Park included a haze of smoke hovering over the diamond.Leave a comment:
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Re: OT: Smoking and Stadiums
Just ask Keith!Originally posted by metsbatsAttached FilesLeave a comment:
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Re: OT: Smoking and Stadiums
Back in the 80's you can smoke just about anywhere in the stadiumLeave a comment:
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Re: OT: Smoking and Stadiums
1997 playoff at the Kingdome. My brother rushes out to the exit ramps ahead of all of us to see if he can bum a smoke. A couple minutes later we make our way out and find my brother BS'ing with Soundgarden sans Chris Cornell. As we all make our way down the exit I ask my brother if he bummed a cig off one of those guys. "Yeah they were really cool guys" I said, "You know that is Soundgarden" His reply "Nah your crazy...." We argue to the bottom of the ramps at which point 2 teenage girls run up with Soundgarden T-shirts on and get the band to sign them. There is a crazy brotherhood among smokers regardless of status, money, etc........Leave a comment:
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Re: OT: Smoking and Stadiums
Being a lifetime non-smoker, I don't really have any baseball/smoking stories, but here in Cleveland we built a new stadium in the mid-90's with a "sin tax," which was a tax in the county on cigs and alcohol. As soon as the stadium went up, they announced that you would only be able to smoke on an outside platform sticking off the upper deck, facing the street where you couldn't see any of the action.
To this day, the irony of it all cracks me up.
Ken
earlywynnfan5@hotmail.comLeave a comment:
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OT: Smoking and Stadiums
Hello All,
I thought I would share my interesting pick-up with the forum. For my Anthropology degree, I have been writing a thesis about smoking and American culture. The following collectible, from the mezzanine of old Shea stadium, fits the theme perfectly. For $25, I couldn't beat the price.
One of the things I'm looking at are contested spaces, places where smoking and the idea of healthfulness come into conflict. Of course, one of the solutions to the conflict between smokers' rights and the rights of non-smokers to breathe clean air is to create designated smoking areas.
What are the policies toward smoking at MLB stadiums? Growing up, I remember that the occasional person would smoke in his/her seat, much to the chagrin of non-smokers. I'm not sure that you can do that anymore in either an indoor or an outdoor stadium.
I would be curious to read your stories about cigarettes and American baseball stadiums.
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