COMMENTARY : Strawberry Was One Who Erred

About this opening-day controversy: Yes, there was a serious case of interference at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday.

Darryl Strawberry’s pride interfered with his brain.

The Dodgers’ 9-7 defeat by the St. Louis Cardinals was not, as Strawberry alleged, a case of a fan improperly stealing a fly ball from him, resulting in a game-winning three-run homer by Gerald Perry.

It was Strawberry using the home opener as an occasion to throw out the first scapegoat.

In this case, it was Dr. Mark Perez, a fan from South Gate who told KABC television Wednesday that he was only trying to make the catch in self-defense.

If 1993 is anything like 1992, we will hear it all this year. Strawberry and some teammates will blame defeats on bad umpires, bad weather, bad scheduling, bad fields, bad breaks, bad fish, bad haircuts.

But to blame a fan?

How dare Darryl?

First of all, Perez, who caught Perry’s seventh-inning home run ball before it could land in Strawberry’s glove in the right-field corner, was not guilty of interference.

Baseball law dictates that once the ball crosses the railing and enters the seating area, as replays show this ball clearly did, that ball belongs to the fans.

“If a player can jump in there and come out with the ball, great, it’s an out,” said John Kibler, retired National League umpire of 25 seasons. “But once a ball crosses that railing, the fan can do anything to it that he wants. It is open season.”

In other words, Strawberry is lucky that the only thing that happened was that somebody “stole” his baseball.

A fan could have punched Strawberry in the midsection. That would have been assault, but it would not have been interference.

A fan could have stolen Strawberry’s glove and sold it for all the market would bear. That would have been theft, but it would not have been interference.

The next issue is whether Perez should have been polite enough to get out of Strawberry’s way.

Right. With a chance to snare an opening-day souvenir, he should have been quick enough to see the ball, see Strawberry, make a snap judgment, and dive for cover?

Of course not. That is why folks like us are in the seats and not the dugout.

“The fans rarely, if ever, parted for me,” said Steve Garvey, who climbed into the stands many times in his 14 years as a Dodger first baseman. “What are they going to say . . . ‘Oh, you want the ball? Sure, I’ll get out of your way!’ ”

Not only does this rarely happen, Garvey said he never expected it to happen.

“Many times I would have my glove under the ball, but six inches before it landed there, a fan would snatch it away,” Garvey said. “But I never said anything. Hey, they pay their money, they want to catch their ball. What is wrong with that?”

Of course, that is only Steve Garvey talking. He began his career before there were even baseball card shows, what does he know?

“It might be nice if fans show favor to the home team, but fans are never looking at players, they are looking at the ball,” Kibler said. “And everybody comes to the game hoping to catch a ball. I’ve seen guys in (expensive) suits diving over chairs to get a ball. That’s part of the game.”

The only thing nuttier than Strawberry expecting Perez to step aside was Strawberry asking an usher to throw him out of the game.

Does that mean if Strawberry doesn’t improve upon his .148 average--with no homers or runs batted in--the fans can request to have him thrown out?

The Dodgers quickly and smartly set the record straight Wednesday morning by announcing that the fan had not been ejected.

“He was getting stuff thrown at him, so we moved him to a different location,” said Jay Lucas, Dodger publicity director.

The real question Tuesday should have been, was this the same Darryl Strawberry who once carried a lost little boy back to the stands after the youngster wandered into right field between pitches?

Was this the same Strawberry who signs more autographs than anybody else? The same Strawberry who has listened to more boos than anybody else, and yet has never struck back?

Perhaps not. Perhaps this Strawberry is suffering through back rehabilitation that is more painful than he will admit.

Or perhaps this has become the new Dodger way. Make excuses, blame somebody else.

Don’t ask how Perry, batting left-handed, can hit only his second home run since 1991 against right-handed pitcher Pedro Martinez. Don’t ask when the Dodgers are going to acquire a left-handed reliever they can trust.

Don’t ask what happened in the first inning, when Strawberry hesitated on Bernard Gilkey’s single to right field. It fell in front of him and scored two runs.

The one thing we can learn for certain about Tuesday’s game is, the next time Strawberry jumps into the stands, don’t let him leave without first taping up his mouth.