Security needs to ensure that crazed fans stay off the field

During Tuesday night’s Major League Baseball game between the Royals and White Sox, a fan ran… During Tuesday night’s Major League Baseball game between the Royals and White Sox, a fan ran onto the field and attacked first base umpire Laz Diaz.

While this incident is disturbing, it is more frightening that this man was the fourth person to run onto the field that night.

The first three men who ran onto the field at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago were each tackled by security guards before they could advance any further, but the spectacle raises serious security issues.

No player, coach, umpire or anyone else on the field during a game should have to be concerned with safety. Security guards are paid to keep incidents such as this from happening, and when they fail to do so, the result is negative for all involved.

Not only is safety obviously a concern, but this kind of behavior detracts from the game overall. The actions of a few people are not representative of the entire fan base, yet it is the actions of a few that will be remembered. Fans in Chicago are not evil – this certainly could have happened anywhere else.

What I don’t understand, though, is how it happened. Yes, fans occasionally get by security guards and onto the field, but four in one game? Either there weren’t enough guards on duty, or the ones that were there weren’t doing a good enough job.

But what bothers me is that in many situations at sporting events, I’ve been faced with security that was way too tough.

I remember going to baseball games at Shea Stadium as a kid, and my brother and I would try to get to the field level to snag some autographs from players as they warmed up. But for some reason, ushers would not even allow us into that section without a ticket.

We didn’t want to sit there. We were just harmless kids wanting an autograph, yet no matter how persistent I was in explaining this, the usher still denied us access. I have been to 22 major league baseball stadiums and never once experienced anything like this elsewhere.

Just last month, I tried getting onto the court following the Panthers’ win in the Big East Tournament. Despite showing my media credential, security guards forcefully tried to restrain me from getting on the court, where the other media members, including my colleagues from The Pitt News, were already gathered.

I finally made my way on only to be cornered by two large guards who literally shoved me off the court.

I had a right to be there, yet I wasn’t allowed. But somehow, four crazed men made their way onto a baseball field Tuesday night.

It needs to be ensured that incidents like this don’t happen again. Fortunately Diaz was not hurt, but he could have been.

Tom Gamboa knows that all too well. He was attacked by fans at the same ballpark – then called Comiskey Park – in September 2002. Gamboa, now the Royals’ bullpen coach, was the team’s first base coach last season when a father and son attacked him on the field. Gamboa is still suffering from a slight hearing loss as a result of the incident.

This nonsense has absolutely no place in sports, and if it takes heightened security to put an end to it, then that is what needs to be done.

Karen Bielak is the sports editor of The Pitt News and was at PNC Park Tuesday night to watch her Mets defeat the Pirates, 3-1. She did not run onto the field because that would be a really dumb thing to do.