The Sunken Diamond at Klein Field is considered one of the most beautiful college baseball stadiums in the entire nation. I decided to go check out the stadium on Monday the 5th of May (Cinco De Mayo). It was a gorgeous day, the Stanford Cardinals were playing the University of Pacific Tigers and I could not have scored better seats. I bought 2 tickets online and to my amazement, they were in Section 5, Row A, Seat 1 and 2. It was slight right to the home plate but I could not be any closer to the field. Front row, from where I could hear the "whirr" of the ball. Best seats I have ever sat on since I have been watching baseball.
I got there early and with my coke, hot dog and peanuts in hand, I proceeded to my assigned seat. I was sitting there enjoying the sun, batting practice as there was still plenty of time for the game to start. About 5 minutes elapse and here comes an elderly lady (an usher) and quite politely asked me if I had tickets as "this is a reserved section". I pulled out the ticket from my shirt pocket and handed it to her. She inspected the ticket and handed it back to me and asked me to enjoy the game.
Ten more minutes go by and here comes another senior citizen usher. "Sir", he says, "I am sorry, but this is a reserved section. You cannot sit here unless you have tickets." As if I dropped from the heaven's onto that seat. I explained to him that someone had already stopped by and checked my ticket and I went back to my eating my peanuts. "I am going to have to ask you to show me the ticket, otherwise I am going to have to ask you to move from this section".
I take out the ticket from my shirt pocket and show it to him and he hands it back to me after inspecting it, leaving me alone, a bit disappointed. Perhaps this was the night where he would have finally got to show some power, alas, he will have to wait another day.
The stadium, I might add, had no more than 50 people at this point. I could have taken my peanuts and thrown it in the air and it would been a miracle if it hit another person.
I go back to watching the young talent practice on the field, immerse myself in eating salted peanuts and lo and behold. Here come another portly old man, walking towards me. This can't be true. I am sure he is going to ask me if I am enjoying the game. No such luck! "Hello Sir, This is a reserved section......". Now, I am a reasonable guy most of the time, but I am a bit irritated by now. I repeat what I had said earlier, except there was an inflection in my voice this time. "Oh really? I am sorry, but I am going to have to check your ticket."
"I am going to show it to you if can guarantee that no one else will stop by again to check my ticket". I say to the usher, wistfully. "Is there something about my face?" I ask. "You can't believe that I can actually be sitting here with a purchased ticket? He looked at my ticket and apologized and left.
Now, I have been in the USA for 23 years. I have been a citizen for about 19 of those and have experienced considerable amount of racism over the years but you never expect it at a place like Stanford. The game was great, the ambiance was wonderful but the experience left a lot to be desired.
PS. The picture above is not of the actual game. It is a stock photo from the Stanford website
3 comments:
I've had similar experiences at Sunken Diamond, but didn't think it had anything to do with race -- more to do with senior volunteers not getting enough training, and there being too few fans at the game to keep them busy.
Then again, I'm pretty pale, so I don't expect to be harrassed because of my color.
So, how was the game? I hope it wasn't ruined for you.
The game was good. You could be right about the training.
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