LOS ANGELES (AP) -Fans showed up at Dodger Stadium to boo Barry Bonds – and perhaps catch a piece of history.
“I want to be here to see it. It’s history, regardless,” Greg Montoya said Tuesday night in between bites of a Dodger Dog in the all-you-can-eat right field pavilion.
He spoke for a lot of folks when he said, “I came to catch the ball, even though I’m a Dodger fan.”
Montoya and his buddy, Mitch Sgro, were among the few outfield fans who didn’t come clutching gloves.
“We’re big boys. We’re getting that ball,” Montoya said.
Sgro added, “I’ll walk over a little kid.”
Fans who arrived early for batting practice didn’t boo Bonds, who took several cuts while being closely watched by a herd of media. Young boys scrambled for any balls that landed in the outfield seats.
Bonds came into the game with 754 homers, one shy of tying Hank Aaron’s record. He took a called third strike in his first at-bat and drew an intentional walk his next time up.
“We hope he hits it out in a loss and that I catch it,” George Silva said.
“He’s going to push me out of the way,” said his credit union co-worker, Danitza Diaz.
Silva wasn’t worried about spilling his soft drink or getting nacho cheese on his clothing in pursuit of what could be a real splash shot into the all-you-can-eat seats.
“If I catch it, I can buy 3 million of these,” he said, waving a Dodger Dog.
Michelle Martinez also wasn’t worried about staining her clothing.
“I’d pay for everybody’s dry cleaning,” she said.
But Martinez didn’t give herself much of a chance.
“I’d give anything to have the person who catches the ball give it back to him if he would admit he took those drugs,” she said, referring to allegations that Bonds has used steroids.
Dodgers owner Frank McCourt said before the game that he expected fans to be fired-up, but respectful.
“It’s an exciting series against our archrivals and I’m very, very confident that Dodger fans will act with dignity and class as at they always do,” he said. “I’d like to see our fans set an example for other franchises by focusing on cheering in a positive way for their team, as opposed to focusing any energy whatsoever in a negative fashion towards another player or another team.”
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