An Opening Day Tradition Turns 27

The beer stand a few steps from their seats had been drained dry by the end of the first inning.

What else would you expect Monday from the 350 fans in Section 8 who were making their 27th opening day trek to Dodger Stadium?

“The Dodgers’ new ownership frowns on drinking in the parking lot,” said Dennis Crane, a Mission Hills real estate developer. “They hope you do your consuming on the inside.”

Crane, 49, is an organizer of the annual opening day outing that started with rugby players from Occidental College in the early 1970s and has mushroomed into a network of friends that stretches these days from one side of Los Angeles to the other.

For many, opening day is the only time they see one another. Between pitches they catch up on marriages, new children and new jobs.

“Over there’s Keith Davies. I haven’t seen him in a year,” Crane said, driving home the point.

Davies had found an operating refreshment stand and was headed to his seat with foaming cups of beer in both hands.

“I’ve come to opening day every year, except for the times I ended up at the Coliseum by mistake,” said Davies, 50, a Santa Monica bartender. “Seriously, there’s a lot of camaraderie here. Thank goodness somebody goes to the trouble to arrange this.”

For most of the 27 years the opening day tickets have been acquired by Larry Layne, 49, of Marina del Rey, who is a rugby enthusiast and business partner of Crane.

Layne missed Monday’s game. He was in England, helping his fiancee, Sheelagh Boyd, pack for a move to the United States, where they will be wed.

Layne’s absence was a main topic of conversation as his friends settled into their seats in the upper level general admission area.

“I don’t think we’d accept any excuse short of marriage,” said Jim Dreyfuss, 36, a general contractor from Mar Vista.

Ron Anderson, a 66-year-old stockbroker from Glendale, said: “I think he put in his prenuptial agreement that he will be here at every future opening game.”

As is their tradition, the Section 8 group gathered an hour before game time for potluck tailgate parties in the stadium parking lot.

Greg Holmes, 41, a stockbroker who lives in Santa Clarita, was pumping drinks from beer kegs in the back of his pickup truck. Holmes, also a former rugby player, distributed 140 of the tickets. Others handed out groups of 10 or 15 tickets after receiving them from Crane and Layne.

Joel McLafferty, a real estate developer from Santa Monica, brought his 13-year-old daughter Hannah and son Fred, 11, to the game. Hannah gasped when McLafferty explained that he started coming to the opening day parties in 1979.

“I can see this becoming a tradition with me, too,” she said. “I can see myself here 20 years from now.”

Attending his 15th party was Scott Behm, 40, a railroad realty officer from Alhambra. He said some years the tailgate parties have been so much fun that the group missed the actual first pitch.

The Section 8 crowd was a diverse group.

Andrew Warne, a 37-year-old Australian television reporter who lives in Woodland Hills, brought his 5-year-old son Oliver and a T-ball teammate, Cody Despain, 6.

A few rows away, Michael Seeley, 37, a Santa Monica salesman, brought his 89-year-old next door neighbor, Ethel Steen. “I like these people,” Steen said, shouting over the crowd.

Victor Govednik, a 44-year-old financial consultant from Glendale, said the spring baseball parties have mellowed. “Nowadays everybody is married,” he said.

In the stadium’s topmost row, Cindy Pearson agreed. “See that guy down there? I went to college with him. And that guy at the end of the row? I dated him. Shhh . . . he’s with his wife,” said Pearson, 43, a nurse from Santa Monica.

Mauricio Pinto, 41, a salesman from Santa Monica, attended with David Iwasaki, 47, a computer technician from Highland Park. Iwasaki explained that he joined the opening day group when he was married to Pinto’s ex-wife’s sister.

Reached by telephone in Great Britain at the game’s end, Layne laughed at that account.

“People get married, divorced and remarried and they keep coming to opening day. The seating gets complicated,” Layne said. “But I try to accommodate everybody.”

Layne said only one thing was unresolved about this year’s Section 8 party. “What was the final score?” he asked from 5,400 miles away.

Dodgers 8, Diamondbacks 6, Larry. Extra innings.

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DODGERS WIN

Los Angeles beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-6 in 11 innings. D1