It’s been a good spring for Chicago teams, what with the Bulls’ success and the Sox and Cubs packing them in. But not all of Chicago gets to share the good fortune. Indeed, quite the opposite is the case: vendors and fans have been complaining of harassment and intimidation on the part of Sox, Cubs, and Chicago Stadium officials.

Part of the problem stems from the unprecedented popularity of Chicago’s teams, which in recent years have drawn not only millions of fans but scores of small-time entrepreneurs. “There’s an opportunity for the little guy to make a buck at ball games,” says Weinberg. “It’s not a bad way to make a living. A peanut vendor can buy a small bag of peanuts for 60 cents and then sell it for a buck. Sell 100 bags and you have made $40.”

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Finally, on February 28 the police moved in. “A squad car drives up and this cop says, ‘All right, we’re going to teach you a lesson.’ And then they put me in the car and took me to jail. It was ridiculous. They made me take off my belt and shoelaces so I wouldn’t commit suicide.”

But vendors complain that the Sox are selective about whom they move from the sidewalks. “They always tell me to keep moving, but they send out their own vendors to operate,” says one baseball-cap vendor who asked for anonymity. “Their people clog the sidewalks more than I do.”

“Anyway, the supervisor tells me I can’t sell the tickets–even for a dollar–so long as I’m on Cubs property. To tell you the truth, I think I was on the sidewalk when all of this happened, but I didn’t say that. The supervisor says, ‘We’ll have to take these tickets.’ I said, ‘But there are two people waiting outside for these tickets.’ So he gave me two tickets and kept the other two. That’s when I thought that these security guards might sell these tickets on their own; I was resigned to the fact that I was going to lose the tickets, but I didn’t want to be a part of their scam. So I asked him what he was going to do with those tickets and he said, ‘Nothing,’ so I said, ‘Well, rip them up.’ And that’s what he did–he ripped up my tickets!

Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Steven D. Arazmus.