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He Took a Pass

G-Fafif May 14 2021 07:29 AM

Perhaps you recall that after they were back home from Iran, MLB issued lifetime passes to those who had been held hostage. One of those people, Mets fan Barry Rosen, has made and continues to make good use of his. At first, Rosen didn't recognize the gift for what it could do. For that, he owes Barbara, who one spring day turned to her husband and said, “Take the kids to a baseball game.” A few days later, Rosen and his two children drove to Shea Stadium. Over the course of the 1981 season, Rosen took Alexander and Ariana to about 30 games. Day games. Night games. It didn't matter. With his beloved Dodgers long gone to Los Angeles, Rosen now rooted for the Mets. The team treated Rosen like a rock star. He showed his pass and got great seats. The Mets let him bring both kids, and sometimes their friends. “The Mets were so wonderful then,” he said. Slowly, over the course of the season, the family bonded. Alexander and his dad talked baseball. “He had so many questions,” Rosen said. Ariana, much younger, came for the atmosphere, ice cream and flat RC Cola. “You have someone that you know should be your father, that you should love, but it was uncertain because I hadn't seen him in a long time,” said Alexander Rosen, 44. “Baseball was alone time, and it was in an environment where you were enjoying a common experience. “Baseball gave our father back to us.” Over the years, they kept going to games, as far away as Philadelphia and Boston. Rosen said baseball still helps him cope with the lingering trauma of his ordeal. Going to a game makes him feel free and good for a week. And then came COVID-19. He tried to get into the games on TV, but it wasn't the same as going to the ballpark. When he heard early last month that the Mets were opening Citi Field to fans, he called an old friend and fellow hostage, John Limbert. Together they made plans to attend the Mets-Marlins matchup on April 10. Rosen contacted the Mets' customer service and received an email declaring the team was not honoring lifetime passes. The Mets later reversed that decision after being contacted by The Times for this article. https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-05-14/how-a-baseball-saved-an-iranian-hostage-not-once-but-twice

dinosaur jesus May 14 2021 07:38 AM Re: He Took a Pass

That's a great story. It's sad that the detail that jumps out is the Mets having to be shamed into honoring his pass. Why in the world would they do that? How many lifetime passes are there out there?

Edgy MD May 14 2021 07:59 AM Re: He Took a Pass

Because that's what happens in a dysfunctional organization. You adhere to policy rather than purpose, scared to do anything else. I wouldn't be shocked to learn the person who sent that e-mail is also the one that put the Mr. Met kit on the back of some entry-level ticket office part-timer. I wouldn't be surprised if the e-mail was sent by the guy who was in the costume.

dinosaur jesus May 14 2021 08:05 AM Re: He Took a Pass

Yes, but it sounds like they actually had a policy not to honor lifetime passes. That would have to come from a bit higher up. It's not just someone on the phone having to make something up. It's someone on the computer who has the time to check and ask someone about it. Evil or just dysfunctional, it's not a good look.

G-Fafif May 14 2021 08:22 AM Re: He Took a Pass

From the 25th anniversary of the hostages' release, when box office confusion occurred elsewhere in the NL East. When he first returned from Iran, Kirtley went to baseball games all the time. He was a Marine drill instructor stationed in San Diego. Sometimes in the evenings, he'd drive over to where the Padres played, flashed the pass and spent the rest of the night sitting in the bleachers. "I used it to just go down and watch the San Diego Chicken," he said. But eventually life took over. He became a father and moved to a new, stable life in McLean, working as an information technology consultant. He turned out to be more of a football fan than baseball, but it was hard not to notice the new baseball team that came to Washington last year. Only Kirtley didn't know how to go about using the card at the Nationals games. "It took me literally weeks of research," he said. Finally he stumbled across a site for the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission. He called and the woman who answered told him to just come to the game. So one night last June, Kirtley brought his two youngest sons to Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium. They showed up early to the main gate only to discover the ticket takers had no idea who he was or why he had this strange pass. Some calls were made and suddenly the woman he had talked to on the phone came racing up shouting, "Mr. Kirtley! Mr. Kirtley!" She led them inside and brought them to a section of seats 12 rows from the field, just to the third base side of the Nationals' dugout. But the woman didn't leave; instead she walked to the bottom of the section, spoke to a security guard and then waved Kirtley's two boys down, giving them seats in the front row right next to the dugout. About 15 minutes later, the guard came up to Kirtley and said, "You can go down too." "It was amazing," Kirtley said. "But the thing that was too bad is I don't think my kids knew what a big deal it was. I did know but it was their first game, they didn't know that this didn't normally happen." After all, how many fathers get a lifetime ticket to baseball? https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2006/01/20/safe-at-home-span-classbankhead-25-years-ago-a-gift-from-major-league-baseball-helped-iran-hostages-reconnect-with-america-span/18dd6396-54b5-41be-a865-dbd4449ff8e3/