Ticket Scalping

Tired of paying double or triple the ticket-window price for an Orioles ticket from a broker or scalper?Get used to it.Legislation in the House of Delegates that would have banned such ticket scalping was withdrawn this session by the sponsor, Del. Leon Albin, D-Baltimore County, after his colleagues expressed little interest in the issue.Albin introduced the bill after hearing about an incident last year in which someone who bought 100 Orioles tickets at $13 each sold them through a newspaper advertisement for $85 a ticket.

The Orioles' new effort to curb ticket scalping by inserting team employees as deal brokers at Camden Yards' scalp-free zone has become more than a little frustrating for fans hoping to unload tickets at games. Charles Branch sighed, rolled his eyes and threw up his hands as he paced the sidewalk last week. He had three tickets to sell for seats above the home team's dugout, the best seats in the house, he said. He eyed a stream of fans looking for tickets as game time approached. He could have brokered a deal more quickly under the old system, a free-for-all in which sellers could unload unwanted tickets by bombarding buyers and besting competitors' offers, waving their tickets like stockbrokers on a Wall Street trading floor.

Shane Weinstein says he wasn't trying to turn a profit. He just wanted to sell bleacher seats to Sunday's Orioles game and recoup the $7.50 -- including a TicketMaster service charge -- that each ticket cost.But by tacking on the $2.50 surcharge, the 21-year-old Columbia man apparently broke the law, even though he was in the designated "scalp-free zone," where fans are allowed to resell tickets up to face value.An undercover police detective arrested Mr. Weinstein and charged him with ticket scalping, a misdemeanor that carries a fine up to $1,000.

The Orioles' new effort to curb ticket scalping by inserting team employees as deal brokers at Camden Yards' scalp-free zone has become more than a little frustrating for fans hoping to unload unwanted tickets at games. Charles Branch sighed, rolled his eyes and threw up his hands as he paced the sidewalk last week. He had three tickets to sell - the best seats in the house, he said - above the home team's dugout. He eyed a stream of fans looking for tickets as game time approached. He could have brokered a deal quicker under the old system, a free-for-all in which sellers could pawn off unwanted seats by bombarding buyers and besting competitors' offers, waving their tickets like stock brokers on a Wall Street trading floor.

In a move designed to limit ticket-scalping at Camden Yards, the Orioles say they'll soon announce a program allowing fans to sell back their unwanted tickets or trade them for tickets to future games.Details of the plan still are being worked out, but team owner Peter G. Angelos said he hoped fans would take advantage of the program rather than selling their extra tickets to scalpers or brokers."I want tickets that season-ticket holders are not able to use to be returned to the club so we get them in the hands of fans, not those who'll charge more than face value," Angelos said yesterday.

Somewhere in the Free State of Maryland, there has to be an elected official wanting to step to the plate to protect the interests of all men and women by making a proposal that will shut down ticket scalping.It's unfortunate Charles Carroll of Carrollton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, who also helped write the Maryland Constitution, had to die in 1852. You just know if he could still be with us he'd come to the aid of his fellow citizens.Ticket scalping is out of control. What's happening at Baltimore Orioles games is a disgrace.

The Orioles' new effort to curb ticket scalping by inserting team employees as deal brokers at Camden Yards' scalp-free zone has become more than a little frustrating for fans hoping to unload tickets at games. Charles Branch sighed, rolled his eyes and threw up his hands as he paced the sidewalk last week. He had three tickets to sell for seats above the home team's dugout, the best seats in the house, he said. He eyed a stream of fans looking for tickets as game time approached. He could have brokered a deal more quickly under the old system, a free-for-all in which sellers could unload unwanted tickets by bombarding buyers and besting competitors' offers, waving their tickets like stockbrokers on a Wall Street trading floor.

The ticket drought that plagued Orioles fans this season has prompted Baltimore City Council President Mary Pat Clarke to introduce legislation designed to limit ticket scalping by making both the use and purchase of those tickets a misdemeanor."

The Orioles fulfilled an 11-month-old promise yesterday when they announced a ticket-exchange system that should be a boon to fans who come to the ballpark hoping to dispose of extra seats to upcoming games.Starting Monday, those fans can go to a designated reselling zone at Camden Yards. Within the zone -- but on no other public street within a mile of Camden Yards -- they legally can resell their tickets for the price printed on them.Ticket scalping, reselling for more than a ticket's face value, is illegal in Baltimore.

Two detectives with the city's Violent Crimes Task Force have been indicted on robbery charges for allegedly stealing tickets to Game 3 of the American League playoffs from people selling tickets outside Camden Yards.While on duty, David Brendel and Gerald Tarud, policemen for the past five and six years respectively, allegedly flashed their badges to force the men to hand over 22 tickets to the Orioles-Yankees game Oct. 11 -- hours before the police detail that cracks down on ticket scalping was scheduled to go to work.

I CAN'T promise anything, but unless prosecutors in the Bluegrass State are completely mad, this should mark my last report on that silly Kentucky Derby ticket-scalping case involving James Casey, the Maryland horse doctor and trainer who spent several hours in a filthy Louisville jail for a minor offense that doesn't even carry jail as a penalty. To recap (if that's possible without getting a migraine): Casey went to Churchill Downs on the first Saturday of May 1999 and paid a scalper $100 each for three $42 Derby ducats.

Baltimore Police arrested nine men yesterday in connection with a suspected counterfeit ticket operation that was selling fake Orioles tickets for $100 to fans outside the stadium.The men were charged with ticket scalping and were being held at the Baltimore Central Booking and Intake Facility as of late yesterday. Officers collected 55 counterfeit tickets during the arrests but did not recover any money, police said.Yesterday morning, the Orioles closed their scalp-free zone -- the area around the stadium where fans were allowed to sell their unused tickets during the regular season -- after a man was arrested Friday on charges that he tried to sell counterfeit game tickets.

Two detectives with the city's Violent Crimes Task Force have been indicted on robbery charges for allegedly stealing tickets to Game 3 of the American League playoffs from people selling tickets outside Camden Yards.While on duty, David Brendel and Gerald Tarud, policemen for the past five and six years respectively, allegedly flashed their badges to force the men to hand over 22 tickets to the Orioles-Yankees game Oct. 11 -- hours before the police detail that cracks down on ticket scalping was scheduled to go to work.

Bobby Bonilla had a nice game yesterday. He hit three balls hard, extended a 21-game hitting streak from last season with a double and scored two runs.L But Bonilla is not happy with his role as designated hitter."Let me put it this way, I hope it doesn't last," Bonilla said. "That's all I can tell you."When asked to elaborate later, Bonilla refused."How do I feel about it?" he said. "That's a loaded question."A career National Leaguer, Bonilla has never been a designated hitter. His first experience with the position at Camden Yards came in Saturday's exhibition.

A District judge ruled yesterday that a 21-year-old Columbia man did not break the law when he sold two Orioles tickets to an undercover police officer and tacked on the TicketMaster service charge.Shane Weinstein was arrested two months ago in the Orioles' designated "scalp-free zone," where fans are allowed to resell tickets up to face value. He was charged with ticket scalping when he offered two bleacher seat tickets for $7.50 each.Police argued that by including the $2.50 surcharge printed on each $5 ticket, Mr. Weinstein committed a misdemeanor because he sold the tickets for more than the admission price.

Here's a hoot from the "scalp-free zone" at Oriole Park, where, by city ordinance, fans are allowed to resell tickets at up to face value. Before last Saturday's game, old acquaintenance Ron Kropkowski -- you can call him Krop -- approached the zone looking to buy."There's a mob of people trying to buy tickets and there is only one guy with four tickets," Krop reports. "The price on the tickets is $9. So this other guy gives the ticket-seller $40 and tells him to keep it all because the guy selling the tickets didn't have the $4 change to give him. So the ticket-seller all of a sudden gets cold feet, gives back the $40 and says, 'I can't do that, it's against the law.'"You see that?

Before the Orioles game last Friday evening, four men socialized at a popular bar on South Calvert Street.By 7 o'clock, a half-hour before game time, they began to walk to Camden Yards."

A market economy claimed many downtown street corners yesterday in a dramatic collision of the forces of supply and demand -- for All-Star Game tickets.But the unwritten law of economics that prices rise when goods are scarce clashed with the written law of Baltimore City, and at least 11 people were arrested for ticket scalping, authorities said.Officer Lavon Alston, answering calls at the Central police district, did not know last night how much money had been asked for All-Star Game tickets.

Shane Weinstein says he wasn't trying to turn a profit. He just wanted to sell bleacher seats to Sunday's Orioles game and recoup the $7.50 -- including a TicketMaster service charge -- that each ticket cost.But by tacking on the $2.50 surcharge, the 21-year-old Columbia man apparently broke the law, even though he was in the designated "scalp-free zone," where fans are allowed to resell tickets up to face value.An undercover police detective arrested Mr. Weinstein and charged him with ticket scalping, a misdemeanor that carries a fine up to $1,000.

The Orioles fulfilled an 11-month-old promise yesterday when they announced a ticket-exchange system that should be a boon to fans who come to the ballpark hoping to dispose of extra seats to upcoming games.Starting Monday, those fans can go to a designated reselling zone at Camden Yards. Within the zone -- but on no other public street within a mile of Camden Yards -- they legally can resell their tickets for the price printed on them.Ticket scalping, reselling for more than a ticket's face value, is illegal in Baltimore.