Reznet

An All-Access Pass

By Sandra White Shield

DES MOINES, Iowa—A 20-year fan has some advice for Iowa Cubs manager Buddy Bailey.

"Take out the pitcher when he gives up four runs in the first inning," said Scott Rahm, a senior at Grand View College.

Rahm attended Sunday's game with his father, Ted Rahm, and grandfather Myron Olson. They sat together in a section of Principal Park reserved for disabled people.

Scott Rahm has been a wheelchair-user all of his life because of cerebral palsy. He has attended Iowa Cubs games for 20 years, he said, and goes to about three games a year. Ted Rahm lives in nearby Grimes, and Olson drove in from Marion, 135 miles east of Des Moines.

Scott Rahm's posture changed whenever the Cubs got a hit; he clapped and yelled excitedly for the home team. He was visibly disappointed at the end of the game, a 9-3 victory by the New Orleans Zephyrs.

Getting to the ballgames has not been difficult for Rahm. His father would just carry him into the games when he was a child. Now that the son is bigger and the father older, the Rahms benefit from the stadium's accessibility and special sections for disabled fans.

Jake Wager, an usher, said he has to give little assistance to disabled people. He said design features such as ramps and wide elevators helped.

Olson said he helped build the stadium as a contractor and first held season tickets in 1947, when the park opened. In the years since, he said, he has seen many improvements to the stadium.

The seats are more comfortable, which used to be mostly old grandstand bleachers, he said. Crowd sizes have grown over the years, he said. A family section has picnic tables to accommodate young children.

Principal Park has designated 14 handicapped sections, offering 61 spaces plus 61 companion seats, according to Troy Anderson of the ticket sales office.

"Handicapped seating is definitely used at every game but rarely sold out," Anderson said. "It is definitely good that we have these seats. They are in demand."

Sandra White Shield, Rosebud Lakota, is a student at Oglala Lakota College on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. She is a graduate of the Freedom Forum's 2006 American Indian Journalism Institute.