One Rare Category Where The Dodgers Are Ahead of the Angels

Wow, the LA Times is a goldmine for Dodgers information today, which is surprising given the diminishing volume of the sports page and record of fleeing columnists and sportswriters. Jerry Crowe writes about veggie dogs: Dodger Stadium's got 'em; Angel Stadium doesn't.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers is being introduced before last Friday night's game against the San Francisco Giants, and Johanna McCloy, otherwise preoccupied at AT&T Park, lets out a yelp.

"Yes," she cries. "Vegetarian."

The Berkeley-based McCloy, a self-appointed advocate for meat-eschewing baseball fans, has crossed the San Francisco Bay to promote her dreamer's quest: to add veggie dogs to the menu at every major league ballpark.

Eight years into her mission, the 43-year-old actress and Duke graduate is halfway there, with Dodger Stadium among the first to sign on and Angel Stadium still a holdout. Fielder's decision to give up meat has been a welcome shot in the arm to the cause, which has encountered pockets of hostile resistance.

Last month, after an article about McCloy appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle magazine, reader Marc Kimberly of Concord wrote: "For goodness' sakes, is there no limit to which annoying vegetarians won't go in their efforts to try to convert people from enjoying meat in favor of the bland mishmash of unappetizing and virtually tasteless 'food' these elitist snobs choke down their gullets?"

McCloy says she was equally dumbfounded when, during an appearance on a Denver radio station, her efforts were labeled un-American. Her only objective, she says, is to give fans a choice.

"I said, 'How more American can you get?' " McCloy says of her Denver radio experience. "This is a nation of immigrants, this is a nation of diversity, this is a nation of opportunity, this is a nation of saying 'yes' to everybody. How are you threatened by a couple of people to your left at a baseball game choosing to eat something other than what you're eating?"

Bravo, McCloy, fight the power. Vegetarians are people too (even Berkeley vegetarians), and we all could use greater breadth of edible options at our bseball stadiums. Heck, can we get a real Chinese food place in Dodger Stadium, while we're at it, with more dim sum items and less of the orange chicken?

And why is Angel Stadium behind the curve on this issue? Well, let's just say they've got other issues.