Kevin Hallinan: Baseball Security's Mr. (April thru) October

The same year a routine ground ball to first skated through Bill Buckner's legs, thus demolishing the psyche of Red Sox fans (including us here at Debriefing), Major League Baseball hired Kevin Hallinan as its senior vice president of security and facility management.

By Scott Berinato

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What would security be like if the Red Sox won Game 7 of the World Series in Fenway, grabbing the team's first championship since 1918?

I can't imagine.Neither can we. What have you learned about security through baseball?I've learned that stadium security has a ripple effect [on the rest of the community]. When the Yankees won in '96, the Bronx was a rockin', but in a good way, because fans saw on TV how positive a celebration it was inside the stadium. A lot of the time we'll be talking to a club and they'll say, "Hey, Kevin, this isn't New York or Boston." But then all it takes is one ninny trespassing on their field and they see why we're talking to them. It can be quite spooky for players and umpires.How has your job changed since 9/11?I used to say that while security was a 24/7 job, the facility management part of my job was a store that was open three days a week. That's increased dramatically. We're looking at the ballparks and their perimeters in whole new ways. I believe we've become a model for public-private partnerships in terms of working with local authorities, the teams themselves and the fans to improve security. We're not perfect, but we're getting things done.

And we're not just thinking about isolated terrorist incidents. We're thinking about earthquakes and blackouts.Do you profess allegiance to any particular baseball team?Yes, all 30 of them. You're talking to a guy who loves his job.