Thursday, April 30, 2015

Would it be a Game, If no Fans were allowed?

April 29, 2015 White Sox vs Orioles Game
Without Fans

Yesterday the Orioles defeated the White Sox 8-2 in a MLB record setting game. The stadium was empty--no fans were allowed to attend the game due to the unrest in Baltimore. 

A game without fans? The players demonstrated that baseball is our national pastime whether fans are allowed or not. Further--this weekends home series between the Orioles and the Tampa Bay Rays has been moved to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, where despite not being in Camden Yards, the Orioles will be the home team for statistical purposes. the series promises to set records for low attendance as it it much too far for the Orioles faithful to make last minute plans to attend. 

Yes, it was still a game. This weekend's series will still be games as well--it is just that the local fans do not get the enjoyment of seeing our team in person.

Baltimore Orioles Manager
Buck Showalter
Baltimore Orioles Manager
I was having trouble understanding understanding the decision to play a fan-less game, so I did some digging. Turns out, it was because the Orioles did not want to dilute the police and security forces protecting the city to be at the game for crowd control. I hadn't thought about it like that before, but it does take quite a large security force to keep us all safe when we attend sporting events.

Buck Showalter, quoted by MLB.com, had one of the classy comments of the day:

 "Everything in life, this too shall pass. Something's bad if you keep repeating it. We hope to take out of it a starting point for our city." 
-- Orioles manager Buck Showalter on the magnitude of the game

-- Bob Doan, writing from Denver, Colorado

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