It’s an old saying – ’the show must go on’. So it was in Baltimore Wednesday as the Orioles and White Sox played to an almost empty house, just a media gallery – no fans except a few hundred across the street or just outside the gate….all a result of civil unrest in the city.
The only cheers came from just outside the gates – 45,000 fans were muted when the decision was made to go on with the game but not to allow the large crowd to potentially get ornery.
Apparently it was the only time in MLB’s 145-season history that the game went on without fans.
During batting practice, one fan hollered ‘let us in’ to no avail.
A few oddities – they still played the organ rendition of Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the seventh inning stretch. Comical.
One player actually threw a ball into the stands – no one was there to catch the ‘reward’. Another player could be heard to shout “I got it!”. Normally you wouldn’t hear that.
Even the players in the dugouts had to be careful what they said because it was so quiet and voices travel inside the stadium.
When I was a kid at summer camp, we used to have something called a “monk’s meal”. The whole idea was no one could talk through the entire dining experience. It worked – the silence was ‘deafening’. Maybe this is the future of sport – 45,000 well-behaved people keenly listening to the players. They ‘mic’ some athletes – e.g.: curlers….maybe ballplayers could wear something ( or not).
The Orioles took a hit by losing a ton of revenue and concession sales. But, hey, they entered the record books doing it!
The score?…Orioles 8 – White Sox – 2, Fans -0.
In this clip, the Oriole’s catcher signs imaginary autographs:
Not much room for players to get heckled in this situation.