Orioles Set Unlikely Attendance Record
April 30, 2015
Normally, an April baseball game does not generate much publicity. However, yesterday, the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox played the first major league baseball game at an empty stadium. Violent protests had erupted in Baltimore on Monday, following the funeral of a young black man who received a deadly injury while in police custody. The protests became unmanageable for local police, and Maryland Governor Larry Hogan called in the National Guard, declaring a state of emergency in the city.
After postponing Monday’s and Tuesday’s games, baseball officials decided to play Wednesday’s game with the stadium closed to fans so as not to use police and national guard resources that are already stretched thin. The game had an official attendance of zero. However, not including the media members in the press box, there were actually 3 spectators—all baseball professionals—at the game. The Orioles had been averaging over 33,000 fans a game so far this season. According to Major League Baseball’s historian, the previous record for lowest attendance was 6 for a game played in 1882. Wednesday’s game was so quiet that the players down on the field and in the dugout and the media up in the press box could hear one another talking.
On the field, the Orioles scored 6 runs in the first inning and coasted to an 8-2 victory over the White Sox. The games postponed earlier this week are scheduled to be played as a double-header next month. The Orioles were scheduled to have games Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at home against the Tampa Bay Rays, but these games have been moved to the Rays’s home stadium in St. Petersburg, Florida.
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