Baltimore/White Sox game closed to the public

[gunnarthor]

http://deadspin.com/the-orioles-will-play-in-an-empty-stadium-1700733716

 

This is pathetic. The Orioles and White Sox will play tomorrow afternoon but fans won't be allowed inside b/c we are busy building a police state and fear-mongering is important.  

 

MLB's new commish - who should lose his job - said it was done to "minimize safety concerns."

[Mike Sixel]

 

http://deadspin.com/the-orioles-will-play-in-an-empty-stadium-1700733716

 

This is pathetic. The Orioles and White Sox will play tomorrow afternoon but fans won't be allowed inside b/c we are busy building a police state and fear-mongering is important.  

 

MLB's new commish - who should lose his job - said it was done to "minimize safety concerns."

 

Awful decision. Just. Awful.

[TheLeviathan]

 

Awful decision. Just. Awful.

 

Is it though?  If they had the public there and some innocent fan was hurt or killed by a protester or a cop because of this nonsense, would we all just be ok with that?

 

Explain to me how keeping a bad situation from hurting innocent lives and spiraling out of control is an "awful" decision?

[jokin]

 

http://deadspin.com/the-orioles-will-play-in-an-empty-stadium-1700733716

 

This is pathetic. The Orioles and White Sox will play tomorrow afternoon but fans won't be allowed inside b/c we are busy building a police state and fear-mongering is important.  

 

MLB's new commish - who should lose his job - said it was done to "minimize safety concerns."

 

I don't think it's the police state-building and fear-mongering, as much as the off-the-charts potential for liability.  A Commissioner with cajones has to force the Nats to open up National Park, and force the Orioles to play the game there.  Nothing good comes from playing the game in the modern-day baseball shrine that is Camden Yards.

[TheLeviathan]

 

I don't think it's the police state-building and fear-mongering, as much as the off-the-charts potential for liability.  A Commissioner with cajones has to force the Nats to open up National Park, and force the Orioles to play the game there.  Nothing good comes from playing the game in the modern-day baseball shrine that is Camden Yards.

 

Exactly - only tragedy or stupidity would result from having the game there.

[Hrbowski]

 

http://deadspin.com/the-orioles-will-play-in-an-empty-stadium-1700733716

 

This is pathetic. The Orioles and White Sox will play tomorrow afternoon but fans won't be allowed inside b/c we are busy building a police state and fear-mongering is important.  

 

MLB's new commish - who should lose his job - said it was done to "minimize safety concerns."

 

This is not a police state, it is to protect people, did you see that 17 police officers have ben injured, eight with broken bones and one is unresponsive? And they are wearing riot gear, this is not safe and it won't be until the crazy protestors stop the nonsense.

[Steven Buhr]

Guess I'll respectfully disagree.

 

I have staff who work a block from the ballpark and we closed our office early yesterday and all day today out of concern for the safety of our employees.

 

Maybe there were better options than playing the game without a crowd, but I suspect every public safety employee who would have been assigned to the game probably has a more important assignment elsewhere.

 

I'm not shy about criticizing MLB or the teams' FOs, but some decisions really are about choosing the best of a number of bad options. I think this is such a situation.

[zenser]

Personally, I wouldn't want to be near there whether it was for a game or not.  I understand the safety concern but it would have been nice to move the game to either Philadelphia or D.C. since both are on the road.

 

On a lighter note, I was thinking there were a few games the past couple of falls that Target Field was closed to the public but that was just a bad product on the field that no one wanted to see.

[RedBull34]

 

http://deadspin.com/the-orioles-will-play-in-an-empty-stadium-1700733716

 

This is pathetic. The Orioles and White Sox will play tomorrow afternoon but fans won't be allowed inside b/c we are busy building a police state and fear-mongering is important.  

 

MLB's new commish - who should lose his job - said it was done to "minimize safety concerns."

I'll say this,

 

Watch video of Selma Alabama.  Then compare to today in Baltimore.  Then tell me we are building a police state. 

 

The police are far more restrained (obviously have work to do) and the "protestors" are doing absolutely nothing to improve the situation.  They are only making it worse by lacking any sort of organization or discipline.

 

The police are far from perfect but the behavior by the rioters is despicable.  What message does it send to light buildings on fire and destroy privately-owned cars?

[Mike Sixel]

 

Is it though?  If they had the public there and some innocent fan was hurt or killed by a protester or a cop because of this nonsense, would we all just be ok with that?

 

Explain to me how keeping a bad situation from hurting innocent lives and spiraling out of control is an "awful" decision?

 

Delay the game to another day. Move it to Chicago.

[jokin]

 

Delay the game to another day. Move it to Chicago.

 

Yeah.  I think everyone is pretty much onboard with that.  A day-night DH in Washington made the most sense.  Playing the game tomorrow at Camden, with or without fans, are both very bad decisions.

[JB_Iowa]

Broadcast it over the air (i.e cable not required).

 

Give most of the residents of Baltimore something else to think about - for free!

[ashbury]

 

the "protestors" are doing absolutely nothing to improve the situation.  They are only making it worse by lacking any sort of organization or discipline.

When the protesters ever become organized and disciplined, they'll resemble an actual army, and the Atlas Shrugged crowd had better locate their fictionalized hills and head for them.

[TheLeviathan]

 

Delay the game to another day. Move it to Chicago.

 

I guess I'm missing what is the "awful" component then?  There is sort of short notice to pick it up and move it to Chicago, the last time that happened was when Cleveland got 12 feet of snow and games were played in Milwaukee, but they had days of advance warning on that.

 

As SD said, they're making the best choice of a crappy set of choices.  Seems like a bizarre thing for one person to say the commish should be fired for and for you to characterize it as "awful".

 

What's awful is what is going on outside the stadium, there really wasn't much choice other than play with nobody there or don't play at all.

[Hrbowski]

 

When the protesters ever become organized and disciplined, they'll resemble an actual army, and the Atlas Shrugged crowd had better locate their fictionalized hills and head for them.

When they do we won't run and hide, we will be ready.

[Mike Sixel]

 

I guess I'm missing what is the "awful" component then?  There is sort of short notice to pick it up and move it to Chicago, the last time that happened was when Cleveland got 12 feet of snow and games were played in Milwaukee, but they had days of advance warning on that.

 

As SD said, they're making the best choice of a crappy set of choices.  Seems like a bizarre thing for one person to say the commish should be fired for and for you to characterize it as "awful".

 

What's awful is what is going on outside the stadium, there really wasn't much choice other than play with nobody there or don't play at all.

 

How is that? There are open dates, and other opportunities, to play the game in front of people. As suggested above, free, over the air broadcast is a great idea. Won't happen, but a great idea. I think it is a bad decision to play in front of no one. Are they giving money back to everyone that bought a ticket?

[biggentleben]

To paraphrase what Rob Manfred said in his phone interview to media, MLB has 162 games to play over the course of roughly 181 days.  Coordinating both teams is difficult, especially as moving to Chicago is simply not an option without moving another series between the teams later in the season to Baltimore, which would upset both teams' scheduling.

 

His more important and larger point is that there are certain issues that MLB has to adhere to within the current curfews, temporary laws, and good community relationships with Baltimore.  In a time when the city is torn apart like this, taking away a game from what has become a well-attended team could actually add to the issues in the city.  So, rather than look at the short term of getting one game played, instead they'd rather work to encourage peace in the city, something reportedly that Orioles players attempted to do yesterday.  I have not seen video or pictures of that, but they met with some of the protest leaders and police to attempt to end what is going on in certain areas of Baltimore.

[Mike Sixel]

 

To paraphrase what Rob Manfred said in his phone interview to media, MLB has 162 games to play over the course of roughly 181 days.  Coordinating both teams is difficult, especially as moving to Chicago is simply not an option without moving another series between the teams later in the season to Baltimore, which would upset both teams' scheduling.

 

His more important and larger point is that there are certain issues that MLB has to adhere to within the current curfews, temporary laws, and good community relationships with Baltimore.  In a time when the city is torn apart like this, taking away a game from what has become a well-attended team could actually add to the issues in the city.  So, rather than look at the short term of getting one game played, instead they'd rather work to encourage peace in the city, something reportedly that Orioles players attempted to do yesterday.  I have not seen video or pictures of that, but they met with some of the protest leaders and police to attempt to end what is going on in certain areas of Baltimore.

 

Wow, that would be impressive if the players did that. I really like the free on tv idea

[USAFChief]

http://deadspin.com/the-orioles-will-play-in-an-empty-stadium-1700733716

 

This is pathetic. The Orioles and White Sox will play tomorrow afternoon but fans won't be allowed inside b/c we are busy building a police state and fear-mongering is important.  

 

MLB's new commish - who should lose his job - said it was done to "minimize safety concerns."

For a minute there I thought this was a serious take on the situation.

 

It is satire, right?

[biggentleben]

 

Wow, that would be impressive if the players did that. I really like the free on tv idea

 

Like I said, I've not seen any video or pictures, which tells me perhaps it was something a couple players asked to participate in and was not able to be done, but I thought even the offer was a very cool goodwill offer.  I know Adam Jones was one name mentioned in the "unconfirmed" message I got among some of our writers.  Like I said, with the security of such a meeting being difficult to ensure, MLB might throw a wrench into that, but this was a discussion among players in the clubhouse as they watched on TV what was going on right outside the stadium.

[Squirrel]

It's always easier to look at a situation from the outside and come up with better solutions. I think the explanation Ben gave above helps to make better sense of certain decisions with regards to playing when and where. Playing in Chicago right now would not have been an option even if they could switch the schedule around as the city is already bursting at the seams with all this NFL stuff. And with all that's going on in Baltimore right now it's just really odd for me to be thinking 'But what about the game?'

[Otto von Ballpark]

They almost certainly should have been more proactive about the situation.  They had problems over the weekend where they couldn't even let some fans leave the ballpark due to the issues outside.  But apparently they thought they White Sox series was just going to be hunky-dory?  They should have taken steps to relocate the White Sox series no later than Sunday.  As it was, they waited until 40 minutes before game time to cancel Monday night, and then sometime Tuesday came up with this crazy plan.

 

I get the whole "staying in the city to help" thing, but taking the unprecedented step of barring fans from the ballpark seems counter to that.  They're also moving the upcoming weekend series to Tampa, apparently the city won't need the Orioles help after Wednesday?

[kydoty]

So why didn't they just move the rest of the week's games 40 miles down I-95 to Nationals Park, so that way at least a good number of O's fans can still make the trip?  Did the Nats refuse to open the stadium or something?

[TheLeviathan]

So if MLB had assumed that the rioting would last several days and moved it to Tampa, you would have been ok with that?  Especially if no rioting had happened?

 

This was a fluid situation that MLB only has a tiny, tiny amount of control over.  If they had moved it to Tampa assuming more riots and there had been peaceful protests they would have been BLASTED for being cowardly and overreacting.  (Or for making the assumption about Baltimore that it's full of a bunch of violent people)

 

There are a lot of people awfully confident in how "easy" changing things are.  Ben was right, it's a sticky web of issues to unravel, these cute, easy solutions are really not options.

 

[biggentleben]

 

They almost certainly should have been more proactive about the situation.  They had problems over the weekend where they couldn't even let some fans leave the ballpark due to the issues outside.  But apparently they thought they White Sox series was just going to be hunky-dory?  They should have taken steps to relocate the White Sox series no later than Sunday.  As it was, they waited until 40 minutes before game time to cancel Monday night, and then sometime Tuesday came up with this crazy plan.

 

I get the whole "staying in the city to help" thing, but taking the unprecedented step of barring fans from the ballpark seems counter to that.  They're also moving the upcoming weekend series to Tampa, apparently the city won't need the Orioles help after Wednesday?

 

My baby brother told me that MLB.tv is removing blackouts for the area for a few days.  I know Manfred was in Baltimore for the weekend, but he stayed longer to try to work this out.  It takes months of full-time work (and year-round work for a couple employees) to get the schedule situated around concerts, graduations, and other items going on in each stadium along with trying to plan around weather concerns and making sure no team's road/home schedule is too taxing.  Baseball isn't perfect on this issue, but they absolutely were doing what they could.  If a major threat happened around Target Field today, there is so much to move and consider before altering the schedule for a game happening Saturday.

[kydoty]

Kasie Hunt
‏@kasie   Orioles EVP says as of now, the whole in-park experience will be the same: Scoreboard, announcing, national anthem, 7th inning stretch

 

Kiss cam is going to be awkward today.

[biggentleben]

 

Kasie Hunt
‏@kasie   Orioles EVP says as of now, the whole in-park experience will be the same: Scoreboard, announcing, national anthem, 7th inning stretch

 

Kiss cam is going to be awkward today.

 

Not another umpire makeout session.  Cool it, Cowboy West!

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

So if MLB had assumed that the rioting would last several days and moved it to Tampa, you would have been ok with that?  Especially if no rioting had happened?

 

This was a fluid situation that MLB only has a tiny, tiny amount of control over.  If they had moved it to Tampa assuming more riots and there had been peaceful protests they would have been BLASTED for being cowardly and overreacting.

They couldn't let people out of the ballpark on SATURDAY:

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=350425101

 

 

Several helicopters circled Camden Yards as some of the protesters threw cans and plastic bottles in the direction of police officers.

In the middle of the ninth inning, after the Red Sox extended a game the Orioles seemingly had in hand, the public address announcer told the fans that the mayor and city officials requested no one leave the ballpark because of "ongoing public safety issues."
 

By the bottom of the 10th, the restriction on departing the stadium had been lifted. But fans were warned against traveling in certain parts of the city.

 

So, they already had a HIGHLY unusual security situation Saturday, and they knew the funeral was coming on Monday -- yet they couldn't come up with a plan to do ANYTHING about it until midday Tuesday?  Effectively losing two days off their schedule?

 

I will admit, they didn't necessarily have to announce any changes on Sunday.  But, plans to do so should have already been in place and ready to implement by noon on Monday.  To cancel Monday night's game 40 minutes before first pitch (with fans already at the ballpark), then waste Tuesday making plans, that's just bad planning.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Baseball isn't perfect on this issue, but they absolutely were doing what they could.  If a major threat happened around Target Field today, there is so much to move and consider before altering the schedule for a game happening Saturday.

 

See my previous post.  The "major threat" had already happened by 9 PM Saturday, when they had to block fans from leaving the game.  They didn't announce ANY plans to do anything about upcoming games until Tuesday around noon, a full two and a half days later.  With the actual provisions of that plan not taking effect until ~24 hours later.

 

They absolutely should have cancelled Monday's game with more notice, and announced a plan at that point that didn't simply waste Tuesday too.

[TheLeviathan]

Spy cake, I don't think four days to shift things (based on the assumption there would be rioting four more days and ignoring the possibility the city assured them things would be in control) is nearly as much time to shift a baseball game no matter how close by it is. You seem to be operating under the idea that it is fairly easy.