Просмотр кода страницы Английская Википедия:2015 Chicago White Sox–Baltimore Orioles crowdless game

{{Английская Википедия/Панель перехода}}
{{short description|First such game in Major League Baseball history}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox baseball game
| year             = 2015
| game             = Chicago White Sox–Baltimore Orioles crowdless game
| image            = Oriole Park Baltimore2.jpg
| caption          = Camden Yards with all seats empty, 2008
| visitor          = [[2015 Chicago White Sox season|Chicago White Sox]]
| top1             = 0
| top2             = 0
| top3             = 0
| top4             = 0
| top5             = 2
| top6             = 0
| top7             = 0
| top8             = 0
| top9             = 0
| visitor_r        = 2
| visitor_h        = 4
| visitor_e        = 1
| home             = [[2015 Baltimore Orioles season|Baltimore Orioles]]
| bot1             = 6
| bot2             = 0
| bot3             = 1
| bot4             = 0
| bot5             = 1
| bot6             = 0
| bot7             = 0
| bot8             = 0
| bot9             = X
| home_r           = 8
| home_h           = 11
| home_e           = 1
| date             = {{Start date|2015|04|29}}
| venue            = [[Oriole Park at Camden Yards]]
| city             = [[Baltimore|Baltimore, Maryland]]
| manager_visitor  = [[Robin Ventura]]
| manager_home     = [[Buck Showalter]]
| umpires          = {{unbulleted list
 |[[Home plate|HP]]: [[Jerry Layne]]
 |[[First base|1B]]: [[Hunter Wendelstedt]]
 |[[Second base|2B]]: [[Bob Davidson (umpire)|Bob Davidson]]
 |[[Third base|3B]]: [[David Rackley]]
 }}
| MVP_team         = 
| MVP              = 
| attendance       = N/A<ref name="WashPost pregame story">{{cite news|last=Allen|first=Scott|title=15 questions about the Orioles-White Sox game that no fans can attend|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dc-sports-bog/wp/2015/04/29/15-questions-about-the-orioles-white-sox-game-that-no-fans-can-attend/|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=April 29, 2015|access-date=April 25, 2018}}</ref><!--- according to the Post, this is how MLB officially lists this game's attendance --->
| first_pitch      = 2:06 p.m. EDT
| television       = [[Mid-Atlantic Sports Network|MASN]], [[MLB.com|MLB.tv]], [[WPWR-TV|WPWR-HD]]
| tv_announcers    = {{ubl|[[Gary Thorne]] and [[Jim Palmer]] (MASN)|[[Ken Harrelson]] and [[Steve Stone (baseball)|Steve Stone]] (WPWR-HD)}}
| radio            = [[WJZ-FM]], [[Baltimore Orioles Radio Network]];<br />[[WSCR]], [[Chicago White Sox Radio Network]]
| radio_announcers = {{ubl|[[Joe Angel]] and [[Fred Manfra]] (Orioles Radio Network)|[[Ed Farmer]] and [[Darrin Jackson]]}}(White Sox Radio Network)
}}
On April 29, 2015, the [[Baltimore Orioles]] defeated the [[Chicago White Sox]] 8–2 in the first [[Behind closed doors (sport)|crowdless]] game ever played by [[Major League Baseball]] teams.<ref>{{cite news|last=Ghiroli|first=Brittany|title=Today's White Sox-Orioles game closed to fans|url=http://m.mlb.com/news/article/121011784/white-sox-orioles-to-play-in-private-weekend-games-moved-to-tampa-bay|publisher=[[MLB Advanced Media]]|date=April 28, 2015|access-date=April 29, 2015|archive-date=April 29, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150429135530/http://m.mlb.com/news/article/121011784/white-sox-orioles-to-play-in-private-weekend-games-moved-to-tampa-bay|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Baltimore Sun anniversary story">{{cite news|last=Encina|first=Eduardo|title=One year later, remembering an Orioles game without fans at Camden Yards|url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bs-sp-orioles-white-sox-0429-20160428-story.html|newspaper=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|date=April 29, 2016|access-date=April 19, 2018}}</ref> The lack of crowds was due to [[2015 Baltimore protests|civil unrest in Baltimore]] following the [[death of Freddie Gray]], an [[African-American]] man who was critically injured while in police custody 10 days earlier. With all the civil unrest, there were insufficient security resources available for the game. The previous two games in the teams' series had been postponed, but the remaining game could neither be moved to another venue on short notice nor made up later in the season, so the decision was made to play the game at [[Oriole Park at Camden Yards|Camden Yards]] without allowing any fans to attend. The scheduled evening start time was also moved up to the afternoon for security reasons.

The stands were not completely empty; three times the usual number of reporters who covered a routine game were allowed in the [[press box]] to cover the game, which was telecast live, photographers roamed the stands taking pictures, team staff patrolled the stands to recover [[foul ball]]s, and three [[Scout (sport)|scouts]] also attended.<ref name="CBS Sports article">{{cite news|last=Axisa|first=Mike|title=Orioles, White Sox play in empty Camden Yards|url=https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/sights-sounds-orioles-white-sox-play-in-empty-camden-yards/|newspaper=[[CBS Sports]]|date=April 29, 2015|access-date=April 19, 2018}}</ref> Some fans who wanted to see the game live gathered near the stadium's back gate to take in the limited views from that vantage point, while others took in the more expansive view of the field from nearby [[high-rise]] hotels.

Players and media alike described the experience of a game played without any fans present as a surreal experience. White Sox outfielder [[Adam Eaton (outfielder)|Adam Eaton]] attributed his team's loss to the effect of the crowd's absence and their awareness of the reason for it. Reporters covering the game said conversations from the field could be heard in the press box, and likewise television and radio commentators could be heard on each other's broadcasts.

The decision to play without a crowd was controversial. Critics said the team should have done its best to allow fans in so the divided city could heal, or else just postpone the game. They pointed out that while previous incidents of civil unrest had forced games to be moved or postponed, fans had always been allowed to attend. ''[[The Washington Post]]'' suggested that ongoing litigation between the Orioles and the [[Washington Nationals]] over revenues from the [[Mid-Atlantic Sports Network]] cable channel, which carries both teams' games, may have led the Orioles to avoid moving the game to [[Nationals Park]].<ref name="WashPost Nationals story">{{cite news|last1=Sviruga|first1=Barry|last2=Kilgore|first2=Adam|title=Orioles to host home game against the White Sox in an empty stadium|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/orioles-to-host-home-game-against-the-white-sox-in-an-empty-stadium/2015/04/28/b534ea48-ede6-11e4-8abc-d6aa3bad79dd_story.html|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=April 28, 2015|access-date=April 25, 2018}}</ref>

==April 2015 civil unrest in Baltimore==
{{main|2015 Baltimore protests}}
On the morning of April 12, 2015, [[Baltimore Police Department|Baltimore police officers]] arrested [[Death of Freddie Gray|Freddie Gray]], a 25-year-old [[African American]] man, in the [[Sandtown-Winchester, Baltimore|Sandtown–Winchester]] neighborhood on the city's western outskirts, on a charge of possessing a [[switchblade]] knife. He appeared to be in good health at the time of his arrest and did not [[resisting arrest|resist arrest]], although he reportedly requested an [[inhaler]].<ref name="Sun documents article">{{cite news|last1=Fenton|first1=Justin|last2=Anderson|first2=Jessica|title=Freddie Gray repeatedly asked for medical care, police said Monday|url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-ci-freddie-gray-arrest-documents-20150420-story.html|newspaper=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|date=April 20, 2015|access-date=April 19, 2018|archive-date=April 20, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180420075355/http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-ci-freddie-gray-arrest-documents-20150420-story.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> While being transported to the Western District police station to be booked, officers claimed Gray had become unruly in the back of the van and stopped several times to restrain and calm him. By the time they arrived, he had suffered severe injuries and would later undergo surgery for [[Spinal cord injury|traumatic injuries to his spine]] at the [[R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center]].<ref name="Baltimore Sun Gray timeline">{{cite news|title=Timeline: Freddie Gray's arrest, death and the aftermath|url=http://data.baltimoresun.com/news/freddie-gray/|newspaper=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|access-date=April 19, 2018|archive-date=November 19, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151119110601/http://data.baltimoresun.com/news/freddie-gray/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Gray went into a [[coma]] shortly afterwards. Protests over alleged [[police brutality]] that might have occurred on the van ride began on April 18 and continued after Gray's death the following day. By April 24, after the police had released records showing that Gray had not been injured either before or at the time of his arrest and the officers involved had been placed on paid [[Leave of absence|leave]] pending investigation,<ref name="Sun documents article" /> [[Governor of Maryland|Governor]] [[Larry Hogan]] deployed [[Maryland State Police|state troopers]] to the city to assist in maintaining order.<ref name="Baltimore Sun Gray timeline" />
[[File:Baltimore riot police VOA.jpg|left|thumb|Baltimore police in riot gear|alt=A group of police officers in helmets, carrying plastic shields with "POLICE" written on them, face the camera, on a city street at night. A bluish light glares into the right edge of the frame.]]
The following day, a march in the city's downtown [[Inner Harbor, Baltimore|Inner Harbor]] neighborhood started peacefully, but later turned violent, with some protesters smashing windows and [[vandalism|vandalizing]] parked cars near [[Oriole Park at Camden Yards|Camden Yards]], home stadium of the [[Baltimore Orioles]] [[Major League Baseball]] (MLB) team.<ref name="Sun protests article">{{cite news|last1=Wenger|first1=Yvonne|last2=Puente|first2=Mark|last3=Rector|first3=Kevin|last4=Campbell|first4=Colin|last5=Green|first5=Erica L.|title=After peaceful start, violence mars Freddie Gray protest in Baltimore|url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bal-protesters-rally-for-freddie-gray-hundreds-to-march-20150425-story.html#page=1|newspaper=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|date=April 26, 2015|access-date=April 19, 2018}}</ref> Inside the stadium, the Orioles' game against the [[Boston Red Sox]] had gone into [[extra innings]], and the stadium was [[lockdown|locked down]] temporarily to prevent violence in the adjacent streets from spilling into it.<ref name="Baltimore Sun anniversary story" /> Fans were also not allowed to leave until the police had restored order outside.<ref name="WLS story">{{cite news|title=Orioles beat White Sox 8-2 in empty-stadium game at Camden Yards|url=http://abc7chicago.com/sports/orioles-beat-white-sox-8-2-in-empty-stadium-game/686869/|newspaper=[[WLS-TV]]|location=Chicago|date=April 29, 2015|access-date=April 19, 2018}}</ref>

Despite pleas from Gray's relatives that protests remain peaceful,<ref name="Baltimore Sun Gray timeline" /> two days later riots erupted in several parts of the city after Gray's funeral. Roving gangs of youths broke windows, looted stores, lit fires, and threw cinder blocks at police, who in turn responded with [[tear gas]], in several neighborhoods over the next two days. Governor Hogan called in the [[Maryland Army National Guard|Maryland National Guard]] to supplement police efforts to restore order, and the state police requested assistance from their counterparts in neighboring states. [[Mayor of Baltimore|Mayor]] [[Stephanie Rawlings-Blake]] decreed a 10 p.m.–5 a.m. [[curfew]] until further notice.<ref name="Sun riots article">{{cite news|last1=Rector|first1=Kevin|last2=Dance|first2=Scott|last3=Broadwater|first3=Luke|title=Riots erupt: Baltimore descends into chaos, violence, looting|url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/freddie-gray/bs-md-ci-police-student-violence-20150427-story.html#page=1|newspaper=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|date=April 28, 2015|access-date=April 19, 2018|archive-date=April 20, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180420075338/http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/freddie-gray/bs-md-ci-police-student-violence-20150427-story.html#page=1|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Orioles postponed the first two games in a series of three against the [[Chicago White Sox]] as a result of the violence.<ref name="Baltimore Sun anniversary story" />

===Effect on Orioles' home games and decision to close doors===

The two missed games were rescheduled as a [[doubleheader (baseball)|doubleheader]] to be played in May. MLB arranged for the Orioles' next series, against the [[Tampa Bay Rays]], to be played in [[Tampa]] instead of Baltimore.<ref name="Baltimore Sun anniversary story" /> But the remaining game with the White Sox could not be accommodated so easily. The [[collective bargaining agreement]] between the teams and the [[Major League Baseball Players Association|players' union]] limits the number of days on which games can be made up later in the season,{{efn|MLB games are rarely canceled.}} and there was insufficient lead time to move the game to Chicago.<ref name="WLS story" />

Orioles' management decided to go ahead with the third game. To comply with the curfew, the game's start time was moved up to the afternoon from the night.<ref name="Baltimore Sun anniversary story" /> Because law enforcement was busy dealing with the aftermath of the riots and the possibility of further violence, the team decided [[behind closed doors (sport)|no fans would be admitted]]. Those who had tickets to the game were allowed to exchange them for tickets of equal value to any other upcoming home game until June 30.<ref name="CNN closed doors story">{{cite news|last=Almasy|first=Steve|title=Orioles game on Wednesday will have no fans|url=https://www.cnn.com/2015/04/28/us/baltimore-orioles-game-closed/index.html|newspaper=[[CNN]]|date=April 28, 2015|access-date=April 19, 2018}}</ref>

Civil unrest, and other events such as the [[September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks]], had affected the baseball schedule in the past, forcing postponements or relocations of games,<ref name="CNN closed doors story" /> and baseball games at lower levels had been played with spectators barred due to weather-related safety concerns (or, in one [[Minor League Baseball|minor-league]] game, as a deliberate [[publicity stunt]]<ref name="WLS story" />). But this was the first crowdless game in a century and a half of major-league play. Rawlings–Blake called it "another sad day for our city".<ref name="CNN closed doors story" />

====Possible role of business dispute with Nationals====
{{see also|Beltway Series#Broadcast rights fees||Mid-Atlantic Sports Network#Broadcast rights fees}}
''[[The Washington Post]]'' observed that there was a more obvious solution the Orioles appeared not to have considered: playing the games at [[Nationals Park]], home to the [[National League (baseball)|National League]]'s [[Washington Nationals]], in Washington, D.C., less than {{convert|40|mi}} from Camden Yards. The Nationals were in the middle of a long road trip at the time and thus an MLB stadium a short distance from Baltimore was available.<ref name="WashPost Nationals story" /> But while [[Commissioner of Baseball|baseball commissioner]] [[Rob Manfred]] appeared to have suggested that possibility was under consideration earlier that week,<ref name="Sun Manfred story">{{cite news|last=Connolly|first=Dan|title=O's-White Sox series might move out of city|url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bs-sp-orioles-rob-manfred-0428-20150427-story.html|newspaper=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|date=April 27, 2015|access-date=April 30, 2018}}</ref> the Nationals said later that neither MLB nor the Orioles had talked to them about it; nor had they made the offer themselves.<ref name="WashPost Nationals story" />

At the time, the ''Post'' further noted, the two teams were in litigation with each other over revenues from the [[Mid-Atlantic Sports Network]] (MASN) cable channel, a joint venture which broadcasts their games. While the newspaper agreed there were logistical challenges, it pointed out that those had not caused any problems moving the Rays' series to Tampa Bay, and that similar moves to the venues of third teams had been made in the past. A spokesman for the Orioles would not comment on whether the team's litigation against the Nationals over MASN had affected their scheduling decisions, although an unidentified source with the team told the ''Post'' it had.<ref name="WashPost Nationals story" />

====Pregame criticism====
 
Some commentators condemned the decision. White Sox [[National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum|Hall of Famer]] [[Frank Thomas (designated hitter)|Frank Thomas]] [[Twitter|tweeted]] that the whole series should have been postponed. "Playing in front of an empty house makes no sense!"<ref name="Frank Thomas tweet">{{cite web|last=Thomas|first=Frank|author-link=Frank Thomas (designated hitter)|title=They should just cancel this series and make it up later!! Playing in front of a empty house makes no sense!!|url=https://twitter.com/TheBigHurt_35/status/593137465608826880|publisher=[[Twitter]]|date=April 28, 2015|access-date=April 19, 2018}}</ref> [[ESPN]] anchor [[Keith Olbermann]] observed on his Twitter feed that the Orioles' were certain to break the MLB record for lowest attendance,<ref name="Olbermann tweet">{{cite web|last=Olbermann|first=Keith|author-link=Keith Olbermann|title=Not to be impertinent but #Orioles will break the record for lowest MLB attendance: 9/28/1882 when the NL Worcester Ruby Legs drew 6 fans.|url=https://twitter.com/KeithOlbermann/status/593131518052200448|publisher=[[Twitter]]|date=April 28, 2015|access-date=April 19, 2018}}</ref> set in 1882 when just six fans paid{{efn|That game still stands as the lowest attendance at a game for which tickets were sold}} to see the National League's [[Worcester Ruby Legs]] play their penultimate game against the [[Troy Trojans (MLB team)|Troy Trojans]], who had likewise had their [[Professional sports league organization|franchise]] revoked by the league.<ref name="Sun Ruby Legs story">{{cite news|last=Encina|first=Eduardo|title=Taking a look back at baseball's lowest attended game before today|url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bal-taking-a-look-back-at-baseballs-lowest-attended-game-before-today-20150429-story.html|newspaper=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|date=April 29, 2015|access-date=April 19, 2018}}</ref>

Those who were to participate in the game, either as players or stadium staff, anticipated an unusual experience. Oriole backup [[Steve Pearce (baseball)|Steve Pearce]] said he expected it to feel "like a backfield [[spring training]] game".<ref name="Newsweek story">{{cite news|last=Mosendz|first=Polly|title=Playing for No One: Orioles, White Sox, Square Off in Closed Stadium|url=http://www.newsweek.com/playing-no-one-orioles-white-sox-square-closed-camden-yards-stadium-326803|newspaper=[[Newsweek]]|date=April 29, 2015|access-date=April 24, 2018}}</ref> [[Tyler Flowers]], Chicago's reserve [[catcher]], said he looked forward to the respite from fans ridiculing him.<ref name="New York Post story">{{cite news|last=Li|first=David K.|title=Riots force Orioles to play in empty stadium|url=https://nypost.com/2015/04/28/orioles-cancel-second-straight-game-due-to-rioting/|newspaper=[[The New York Post]]|date=April 28, 2015|access-date=April 24, 2018}}</ref> Ryan Wagner, Camden Yards' public address announcer, said on Twitter that he was trying to figure out how to do his job with no public to address. "'Surreal' is barely scraping the surface."<ref name="Ryan Wagner tweet">{{cite web|last=Wagner|first=Ryan|title=.@craigcalcaterra I may be public addressing a public-less ballpark tomorrow. "Surreal" is barely scraping the surface.|url=https://twitter.com/rwags614/status/593130546789797888|publisher=[[Twitter]]|date=April 28, 2015|access-date=April 24, 2018}}</ref>

==Game day==

The morning of the game, White Sox [[center fielder]] [[Adam Eaton (outfielder)|Adam Eaton]] jokingly tweeted that "we're going to try to take the crowd out of the game early", drawing some critical responses for making light of the situation<ref name="Sun facts story">{{cite news|last=Schmuck|first=Peter|author-link=Peter Schmuck|title=What Orioles did (and didn't do) with no fans at game|url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bs-sp-orioles-behind-the-scenes-0430-20150429-story.html|newspaper=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|date=April 30, 2015|access-date=April 20, 2018}}</ref>
(although he also said that the absence of the crowd could cause problems for him and other [[outfield]]ers, since they sometimes rely on crowd reaction to determine how to field hits<ref name="WashPost pregame story" />). The oddity of an MLB game played without any fans in the stands drew heavy interest, and many of the national media already in the city covering the riots and their aftermath applied for credentials to cover the game. All 92 available seats in the [[press box]] were taken, three times as many as had been for the first (postponed) game in the series,<ref name="Chicago Tribune story">{{cite news|last=Kane|first=Colleen|title=White Sox lose to Orioles 8-2 in 'strangeness' of empty ballpark|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/whitesox/ct-gameday-white-sox-orioles--spt-0430-20150429-story.html|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=April 29, 2015|access-date=April 23, 2018}}</ref> and not enough for the media who did show up. "Ironically," ''[[The Baltimore Sun]]'' observed, "on a day when there were no fans in the stands, the press level was [[standing room only]]."<ref name="Sun facts story" />

===Fan efforts to view game live===
{{cquote
| text = What if there was a baseball game and there was no one there to see it? Did it really happen?
| author = Brett Edgerton
| source = [[ESPN]], alluding to [[If a tree falls in a forest|a common philosophical question]]<ref name="ESPN photo essay">{{cite news|last=Edgerton|first=Brett|title=The baseball game with no fans|url=http://www.espn.com/sportsnation/post/_/id/12787676/the-baseball-game-no-fans|newspaper=[[ESPN]]|date=April 29, 2015|access-date=April 22, 2018}}</ref>
}}
The decision to play the game [[behind closed doors (sport)|behind closed doors]] did not pre-empt media coverage. MASN  would carry it in the [[Baltimore metropolitan area|Baltimore market]], with White Sox regular broadcaster [[WPWR-TV]] bringing it to [[Chicago area]] viewers. [[MLB.tv]] made it the free game of the day for its subscribers,<ref name="WLS story" /> except for those in the Baltimore area, where it would be [[Blackout (broadcasting)|blacked out]], in accordance with their policy.<ref name="WashPost pregame story" />
[[File:Camden Yards 2009.jpg|thumb|View into the stadium from outside the back fence|alt=A stadium with three tiers of empty green seats under a pale blue sky, seen through a cast iron fence. At the left a silhouetted man on an elevated platform is at work; at the right, beyond the end of the seating tiers, is a modern high-rise building sheathed in green-tinted glass|left]]
Some fans were determined to see the game in person. They lined up outside one of the stadium's rear gates, where a limited view of the field was available, and relied on the radio and Internet to follow the game in detail. Others rented rooms on the upper floors of the [[Hilton Baltimore]], which overlooks the stadium from right field, and watched from the balconies and roof.<ref name="Sun fans story">{{cite news|last1=Encina|first1=Eduardo|last2=Kaltenbach|first2=Chris|title=Even with Camden Yards closed to public, fans found way to support O's|url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bs-sp-orioles-empty-stadium-0430-20150429-story.html#page=1|newspaper=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|date=April 29, 2015|access-date=April 20, 2015}}</ref>

Fans in the former group had started gathering outside the gate three hours earlier; some had come from as far away as [[Chincoteague, Virginia]], at the south end of the [[Delmarva Peninsula]], two of whom had brought trash bags along to help with post-riot cleanup. "The city gets a bad rep back home. We're constantly sticking up for it", one of the Virginians told the ''Sun''. "We wanted to do something. We know there's not a whole lot we can do."<ref name="Sun fans story" />

Also among those watching from the fence was [[Kweisi Mfume]], former [[U.S. House of Representatives|U.S. congressman]] from Baltimore, and head of the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]], who had originally come downtown to do a television interview but went over to the fence afterward. An Orioles [[season ticket]] holder since the 1980s, he recalled to the ''Sun'' having watched games at the team's former home, [[Memorial Stadium (Baltimore)|Memorial Stadium]], and seeing pitcher [[Jay Heard]], the franchise's first African-American player since its move to Baltimore from [[St. Louis Browns|St. Louis]], from the sections of the then-segregated stadium set aside for black fans. "It's surreal", he said. "It's kind of eerie, especially when you juxtapose it to what's happening on these corners that I've just left all over the city." He reserved judgement on whether the game should have been played, but observed that players' public comments on the situation expressed a desire to "give people for two or three hours a sense of normalcy during a very disruptive situation."<ref name="Sun fans story" />

One fan on the streets, Steve Orzol of [[Joppa, Maryland|Joppa]], chose to protest the closure of the stadium to spectators. He walked up and down Camden Street carrying a sign showing the team's mascot bird with a tear in its eye, faulting the mayor for allowing this to happen. "[S]he needs to do the right thing", he said, and persuade MLB to open the game. "If you open up these gates, show the country that it's not as bad as you think Baltimore is. What is this going to do to tourism?"<ref name="Sun fans story" />
[[File:Don't forget Freddie Gray.jpg|thumb|Brendan Hurson carrying his sign|alt=A mustached Caucasian man wearing a black baseball hat and a gray baseball jersey with "Baltimore" in orange script trimmed with black across the chest holds from the top, at waist level, a handmade sign with "Don't Forget Freddie Gray" written on it in black. Behind him are city streets with tall buildings and other people walking around]]
Another protester, Brendan Hurson, a [[public defender]], walked up and down Camden Street wearing an Orioles jersey and carrying a sign urging that Freddie Gray not be forgotten. He opposed the closure of the game to fans. "So many chances were lost by locking us out," he told ''[[The New York Times]]''. "It sends the wrong message about what this city is really about."<ref name="NYT story">{{cite news|last=Longman|first=Jeré|title=Orioles Play in Eerily Empty Stadium, Sirens in Distance|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/30/sports/baseball/orioles-play-in-eerily-empty-stadium-sirens-in-distance.html|date=April 30, 2015|access-date=April 21, 2018}}</ref>

Fans who reserved rooms at the Hilton paid over $200 to do so. In return they were able to enjoy unobstructed views, supplemented by television and radio coverage; some invited friends. "They said it was no fans, but fans are watching wherever they can like us," one said. "Just to be able to look in and see this, it's tragic, but it's historic," another told the ''Sun'' expressing the hope that the divided city could unite around its baseball team.<ref name="Sun fans story" />

===Game===
{{cquote|This is one of those moments you may make history but you really really wish you didn't have to do it.
| author = [[Gary Thorne]], MASN announcer
| source = at the beginning of the telecast<ref name="The Big Lead post">{{cite news|last=Caardillo|first=Mike|title=Photos: This is What it Looks Like With No Crowd at an MLB Game|url=https://thebiglead.com/2015/04/29/camden-yards-orioles-video-chris-davis-empty-stadium-pictures-crowd/|newspaper=[[The Big Lead]]|date=April 29, 2015|access-date=April 26, 2018}}</ref>
}}

Despite the absence of fans, some aspects of the game persisted. Players on both teams lined up in midfield and placed their hats across their chests, along with the [[Umpire (baseball)|umpires]], for [[The Star-Spangled Banner|the national anthem]], which was played over the stadium's [[public address system]] rather than sung from the field as the Orioles typically had had it performed. At "''O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave ...''", the fans gathered behind the rear gate could be heard making their customary augmentation of the first word.<ref name="Sun facts story" />

Nevertheless, the unusual situation did not go unacknowledged. Orioles' [[catcher]] [[Caleb Joseph]], after finishing his pregame warmups, ran along the fence [[High five|high-fiving]] nonexistent fans, at one point stopping to [[mime artist|mime]] signing an autograph, on his way to the [[bullpen]]. "Laughter does something for the soul", he said later. A teammate, [[first baseman]] [[Chris Davis (baseball)|Chris Davis]], who before the game had lamented that "this isn't the way you want to make history", similarly tossed balls he had caught for the final out of the inning into the seats behind the [[Dugout (baseball)|dugout]], despite the lack of fans to catch them as souvenirs.<ref name="NYT story" />

Orioles' [[starting pitcher|starter]] [[Ubaldo Jiménez]] threw the first pitch at 2:06&nbsp;p.m. [[Eastern Daylight Time]].<ref name="Sun facts story" /> Fans behind the back gate could be heard cheering when he struck out Eaton, the Sox' [[leadoff hitter]].<ref name="Sun facts story" /> The next two batters were also retired, and Baltimore took the plate for what turned out to be a decisive six-run first.<ref name="WLS story" />
[[File:Chris Davis (17163846435).jpg|thumb|Chris Davis, whose three-run homer provided half the scoring in the Orioles' first inning|alt=A Caucasian man with short-cropped light brown hair and hazel eyes, shown from about the waist up, looks to the right. He is wearing a short-sleeved white button-front baseball jersey, with "Orioles" written in stylized orange script trimmed in black across the front, above the similarly treated number 42, over a black T-shirt with the Nike swoosh logo visible at the neck. Behind him is an indistinct, blurred crowd|left]]
After leadoff hitter [[Alejandro de Aza]] [[Base on balls|walked]], [[Jimmy Paredes]] reached first on an [[Error (baseball)|error]] and [[Delmon Young]] got the game's first [[base hit]], [[bases loaded|loading the bases]]. Center fielder [[Adam Jones (baseball)|Adam Jones]] opened the scoring with a [[sacrifice fly]] that sent de Aza across [[home plate|the plate]]. Davis's three-run homer to [[right field]] immediately followed,<ref name="Baseball reference page">{{cite web|title=Chicago White Sox at Baltimore Orioles Box Score, April 29, 2015|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL201504290.shtml|website=[[Baseball-Reference.com]]|access-date=April 22, 2018}}</ref> landing outside a men's room in a closed walkway near the [[Eutaw Street]] gate. Several innings later, reporters noted, the ball was still where it had landed,<ref name="CBS Sports article" /> which would not have been the case had fans been in attendance.<ref name="ESPN photo essay" />

Throughout the game, team employees patrolled the stands to retrieve [[foul ball]]s hit there, a task normally not done as fans catch them and are permitted to keep them.<ref name="Sun facts story" /> At one point during Jones' [[at-bat]] in the first inning, a ball bounced out of the stands back onto the field, again something that rarely happens when fans are in the stands.<ref name="NYT story" /> A reporter for [[CBS Sports]] speculated that this allowed the Orioles to cut their losses on the game and reuse the baseballs.<ref name="CBS Sports article" />

Davis's home run also brought out some other nuances of the game resulting from the absence of a crowd. As it became apparent that the ball was going out of play, MASN [[Sports commentator#Main/play-by-play commentator|play-by-play announcer]] [[Gary Thorne]] made his trademark "Good-bye, home run!" call. It could be heard all over the stadium, even by the fans outside, as it was when Orioles' [[third baseman]] [[Manny Machado]] hit the game's other home run.<ref name="Sun facts story" />

Some semblances of a normal game were retained. Wagner identified each batter by name and position as they walked up to the plate, and then played their preferred [[Entrance music|walk-up music]] for each one. Musical interludes also accompanied players' warmups between and in the middle of innings. However, there were none of the videos on the scoreboard, such as hot-dog races, crabs playing [[three-card monte]] or the [[kiss cam]], used to keep fans engaged during breaks in play such as [[television timeout]]s, since there were no fans to distract. Those breaks were instead marked with the team logo, Big Oriole, on the scoreboard.<ref name="Sun facts story" />

The Orioles got another run when Joseph [[run batted in|drove in]] Machado with a no-out single before a [[Batted ball|fly]] and [[double play]] ended the third inning. In the fifth, Chicago finally scored when [[designated hitter]] [[Adam LaRoche]] took advantage of a fielding error, followed by [[right fielder]] [[Avisaíl García]] taking advantage of a [[fielder's choice]] on a [[Geovany Soto]] ground ball. Machado's solo home run in the bottom of the inning finished out the scoring for the game; Sox manager [[Robin Ventura]] replaced his starter,  [[Jeff Samardzija]], with [[Scott Carroll]] for the next inning.<ref name="Baseball reference page" />

Both media and players said it was the sounds they did not usually hear at games that imbued the event with as much of its strangeness as the absence of sounds they were used to hearing, such as the crowd's roar. Thorne's call on Davis's home run could be heard in the background of Sox announcer [[Ken Harrelson]]'s call, an experience one reporter tweeted evoked minor league games.<ref name="CBS Sports article" /> The two broadcast teams are separated by a wall that normally prevents this from happening; Thorne said afterwards that the Sox announcers were teasingly telling him and [[color commentary|color commentator]] [[Jim Palmer]] to speak more quietly.<ref name="Huffington Post Thorne interview">{{cite interview|last=Thorne|first=Gary|subject-link=gary Thorne|interviewer=Lucy McCalmont|title=Orioles Broadcaster Gary Thorne Tells What It Was Like To Call The Empty Game|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/29/gary-thorne-orioles-empty-game_n_7175924.html|date=April 29, 2015|work=[[Huffington Post]]|access-date=April 26, 2018}}</ref>

Players could hear not only the TV announcers but conversations in the press box,<ref name="Chicago Tribune story" /> to the point that Jones acknowledged a familiar voice calling out to someone else from that level while standing in the [[on-deck circle]].<ref name="Sun facts story" /> Orioles' manager [[Buck Showalter]] said he could hear the phone ring in the bullpen from the dugout; the [[relief pitcher]]s there, in turn, said they could not only hear conversations among the outfielders but the individual pitch calls made by home plate umpire [[Jerry Layne]], which are almost always inaudible under normal game conditions.<ref name="NYT story" />

Showalter said conversations in the dugout were tempered by the awareness that the umpires and the media could hear them;<ref name="MASN wrapup">{{cite news|last=Kubatko|first=Roch|title=Wrapping up an 8-2 win|url=http://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2015/04/wrapping-up-an-8-2-win.html|newspaper=[[Mid-Atlantic Sports Network]]|date=April 29, 2015|access-date=April 24, 2018}}</ref> likewise, Chicago [[second baseman]] [[Micah Johnson (baseball)|Micah Johnson]] said that he tried to moderate his verbal reactions to mistakes. "It's quiet. There's nothing going on. You hear everything", he told the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]''. The unusual distractions were not only auditory: he added that the [[Glare (vision)|glare]] of sunlight off the empty seats made it hard to concentrate on the ball when playing in the field.<ref name="Chicago Tribune story" />
{{external media
| float  = left
| width  = 100
| video1 = [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72dxSi8yK54 Gary Thorne calling Adam Jones' at-bat in his "Masters" voice]
}}
The [[seventh-inning stretch]] was marked, as usual, with "[[Take Me Out to the Ball Game]]" followed by [[John Denver]]'s "[[Thank God I'm a Country Boy]]" on the stadium's sound system.<ref name="Sun facts story" /> In the bottom of the inning, as the game's outcome appeared less and less doubtful, Thorne, like Joseph and Davis earlier in the game, took the opportunity to find some humor in the situation. As Jones came up to bat, having failed to hit successfully since his first-inning sacrifice fly, Thorne called it in the hushed [[tone of voice]] commonly used by golf announcers such as [[Jim Nantz]].<ref name="Sporting News Masters voice page">{{cite news|last=Machir|first=Troy|title=Empty Camden Yards prompts Gary Thorne to use his 'Masters' voice during broadcast|url=http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/news/gary-throne-orioles-broadcast-jim-nantz-impression-empty-camden-yards-adam-jones-white-sox/oy2edher722n1l3cflai6l8fi|newspaper=[[The Sporting News]]|date=April 30, 2015|access-date=April 23, 2018}}</ref> A deep fly to center off reliever [[Scott Carroll]] turned into a [[Double (baseball)|double]] off the outfield fence for Jones' first (and only<ref name="Baseball reference page" />) hit of the game, leading Thorne to say "that green jacket appears well within reach", alluding to the garment given to the winner of the annual [[Masters Tournament]].<ref name="NYT story" />
[[File:Attendance figure on whiteboard in Camden Yards press box for April 29, 2015, White Sox game.jpg|thumb|right|Zero attendance figure on the whiteboard in the press box|alt="Attendance" in capital letters written in black marker on a whiteboard, with a large orange zero beneath it]]
Outside the press box, the stands were not entirely empty. In addition to the team staff retrieving fouls, television cameramen set up in their usual locations, and photographers roamed freely, taking pictures not only of the action on the field but the empty concourses and closed [[concession stand]]s.<ref name="ESPN photo essay" /> Other than those groups, three [[Scout (sport)|scouts]] for other major league teams sat near home plate and watched the action, evaluating players for possible trades or [[Free agent#Major League Baseball (MLB) usage|free agency]] signings. While their actions put them the closest to conventional spectators, they did not have to pay to attend, and thus at the end of the eighth inning, in accordance with MLB rules,<ref name="Sun facts story" /> the Orioles announced, and put on the scoreboard, that day's paid attendance: an unprecedented zero.<ref name="NYT story" />{{efn|In its official records, MLB notes the attendance as simply "[[N/A]]"<ref name="WashPost pregame story" />}}

[[Emilio Bonifacio]] opened the top of the ninth inning with a [[pinch hitter|pinch-hit]] [[single (baseball)|single]] off [[closer (baseball)|closer]] [[Zach Britton]]. It was the last of the four hits allowed by him and Jiménez; [[Kevin Gausman]] had retired the side in relief the previous inning, as [[Carlos Rodon]] had done in turn for the Sox in the bottom of the eighth, the only one of the team's pitchers to allow no hits while Carroll and Samardzija combined to give up 11. Both teams committed only a single error apiece; Jiménez would be credited with the win and Samardzija the loss.<ref name="Baseball reference page" /> LaRoche [[strikeout|struck out]] swinging to end the game<ref name="Baseball reference page" /> at 4:09&nbsp;p.m., a mere 2 hours and 3 minutes after it started.<ref name="CBS Sports article" />

{{Linescore|
|Date=April 29, 2015
|Time=2:06{{nbsp}}pm ([[Eastern Time Zone|EDT]])
|Location=[[Oriole Park at Camden Yards]] in [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]]
|Road=Chicago White Sox|RoadAbr=CWS
|R1=0|R2=0|R3=0|R4=0|R5=2|R6=0|R7=0|R8=0|R9=0|RR=2|RH=4|RE=1
|Home='''Baltimore Orioles'''|HomeAbr=BAL
|H1=6|H2=0|H3=1|H4=0|H5=1|H6=0|H7=0|H8=0|H9=x|HR=8|HH=11|HE=1
|WP=[[Ubaldo Jiménez]] (2–1) |LP=[[Jeff Samardzija]] (1–2)
|RoadHR=|HomeHR= [[Chris Davis (baseball)|Chris Davis]] (5), [[Manny Machado]] (4)
|Attendance=0
|}}

===Economic impact of closure===

The ''Sun'' attempted to estimate how much money the Orioles lost by closing the game to fans. Since it could not be known how many might have shown up had the game been played at night, as originally scheduled, the paper offered a "reasonable estimate" of 25,000, slightly over half Camden Yards' capacity. With an average ticket price of $25, the team was likely foregoing $600,000 just from ticket sales, in addition to a nearly equal amount from parking and concessions,<ref name="Sun facts story" /> for a total loss of over $1 million.<ref name="Sports Business Daily story">{{cite news|title=Orioles Host White Sox In 'Eerie' Game At Camden Yards With No Fans|url=https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2015/04/30/Franchises/Orioles-Game.aspx|newspaper=[[Sports Business Daily]]|date=April 30, 2015|access-date=April 24, 2018}}</ref>

''[[Sports Business Daily]]'' noted that that would be further exacerbated by the relocation of the subsequent series with the [[Tampa Bay Rays]] to that area; none of the other series between the two teams scheduled for Tampa would be relocated to Baltimore as compensation, and the newspaper suggested that the Orioles might likely have to seek some relief from MLB's central fund.<ref name="Sports Business Daily story" /> Britton criticized the Rays for not being flexible enough and finding a way to come back up to Baltimore. "This is a bigger issue than just baseball and you'd think that they'd have some compassion and come up here when we're supposed to go there. But, unfortunately, that's not the case." Showalter, his manager, said the Rays had hoped to do so, but a concert had been scheduled during the only available series.<ref name="Sun scheduling story">{{cite news|last=Meoli|first=John|title=Buck Showalter discusses difficulties behind Orioles' scheduling this week|url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bs-sp-orioles-notebook-0430-20150429-story.html|newspaper=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|date=April 29, 2015|access-date=April 24, 2018}}</ref>

The team was not the only party to suffer financially from the game. [[Usher (occupation)|Ushers]] and concession stand personnel, who had already missed the two earlier games that had been postponed, were not needed at the crowdless game. Sportswriter Bill Baer set up a [[GoFundMe]] page for fans to contribute and make up the difference to their paychecks<ref name="WashPost pregame story" /> (he later refunded all the donations when the Orioles informed him that they had indeed paid the workers for the lost games<ref name="Bill Baer GoFundMe">{{cite web|last=Baer|first=Bill|title=Camden Yards employee fund|url=http://www.gofundme.com/t98z7y8|website=[[GoFundMe]]|date=April 28, 2015|access-date=April 26, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150810035938/http://www.gofundme.com/t98z7y8|archive-date=August 10, 2015}}</ref>). The manager of a nearby bar said business had been down 90 percent from its usual levels there all week; most of the few customers he had were reporters. One of his bartenders pointed to the $8 in the tip bucket, which she said usually reached hundreds of dollars on game days.<ref name="Time article">{{cite news|last=Gregory|first=Sean|title=Inside an Empty Camden Yards|url=http://time.com/3840774/camden-yards-after-riot-baltimore-orioles/|newspaper=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=April 29, 2015|access-date=April 25, 2018}}</ref>

==Reactions==

===Participants===
{{blockquote|{{center|''There was a real intimacy because everybody understood that they were going to be involved in something that might never happen again—hopefully, doesn't—and a unique situation, and this is the group of people who are going to be inside experiencing it.''}}|author=Thorne|source=<ref name="Huffington Post Thorne interview" />}}
A year later, Eaton, who had seen smoke rising from the affected areas of the city from his hotel room and watched protesters get arrested when he walked across the street to get lunch during the two days of postponed games, admitted to the ''Sun'' he had underestimated the effect of not having fans present. "To be honest with you, when I first went into it I didn't think it would be a big deal ... [but there was almost this half-asleep feel because there was no energy." He believes that discomfort resulted in his teammates' letting the Orioles effectively win the game in the first inning. "[I]t's a very surreal and weird moment that I'll never forget but I kind of wish I could ... I think everyone just kind of wanted to put it in the back of our minds as a team when we left there."<ref name="Baltimore Sun anniversary story" /> "It was just a surreal environment," Ventura agreed. "I don't think we really want to play another one like this. ... I don't think (the Orioles) do either."<ref name="Chicago Tribune story" />

Davis, whose home run that inning resulted in more [[Run (baseball)|runs]] than the Sox collectively produced, was more upbeat. He felt emotionally buoyed by the sound of the fans outside as he rounded the bases. "It was such a unique situation to be in and I think as a group of guys, I was really proud about the way we handled it and tried to take the positive about it. I think that was big."<ref name="Baltimore Sun anniversary story" />

"It was still baseball between the lines" Showalter told reporters after the game, praising his players for overcoming the distraction.<ref name="MASN wrapup" /> He had also drawn praise for his conciliatory answer about the situation in the city to a young local African-American man covering his first-ever game for his website, and on the anniversary said he was still "real proud of everything, the whole organization ... When you go through something like that, you just want to make sure you think about what you say, and a year from now I want to look back and say you still feel that way."<ref name="Baltimore Sun anniversary story" />
[[File:Gary Thorne 2015.jpg|left|thumb|Gary Thorne|alt=A grinning older white man with receding white hair and glasses, wearing a blue dress shirt with red necktie and an orange strap around his neck, seen from just below the neck up, looks to the camera's left on a green background]]
Thorne said that while closing the game to fans was a close call, he felt it was the right one. He admitted that before the game he was apprehensive about it, and decided not to do anything differently than he usually did. "I just went to the ballpark to try and do a baseball game, and just let it flow", he told the ''[[Huffington Post]]''. As he called the game, however, he began realizing that the energy of the crowd was missing, and tried to make up for that. For that reason he greatly appreciated the fans who gathered outside the park and on the hotel balconies. "They cheered different plays, they cheered players, they hollered out player's names", he recalled. "I think that's the moment I'll remember about this game, are those fans that were outside doing that."<ref name="Huffington Post Thorne interview" />

Almost as special for Thorne was one of the sounds he had never been able to hear at any baseball game he had called before: the players' verbal interactions with each other. "I thought that was pretty good. I thought that was interesting," he said. "It's going back to the little boys playing a man's game. This is the stuff you did in [[Little League]], they're hollering the same stuff ... [T]o hear that, kind of made you smile."<ref name="Huffington Post Thorne interview" />

===Others===

The controversy over whether the game should have been played without fans did not end with the game. Commentators, not all of them from the sports community, weighed in afterwards.<ref name="Sports Business Daily story" />

[[ESPN]]'s [[Howard Bryant]] supported the decision. He recalled that in the aftermath of [[Ferguson unrest|the previous year's riots and protests]] over [[Shooting of Michael Brown|another African American man's death at police hands]] in [[Ferguson, Missouri]], protesters in downtown [[St. Louis, Missouri|St. Louis]] had been confronted by spectators leaving [[St. Louis Rams|Rams]]' and [[St. Louis Cardinals|Cardinals]]' games, a situation the closure avoided. His colleague Jemele Smith agreed, noting how MLB was constrained by its scheduling practices. Another ESPN commentator, [[Tony Kornheiser]], however, wondered why fans were allowed to congregate on the streets outside the stadium, given the stated security concerns.<ref name="Sports Business Daily story" />

''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' columnist [[Bill Plaschke]] called the game "surely one of [baseball]'s lowest moments". He contrasted it with how the [[Los Angeles Dodgers]] had adapted to the [[1992 Los Angeles riots|1992 riots]] there by scheduling many of the four missed home games as doubleheaders, even though playing 10 games in six days later in the season adversely affected the team [[1992 Los Angeles Dodgers season|that year]]. Plaschke suggested that it would have been possible to make up the game during the [[MLB All-Star break|All-Star break]]. "Normalcy on Wednesday was swallowed up in a scene that should chill fans who have long used sports as a way to connect," he concluded. "It was the day sports was silenced."<ref name="LAT Plschke column">{{cite news|last=Plaschke|first=Bill|author-link=Bill Plaschke|title=In Baltimore, game at Orioles' locked stadium is safe, serene—and sad|url=http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-orioles-white-sox-plaschke-20150430-column.html|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=April 29, 2015|access-date=April 24, 2018}}</ref>

Deron Snyder of ''[[The Washington Times]]'' faulted MLB and the Orioles for not considering [[Nationals Park]]. He suspected that ongoing litigation between the two teams over MASN played a part. "Apparently, any solution that didn't involve the Nationals would do. The Orioles must've abhorred the thought of Washington looking good, reaping any benefit or coming off as a savior."<ref name="Washington Times column">{{cite news|last=Snyder|first=Deron|title=Fans the biggest losers with Orioles' games not moved to Nationals Park|url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/apr/29/snyder-fans-biggest-losers-orioles-games-not-moved/|newspaper=[[The Washington Times]]|date=April 29, 2015|access-date=April 24, 2018}}</ref>

On [[Brian Kilmeade]]'s [[Fox News Radio]] show, former [[New York City]] mayor [[Rudolph Giuliani]] also criticized the Orioles for playing without fans. In addition to saying Baltimore should have acted more aggressively to contain the riots, as he said he had done when mayor, he recalled how he had worked to make sure the [[New York Yankees|Yankees]] and the [[New York Mets|Mets]] could resume playing home games, with fans in the stands, in the city within two weeks after the [[September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks|September 11 attacks]], a time when there was still concern that those games themselves could become terror targets. "If this was New York, that game would be played," Giuliani said.<ref name="Yahoo Sports story">{{cite news|last=Elliott|first=Danielle|title=Rudy Giuliani says Orioles should've brought city together, not closed stadium|url=https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/rudy-giuliani-says-orioles-should-ve-brought-city-together--not-closed-stadium-211444324.html|newspaper=[[Yahoo Sports]]|date=April 29, 2015|access-date=April 24, 2018}}</ref><ref name="Kilmeade show">{{cite AV media|people=[[Brian Kilmeade]]|date=April 29, 2015|title=Mayor Giuliani: To Prevent Rioting You Can't Allow a Cooling off or Venting Period|medium=Radio|url=https://radio.foxnews.com/2015/04/29/mayor-giuliani-to-prevent-rioting-you-cant-allow-a-cooling-off-or-venting-period/|access-date=April 24, 2018|location=[[New York City]]|publisher=[[Fox News Radio]]}}</ref>

===Possible benefits===

The game's brevity led some commentators to suggest that MLB could best address its [[pace of play]] concerns by playing ''all'' games without fans.<ref name="MASN wrapup" /><ref name="CBS Sports article" /><ref name="AP story">{{cite news|last=Ginsburg|first=Divid|title=Don't take me out to the ball game: Orioles-White Sox play in empty Camden Yards|newspaper=[[Associated Press]]|via=[[Delaware County Times]]|url=http://www.delcotimes.com/article/DC/20150429/NEWS/150429592|date=April 29, 2015|access-date=April 24, 2018|quote="... at 2 hours, 3 minutes, baseball might have an extreme solution for its desires to speed up the game.}}</ref><ref name="SBNation story">{{cite news|last=Brisbee|first=Grant|title=Lessons learned from watching an empty baseball game|url=https://www.sbnation.com/2015/4/29/8517811/orioles-white-sox-empty-camden-yards|newspaper=[[SB Nation]]|date=April 29, 2015|access-date=April 25, 2018|quote=Commissioner Rob Manfred's new direction is clear, then. Make the game more appealing to fans by not allowing fans to attend. It's just so crazy, it might work.}}</ref> "Baseball might have found the magic formula to speeding up games: no fans" wrote Austin Knoblauch in the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''<ref name="LAT blog post">{{cite news|last=Knoblauch|first=Austin|title=A recipe for speed?|url=http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-orioles-white-sox-htmlstory.html|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=April 29, 2015|access-date=April 24, 2018}}</ref> Showalter, too, noted that "[s]ome of the altercations we've had early in the season, I was thinking how much of that is feeding off crowd reaction? Would we have had those same altercations if there wasn't?" Nevertheless, he said he preferred having fans.<ref name="MASN wrapup" />

===Humor===

Late night talk show host [[Conan O'Brien]] sounded a common theme in humorous [[popular culture]] responses to the game. "When asked for comments," he said during a monologue on [[Conan (talk show)|his show]], "players on the [[Milwaukee Brewers]] said, 'You get used to it.'"<ref name="Charlotte Observer humor page">{{cite news|title=Laugh Attacks: 05.02.15|url=http://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article19946808.html|newspaper=[[The Charlotte Observer]]|date=May 1, 2015|access-date=April 25, 2018}}</ref>

Several days later, NBC's popular [[sketch comedy]] program ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' ran a sketch spoofing the game and the telecast, particularly how common aspects of baseball on television such as the [[kiss cam]] would be handled without a crowd, and touching on some things that had really occurred at the game such as batters being able to hear commentators in the broadcast booth. [[Taran Killam]] and [[Kenan Thompson]] portrayed past Orioles' stars [[Jim Palmer]] and [[Frank Robinson]] calling the game{{efn|While Palmer has long been a broadcaster, mostly for the Orioles, Robinson never has.}} despite not only the absence of fans but a heavy National Guard presence, which required the teams to use a [[Nerf]] bat and shot down a fly ball with [[Unmanned combat aerial vehicle|a military drone]]; [[Bobby Moynihan]] played a hotdog vendor with no one to sell to. The two announcers frequently had to revise their commentary when they used words and phrases with connotations suggesting the recent riots, and at the end of the sketch decided to join a [[sideline reporter]] played by guest host [[Scarlett Johansson]] who was last seen not at the stadium but on the platforms at [[Pennsylvania Station (Baltimore)|Penn Station]], waiting to catch a train to [[Newark, New Jersey|Newark]] where she had decided she would be safer.<ref name="SNL sketch">{{cite AV media |people=[[Taran Killam]], [[Kenan Thompson]], [[Bobby Moynihan]] and [[Scarlett Johansson]]|date=May 3, 2015|title=Orioles|medium=Broadcast television|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpR0lEHQiQs|access-date=April 25, 2018|publisher=[[Saturday Night Live]]}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Baseball|Baltimore|Chicago}}
* [[2015 Major League Baseball season]]
* [[2015 Baltimore Orioles season]]
* [[2015 Chicago White Sox season]]
* [[History of baseball in the United States]]
* [[History of the Baltimore Orioles]]
* [[History of the Chicago White Sox]]
* [[Announcerless game]], a 1980 [[National Football League|NFL]] game between the [[New York Jets]] and the [[Miami Dolphins]] broadcast on television without any announcers
* [[2020 Major League Baseball season]], with all regular-season games played without fans in attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.mlb.com/gameday/white-sox-vs-orioles/2015/04/29/413960#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=box,game=413960 Box Score] (from [[MLB.com]])
* [https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL201504290.shtml Box score, account of game and statistics] at [[Baseball-Reference.com]]
* {{YouTube|2r0H6FqW94Q|Complete MLB.tv broadcast of game, including accounts and descriptions,}}, ''with'' the express written consent of Major League Baseball
{{Baltimore Orioles}}
{{Chicago White Sox}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:2015 White Sox-Orioles crowdless game}}
[[Category:Major League Baseball games]]
[[Category:Baltimore Orioles]]
[[Category:Chicago White Sox]]
[[Category:2015 Major League Baseball season]]
[[Category:2015 in sports in Maryland]]
[[Category:Death of Freddie Gray]]
[[Category:April 2015 sports events in the United States]]
[[Category:Major League Baseball controversies]]
[[Category:Nicknamed sporting events]]
[[Category:2010s in Baltimore]]
[[Category:Baseball competitions in Baltimore]]
{{Навигационная таблица/Портал/Английская Википедия}}
[[Категория:Английская Википедия]]
[[Категория:Википедия]]
[[Категория:Статья из Википедии]]
[[Категория:Статья из Английской Википедии]]