Tonight, baseball fans will witness a strange occurrence... and it has ramifications well beyond the realm of sports. Tonight, at around 7PM, Eastern time, the Baltimore Orioles will take the field, clad in their “home whites” to play the Tampa Bay Rays. Since the visiting team hits first, pitcher Chris Tillman will take to the mound with his Baltimore teammates behind him...at Tropicana Field in Florida! Because although the Orioles are the “home team”, the civil unrest in Baltimore has forced baseball to relocate the weekend series to the “visitors” stadium in St. Petersburg. It's not absolutely unprecedented - when there still was baseball in Montreal, the Expos had to play some “home” games out of town when parts of the Olympic Stadium were crumbling - but it would appear to be the first time games have had to be moved because it was deemed unsafe for fans to travel to the stadium. Nor is it the first time this week strange goings-on have been associated with Orioles baseball. On Wednesday afternoon, they took the field at their downtown Camden Yard stadium to play the White Sox- in front of an attendance officially recorded at “zero” (quite a bit less than the 30 000 fans they average!). After two postponed games, officials decided that trying to make up three games later in the year would be a burden to Baltimore and Chicago players, but at the same time it was too dangerous to allow fans to attend, so they ordered the game played in a closed stadium, with only the players, coaches, select team employees and media allowed in. The effect was eerie to say the least, When Chris Davis hit one of the longest home runs on record there, a play that would have usually been met by thunderous cheering, there was nothing but silence until the soft “plop” of the ball hitting the street behind the outfield wall.
The reason for the closed stadium and relocation of weekend games was the rioting that had plagued Baltimore on Monday after the funeral of Freddie Gray. Gray, as we know, died under strange circumstances while in police custody which has been only the latest of numerous claims of police brutality and racism against Blacks across the US. Gangs of irate young (and in some cases, not so young) youths roamed the streets of the city, looting, setting fire to some 20 businesses and assaulted a number of police in retaliation. Baltimore, in turn, sent for the National Guard and imposed a 10Pm to 5AM curfew; John Hopkins University canceled classes and urged their students to exercise “caution” if going out anywhere in the city.
Today, Maryland's Attorney General announced that six officers involved in the arrest which led to Gray's death will face charges, including “second degree depraved-heart murder” against one of them. One would hope this will restore some sense of justice to the protestors and a sense of calm to the city on the Chesapeake.
Doubtless there are some bad cops out there, and there is still racism in our world. It's encouraging that in a world of omnipresent phones with cameras, fewer and fewer misdeeds go unnoticed and unrecorded and that by and large, when wrongs are committed the offenders are being charged, even when they are police officers. It's equally discouraging that many still seem to think the best response to such events is to run wild, set fire to their neighborhoods and attack their neighbors. I don't know anyone who's opinions have been made more sympathetic to those expressing outrage over police conduct by viewing gangs in masks running amok setting fire to stores and cars and grinning while carrying stolen TVs down the road.
Against the backdrop of violence and a needless death, the effects on baseball seem trivial. By and large they are. Indeed, there's little reason to feel sorry for the pro players who will end up losing a day off or two in summer to make up the games missed, or for the multi-millionaire owners who lost gate revenue. Yet, it's not entirely inconsequential.
Every baseball game requires a lot of hard-working, often minimum-wage, workers to check the tickets, sell the hot dogs, pour the beer and turn on and off the lights. I'm sure an inner-city single mom who is suddenly without four nights pay she was counting on, hawking popcorn doesn't feel it's meaningless.
What's more though, and more upsetting, is that it's the real world interfering with fantasy. Baseball - sport and entertainment in general - have their place in society, and a part of that is to distract from the everyday troubles of life. It's a shame when they end up becoming part of the everyday troubles of life instead.
One thing a city should be able to rally around is their sports' teams. The Baltimore baseball club won their division last year and are off to a strong start in 2015. The Orioles are anchored by first baseman Chris Davis, a big White Texan, third baseman Manny Machado, a Floridian of Latin descent, and outfielder Adam Jones, a very dark-skinned African-American. If anything can promote unity and begin the healing of the city, it should be these guys. Fans aren't going to care what color the next batter to hit one out onto Eutaw Street is, so long as he's got an orange, black and white bird on his cap. And that, my friends, makes baseball more than just trivial.
The reason for the closed stadium and relocation of weekend games was the rioting that had plagued Baltimore on Monday after the funeral of Freddie Gray. Gray, as we know, died under strange circumstances while in police custody which has been only the latest of numerous claims of police brutality and racism against Blacks across the US. Gangs of irate young (and in some cases, not so young) youths roamed the streets of the city, looting, setting fire to some 20 businesses and assaulted a number of police in retaliation. Baltimore, in turn, sent for the National Guard and imposed a 10Pm to 5AM curfew; John Hopkins University canceled classes and urged their students to exercise “caution” if going out anywhere in the city.
Today, Maryland's Attorney General announced that six officers involved in the arrest which led to Gray's death will face charges, including “second degree depraved-heart murder” against one of them. One would hope this will restore some sense of justice to the protestors and a sense of calm to the city on the Chesapeake.
Doubtless there are some bad cops out there, and there is still racism in our world. It's encouraging that in a world of omnipresent phones with cameras, fewer and fewer misdeeds go unnoticed and unrecorded and that by and large, when wrongs are committed the offenders are being charged, even when they are police officers. It's equally discouraging that many still seem to think the best response to such events is to run wild, set fire to their neighborhoods and attack their neighbors. I don't know anyone who's opinions have been made more sympathetic to those expressing outrage over police conduct by viewing gangs in masks running amok setting fire to stores and cars and grinning while carrying stolen TVs down the road.
Against the backdrop of violence and a needless death, the effects on baseball seem trivial. By and large they are. Indeed, there's little reason to feel sorry for the pro players who will end up losing a day off or two in summer to make up the games missed, or for the multi-millionaire owners who lost gate revenue. Yet, it's not entirely inconsequential.
Every baseball game requires a lot of hard-working, often minimum-wage, workers to check the tickets, sell the hot dogs, pour the beer and turn on and off the lights. I'm sure an inner-city single mom who is suddenly without four nights pay she was counting on, hawking popcorn doesn't feel it's meaningless.
What's more though, and more upsetting, is that it's the real world interfering with fantasy. Baseball - sport and entertainment in general - have their place in society, and a part of that is to distract from the everyday troubles of life. It's a shame when they end up becoming part of the everyday troubles of life instead.
One thing a city should be able to rally around is their sports' teams. The Baltimore baseball club won their division last year and are off to a strong start in 2015. The Orioles are anchored by first baseman Chris Davis, a big White Texan, third baseman Manny Machado, a Floridian of Latin descent, and outfielder Adam Jones, a very dark-skinned African-American. If anything can promote unity and begin the healing of the city, it should be these guys. Fans aren't going to care what color the next batter to hit one out onto Eutaw Street is, so long as he's got an orange, black and white bird on his cap. And that, my friends, makes baseball more than just trivial.