As unrest spread in Baltimore on Monday night, it became apparent that the game between the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox shouldn’t be played, and ultimately the contest was postponed to a later date.
At this point, MLB officials and Orioles’ management are conferring on how to best proceed with the series, with games either being moved to daylight hours to comply with new curfews or potentially being moved to Nationals Park in Washington, DC. A decision on that front is expected at some point on Tuesday morning.
Even though it is a rare occasion that games are called off due to factors other than weather, Major League Baseball historically has done so when the situation calls for it, perhaps more so than any other major sports league. Whether it’s moving Opening Day festivities because of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., or pushing back the World Series because of earthquake damage in the Bay Area in 1989, the league is cognizant of the impact that its games have on the ability of local law enforcement to do their jobs properly, and they’re generally proactive when it comes to fan and community safety.
There are plenty of examples of this type of proactive behavior. In September 2013, the Washington Nationals cancelled a game against the Atlanta Braves in the wake of a deadly shooting at the Navy Yard near the ballpark. The contest was made up the next day.
After the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013, the Boston Red Sox cancelled an April 19 game against the Kansas City Royals as officials locked down the city in an effort to catch suspects in the bombings.
In 1992, the Los Angeles Dodgers were forced to postpone four games as riots in response to the Rodney King verdict spread through the city. The team ultimately had to play four doubleheaders to make up all of the games that were cancelled. The San Francisco Giants were also affected by riots related to the King verdict, as they had to cancel a game against the Philadelphia Phillies.
In July 1967, the Detroit Tigers were forced to move their series to Baltimore as riots spread through the downtown area. Tigers outfielder Willie Horton even tried to quell the riots before the team left for Baltimore, standing on top of a car while in his full baseball uniform to plead with the crowd to disperse.
