The Houston Chronicle notes that in the modern history of the game, there have been two major postponements due to community riots.
In 1992, the Dodgers had four games postponed in Los Angeles following the Rodney King verdict.
In 1967, the Orioles and Tigers had a game postponed because of riots in Detroit. The next two games were shifted to Baltimore.
The White Sox-Orioles game was postponed last night due to riots in Baltimore. The protester-police conflicts were near Camden Yards. The team and league were concerned about the safety of the fans and the players. No decision has been made what to do with the rest of the series. The Maryland National Guard has been called in to protect areas of the city.
It seems that there is an increasing cycle of community unrest in the nation. The Ferguson Missouri riots kept the national media fires burning for weeks. Like the Ferguson situation, violent riots stem from the alleged killing of unarmed black men. The Baltimore violence was triggered from the death from spinal injuries of a black man who was in the custody of the police. Sadly, this is not a unique event. Reason Magazine has been documenting the growing number of police misconduct cases.
There is no excuse for a community angered by police misconduct to go out and loot, burn and destroy their own neighborhoods. Two wrongs do not create a right of entitlement.
Baseball has been a means of getting away from the stresses and pressures of daily life. Going to a sporting event as entertainment helps to recharge individual's batteries to work another day. But more and more real world events are encroaching on this escapist venue: drug use, cheating, on field violence and now community riots.
Postponing games is the easy decision. But if the city's violence continues, will the Orioles have to begin to forfeit home games? If they are forced to move games out of Baltimore, perhaps to their hated rival the Nationals park, the city and community loses more money, jobs and the cycle of despair increases which could lead to more violence.
