Postponing The Baseball Game Was One Good Call In Baltimore – But What’s … – Forbes

The Baltimore Orioles were scheduled to play the Chicago White Sox on Monday, April 27, 2015. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred postponed that game in light of what the Baltimore Sun called “escalating unrest” in the aftermath of the still-inexplicable death of yet another young African American male Freddie Gray.

Another game between the two is scheduled for the very next next day. But that would be only hours after scores of burning buildings, 200 arrests, 15 officers injured, and what all the media now admit was not just unrest. It was a riot.

At the time of this writing the Tuesday game has not been cancelled, but it should. Tickets should be refunded. The game should be rescheduled either for another city, like the nearby Washington DC National Parks, or a return to Camden Yards when a there is a return to normalcy.

BALTIMORE, MD – APRIL 25: Police in riot gear stand guard at Camden Yard during a march in honor of Freddie Gray on April 25, 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland. Gray, 25, was arrested for possessing a switch blade knife outside the Gilmor Homes housing project on Baltimore’s west side on April 12. According to his attorney, Gray died a week later in the hospital from a severe spinal cord injury he received while in police custody. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The cancellation of Monday’s game showed wisdom by Commissioner Manfred. He first consulted local offices, according to the Sun. While the City of Baltimore stated it had a balancing act between allowing peaceful protest and keeping the peace, baseball had the singular purpose of keeping it safe for the fans and players.  Manfred made the right call as the game’s ultimate umpire in residence. It was perhaps coincidental he was there for the game, perhaps not. But even if it was planned to see the conditions first hand, good for him. The governor of Maryland came Monday night, and probably wished he had been there sooner.

It would be interesting to see what predictive analytics were in play during that consultation between the local officials and the Commissioner. Baltimore’s Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake admitted on CNN that Monday’s balancing of interests left unfortunate “space” for “thugs” to swing their bats. She and the vast majority of residents were disgusted. Many reporters claimed the police force was inadequate and ordered to stand down, giving rise to the riotous consequences.

Someone in those private meetings probably gave the Commissioner the heads up to keep his head down. A recurring question has been whether the City should have seen this coming. Whoever met with the Commissioner must have. The Orioles play at Camden yards, so close to the turmoil that fans could see and smell the smoke. Could you really enjoy an escape-from-reality game with those reminders of a much more serious racial conflict a few blocks away?

But Monday’s decision is history. The future involves the fact that the Orioles have home games Tuesday through Sunday. On Monday, Mayor Blake announced a week-long 10 p.m. curfew in the city beginning Tuesday. The Commissioner must be pondering whether to postpone those games as well. To answer that question he must first decide whether to trust the predictive analytics of Mayor Blake or whoever comprised “local officials” in his first consultation.