Baltimore Orioles' historic empty-seat game was weird, even for Twitter

Yahoo News

The Baltimore Orioles home game against the Chicago White Sox at Camden Yards on Wednesday was played in front of a near-empty stadium with no fans allowed in — a precaution resulting from riots in the city earlier this week.

And judging from the reaction on Twitter, it was weird for everyone: the players, employees and credentialed media inside the gates, and the fans outside or watching at home.

How weird? Just listen to the pop of the catcher's mitt.


During spring training, Orioles manager Buck Showalter pumped crowd noise through the speakers of the team's training facility to simulate a real game.

“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do," Showalter said in February. “We try to simulate as many realistic things. We can do so many things on a backfield and you can hear me say, ‘I got it, right here,’ and the reality is, it doesn’t happen in the season. You can’t hear most of the time, and the crowd noise increases as the ball is coming down and two guys are converging on it.”

Not on Wednesday.


Fans gathered outside the gates and on the balconies of nearby hotels to try to catch a glimpse of he action on the field.


The average home attendance for Orioles games this year is 33,228. Wednesday's attendance: 0.


Or was it?


At least the players seemed to be having fun.


Oh look, it's time for the seventh-inning stretch!


By the way, the Orioles won the game, 8-2.