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You’re Out!’: Performing Presence and Absence at the Ballpark

On April 27th and 28th, 2015, as public demonstrations in downtown Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray in police custody intensified, and city officials declared a state of emergency and imposed an evening curfew, Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Baltimore Orioles cancelled two games between the Orioles and the Clucago White Sox. By the evening of April 28th, daunted by the proposition of rescheduling additional games, MLB and the Orioles announced a new solution: the next day's game would be played in Camden Yards, the Orioles' home stadium, just feet from the active protests, but would be closed to the public who had purchased tickets. Television and radio broadcasts transmitted the uncanny scene to audiences: MLB teams playing to a completely empty stadium. Gates surrounding Camden Yards, normally used to deny access to those who had not bought tickets, served this instance as barriers to insulate the performers both from their adoring, paying audience and from the Black protesters eager for the city's most high-profile residents, the Orioles, to acknowledge their pleas for racial justice and police accountability.

This chapter explores not just the present and absent constituencies (players, umpires, journalists, fans, and others), but also the ways that organizers surprisingly maintained the game's highly theatrical ballpark conventions. The Orioles' "game presentation" staff kept not only the performances of the National Anthem and "God Bless America," but also the introductions of players and promotional advertisements and the "walk-up music" chosen by players to pump up the non-existent crowd. How did media outlets frame and disseminate this unique moment in baseball history? How did the Orioles' management and players explain why they chose to play the game and how they chose to play it? How might spotting events and current discourses on site-based performances inform one another?