Here's a summary of today's events
In the first Major League game ever played in an empty stadium, the Orioles won by a score of 8-2 over the Chicago White Sox.
Rioters arrested Monday are being held more than 24 hours without charges as Baltimore tries to deal of the aftermath of the chaos and disorder
The report on Freddie Gray’s death will not be made public on Friday as previously believed.
Report On Death of Freddie Gray Delayed
In a press conference this afternoon, Baltimore City police announced that their report on the death of Freddie Gray would not be made public and instead simply turned over to prosecutors.
The death of Gray due to spinal injury while in police custody has set of days of disturbances in Baltimore and its unclear what impact this delay will have on order in the city.
Orioles Win Game In Empty Stadium
The first game in baseball history played in an empty stadium ended with a win by the home team.
The Orioles didn’t need homefield advantage to handily defeat the visiting White Sox by a score of 8-2.
Orioles celebrate winning the first game ever played in an empty stadium pic.twitter.com/Voj4XOhxi5
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) April 29, 2015
The win was still celebrated on the field by the players as the PA played Orioles Magic.
In case you were wondering, the press box just got the official announcement that “for record keeping purposes, today’s official attendance was zero.”
There was laughter throughout the press box at that statement though there are now a couple of photographers sitting in the seating bowl. This brings the number of spectators inside the stadium bowl up to about ten including the scouts already sitting behind home plate.
It’s the seventh inning stretch at Camden Yards and a recording of Take Me Out To The Ballgame is playing and then followed, as is Baltimore tradition, by John Denver’s Thank God I’m A Country Boy.
You can hear some occasional whoops and shouts from fans out beyond center field on Camden Street. But there’s no one in the stadium to stand for the stretch.
7th inning stretch pic.twitter.com/tJOB7QgxyU
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) April 29, 2015
One of the difficult things for players is that they are so accustomed to having fans in the stands that they can’t adjust to an empty stadium.
In this GIF, Orioles first baseman Chris Davis nonchalantly tosses a ball into the stands at the end of the inning. Players normally do this to give the fans a souvenir. The problem is that there aren’t any fans today.
.@CrushD19 tosses a ball to empty seats at Camden Yards #Orioles pic.twitter.com/c4d3ze1y5d
— Camden GIFs (@CamdenGIFs) April 29, 2015
The rioting on Monday apparently destroyed a site used during the filming of The Wire.
As Justin Fenton of the Baltimore Sun tweeted, Novak’s Grocery Store in East Baltimore was burned down.
Forgive the Wire reference but: Novak's grocery store, where Omar is killed, burned in this east side fire pic.twitter.com/ZBUIlx5jX0
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) April 28, 2015
This was the location where the death of the character Omar Little was filmed. Omar, who Barack Obama has called his favorite character on the show, was a stick-up man who robbed drug dealers and lived by his own code.
Not to belabor the point but the stadium really does make a strange scene.
Manny Machado hit a solo home run to the Orioles bullpen in left center field in partial atonement for his error last inning and you could hear fans chant his name outside the stadium at least 500 feet from the press box.
This is the 5th inning of a Major League Baseball game pic.twitter.com/NzOx1639dl
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) April 29, 2015
It’s official.
After 4 1/2 innings have been played, today’s Orioles-White Sox game will count in the rule books and be the first game in Major League history without a single fan in attendance.
Not that there was slightly bit of worry of a rain out on this sunny day (let alone more disturbances in a city that has returned to peace so far today).
The game has also become more competitive as the White Sox have taken advantage of a throwing error by Orioles third baseman Manny Machado and have put two runs on the board. The score going into the bottom of the fifth is 7-2 with the Orioles in the lead.
Legal crackdown on Baltimore rioters
In non-baseball news, police are imposing bail bonds of up to half million dollars on those who have participated in the disturbances over the past two days.
As my Guardian colleagues Oliver Laughland, Paul Lewis and Jon Swaine report many of the 235 people arrested Monday night have not even been charged yet and Governor Larry Hogan has suspended due process for some of those arrested.
Baltimore Sun reporter Ian Duncan tweeted a letter that Hogan sent a Baltimore City judge today about this.
PDF of Hogan's letter on suspending some due process provisions seems to be broken. Here's a screenshot. pic.twitter.com/xfW3uOQhTo
— Ian Duncan (@iduncan) April 29, 2015
The Orioles picked up another run in the third inning to make it a 7-0 lead.
The mood in the stadium is still peculiar as the fans outside the ballpark have quieted down.
In between innings, perhaps ironically, the Orioles played Jackson Browne’s Running on Empty, which was a peculiar song to hear a totally empty stadium.
You can’t quite hear everything at the stadium right now but you can hear enough.
As the Orioles were retired in order in the bottom of the second, you could hear players call for fly balls on the field. After Orioles outfielder Delmon Young hit a pop up, you could even hear first base coach Wayne Kirby yell at Young to “run it out, run it out.”
The one thing you couldn’t quite hear was the brief conversation between Orioles first baseman Chris Davis and home plate umpire Jerry Layne on a called third strike that Davis clearly thought was a little low.
Everything in the stadium is historic in its own way.
After all, there’s never been a game in an empty stadium before and the Orioles just got out of top of the second inning with the first double play in Major League history performed before an empty ballpark.
The Orioles had been on a winning streak before the riots on Monday and it seems like they’ve been able to stay hot so far as they batted around in the first inning.
It will be interesting to see what impact a win will have on the city today. Orioles starting pitcher Chris Tillman told reporters in the clubhouse before the game that he was struck by how many people on the streets were in Orioles gear over the past couple of days. The team means a lot to the city and a win today certainly couldn’t hurt the mood.
Meanwhile Baltimore police Captain John Kowalczyk has been giving a press conference.
He said 111 people who had been arrested had not yet been charged.
We are looking at the time that people came into central booking and making sure we don’t violate that 48 hour process. Our hope is to ensure that we can charge as many people before that 48 hour window as we can.
He added: “We don’t want to violate anyone’s constitutional rights. In order to criminally charge someone, we have to know the witnessing officer and the details for the arrest. It was a very chaotic situation, there was a lot of moving activity, and our officers moved quickly to restore peace. The administrative process is ongoing.”
The fireworks in Baltimore are coming from the ballpark so far today.
While the city remains calm, the home team is putting up runs in bunches. With only one out still in the bottom of the first, the Orioles will bat around with 9th place hitter Rey Navarro coming to plate as they picked up a 6-0 lead against the White Sox ace Jeff Samardzija.
Chris Davis, the Orioles slugger just hit a mammoth home run onto Eutaw Street to make the score 4-0 in the Orioles’ favor with one out in the bottom of the first inning.
Because of the quiet of the stadium, you could hear the loud crack of the bat right away.
In the press box, reporters snickered because they could hear the home run call of Orioles announcer Gary Thorne as he said it in the television booth upstairs.
The lack of a crowd is changing the game in unpredictable ways.
Foul balls are bouncing around empty seats and back on to the field without fans there try to snatch a souvenir.
Fans are filling the balconies of the hotel overlooking the ballpark and shouts are coming from the fence on Camden Street about 500 feet from home plate.
There are three people in the stands though. Scouts who are watching the game.
Three people are in the stands. These are scouts pic.twitter.com/GZ70NnR7Fi
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) April 29, 2015
The baseball game has started at Camden Yards and there is almost unnatural feeling of silence.
The PA announcer still says the name of each player coming to bat and the cheers of a handful of fans watching the game through the ballpark fence can be heard throughout.
Without a crowd, there are no cues as the noise rises and subsides according to the ebb and flow of the game.
Even the call of “ball” and strike” by the umpire can be heard distinctly.
Music is still being played in between innings but there are no scoreboard promotions.
After one half-inning, where the White Sox were retired in order, the game is scoreless as the Orioles come to bat.
Baltimore Orioles v Chicago White Sox begins
An instrumental recording of the National Anthem was played at Camden Yards as fans stand at the stadium’s gates shouting “Let’s Go O’s.”
There is a spooky feel as players stand in an empty stadium.
The players take the field pic.twitter.com/T856whPRVj
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) April 29, 2015
Updated
While Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has backed away from calling those who engaged in looting on Monday night “thugs,” the White House is showing no hesitation in using the term.
At White House press conference today, Administration spokesman Josh Earnest said that the President would not back down from his comments Tuesday where he used the word “thugs.”
As Earnest noted, arson and looting of liquor stores are “thuggish acts.”
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake will hold a press availability today outside New Song Academy in the heart of the West Baltimore neighborhood where Freddie Gray lived this afternoon.
Rawlings-Blake who has come under national scrutiny for her leadership of the city during this crisis will first meet with students “about recent city riots, as well as broader issues facing young people in Baltimore City. “
In the meantime, Frederick Douglass High School, where the end of the school on Monday marked the beginning of disturbances, had a half day today.
Across the street from Frederick Douglass High School in Baltimore: pic.twitter.com/skd8oDUblY
— Kevin Rector (@RectorSun) April 29, 2015
Jonathan Bernhardt, who is joining me in covering the Orioles game today got some haunting pictures from the lower concourse of the stadium which capture how empty things are just an hour before the game is scheduled to start.
One hour to game time, and all is quiet. @GuardianUS pic.twitter.com/2qXYO3feN6
— Jonathan Bernhardt (@jonbernhardt) April 29, 2015
Here's another of the empty concourses at Camden Yards. @GuardianUS pic.twitter.com/s3xNsgdvJq
— Jonathan Bernhardt (@jonbernhardt) April 29, 2015
As Baltimore recovers from Monday’s disturbances, cultural groups are trying to pitch in to make their contribution.
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra decided to hold a free outdoor concert outside the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall today. The symphony hall is just a little over a mile from the location of the CVS that was burned down on Monday afternoon.
Crowd forms for impromptu lunchtime concert by Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in week of #BaltimoreUprising pic.twitter.com/JES3zB1wWK
— Scott Malone (@MaloneReuters) April 29, 2015
Updated
My colleague Tom McCarthy was at Columbia University today reporting on Hillary Clinton’s speech about criminal justice reform.
In her speech, she called on all police departments to use body cameras. Clinton said “We should make sure every police department in the country has body cameras to record interactions between officers on patrol and suspects.”
The former secretary of state did not suggest how this should be paid for though. Instead, she simply said “The President has provided the idea of matching funds to state and local governments investing in body cameras. We should go even further and make this the norm everywhere.”
Clinton also echoed efforts by potential Republican opponent Rand Paul in calling for “ end the era of mass incarceration” and even mentioned by name. He responded by issuing a press release slamming the criminal justice policies of Bill Clinton when he was in the White House.
Mayor clarifies 'thugs' comment
Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake issued several tweets on Wednesday morning trying walk back comments made on Monday night where she called looters and rioters in Baltimore “thugs".
I wanted to clarify my comments on "thugs." When you speak out of frustration and anger, one can say things in a way that you don't mean.
— Mayor Rawlings-Blake (@MayorSRB) April 29, 2015
That night we saw misguided young people who need to be held accountable, but who also need support. And my comments then didn't convey that
— Mayor Rawlings-Blake (@MayorSRB) April 29, 2015
Rawlings-Blake has come under severe criticism from protestors and Maryland governor Larry Hogan went out his way to blame her for failing ask him to activate the Maryland National Guard on Monday.
Updated
John Angelos, the son of Orioles owner Peter Angelos and the team’s chief operating officer, grabbed attention on Saturday night when he defended the action of protestors who marched around Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
In a series of tweets in response to WBAL radio’s Brett Hollander, Angelos wrote the following (transcribed by USA Today’s Ted Berg)
Brett, speaking only for myself, I agree with your point that the principle of peaceful, non-violent protest and the observance of the rule of law is of utmost importance in any society. MLK, Gandhi, Mandela and all great opposition leaders throughout history have always preached this precept. Further, it is critical that in any democracy, investigation must be completed and due process must be honored before any government or police members are judged responsible.
That said, my greater source of personal concern, outrage and sympathy beyond this particular case is focused neither upon one night’s property damage nor upon the acts, but is focused rather upon the past four-decade period during which an American political elite have shipped middle class and working class jobs away from Baltimore and cities and towns around the U.S. to third-world dictatorships like China and others, plunged tens of millions of good, hard-working Americans into economic devastation, and then followed that action around the nation by diminishing every American’s civil rights protections in order to control an unfairly impoverished population living under an ever-declining standard of living and suffering at the butt end of an ever-more militarized and aggressive surveillance state.
The innocent working families of all backgrounds whose lives and dreams have been cut short by excessive violence, surveillance, and other abuses of the Bill of Rights by government pay the true price, and ultimate price, and one that far exceeds the importances of any kids’ game played tonight, or ever, at Camden Yards. We need to keep in mind people are suffering and dying around the U.S., and while we are thankful no one was injured at Camden Yards, there is a far bigger picture for poor Americans in Baltimore and everywhere who don’t have jobs and are losing economic civil and legal rights, and this makes inconvenience at a ballgame irrelevant in light of the needless suffering government is inflicting upon ordinary Americans.
There is a sense of uncertainty in the Orioles clubhouse today about what it will be like playing in front of an empty stadium.
While Orioles closer Zach Britton noted the experience is not altogether unusual---players play closed games during spring training--it will still be a strange experience. Orioles slugger Chris Davis joked that they should be the crowd noise machine that they sometime use during practices.
But players are sticking to routine, the experience will be anything but normal. Steve Pearce, an first baseman and outfielder for the Orioles, said he didn’t know if the scoreboard would be on or if music would be played during the game.
However, Davis did see one silver lining. He often hears Orioles all-star centerfielder Adam Jones “yelling” during games but can never quite understand what he says from his position at first base. Now, with an empty stadium, he might finally be able to “hear what [Jones] is saying.
Now working from the press box at Camden Yards where the stadium is eerily deserted today. This is how it looks three and a half hours before the game starts.
My view of the empty field at Camden Yards pic.twitter.com/JwKoE7GwEA
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) April 29, 2015
The weather in Baltimore today will be warm and sunny. A high of 73F is forecast and there is not a cloud in the sky. It’s a perfect day for a baseball game and the hometown Baltimore Orioles will oblige, hosting the Chicago White Sox at 2.05pm. But no one will be there.
As my colleague Spencer Ackerman reported yesterday, a Major League Baseball game will be played in front of an empty stadium for the first time in history.
Although soccer games in Europe often held in front of empty stadiums as a way to punish riot-prone fans, this is the first time any American sporting event will be played behind closed doors.
An Orioles game on Saturday evening was the site of demonstrations around the death of Freddie Gray. Unrest around the stadium at that time meant Oriole Park at Camden Yards was locked down for part of the game and fans were unable to leave.
Updated
Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton is scheduled to give her first public remarks about Freddie Gray in a speech on Wednesday. Clinton is also expected to mandate that all police departments in the United States use body cameras.
Tonight I am praying for peace & safety for all in Baltimore, & for Freddie Gray's family - his death is a tragedy that demands answers. -H
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) April 28, 2015
Clinton previously tweeted about Gray’s death on Monday and had ignored a question from a reporter on the subject outside a Tuesday afternoon fundraiser.
The speech, which will take place at Columbia University in New York, will contain Clinton’s first concrete set policy proposals during the course of her presidential campaign.
Updated
Baltimore city councilman Carl Stokes had a fiery exchange with CNN anchor Erin Burnett on Tuesday night over the use of the term “thug” to describe those who engaged in criminal activity in Baltimore on Monday.
The longtime Baltimore politician reacted angrily to Burnett’s suggestion that it was appropriate to call the youths participating in disturbances “thugs”.
Stokes said “of course it’s not the right word to call our children thugs. These are children who have been set aside, marginalized who have not been engaged by us.”
When pressed by Burnett though, Stokes fired back on live television, saying “just call them niggers, just call them niggers” and suggested the use of the word “thug” was racial coding.
Not everything was peaceful in Baltimore yesterday.
The city saw its first homicide since the start of the disturbances on Monday when a man was murdered in the Park Heights neighborhood in north-west Baltimore. There were no indications that this had any connection to the protests and unrest originally spurred by the death of Freddie Gray in police custody in 12 April.
The city has long been known for having a relatively high murder rate – 217 people were killed in Baltimore in 2014. But so far, despite widespread damage, the rioting in the city has not led to any fatalities.
Good morning from Baltimore, where the city enjoyed a comparatively quiet night on Tuesday.
Although were some clashes between police and demonstrators just after the start of the 10pm citywide curfew, there was no more looting and arson.
Life in the city will take slow steps towards returning normal today.
Schools have reopened and the Baltimore Orioles will play their first game since Sunday - albeit in front of an empty stadium.
However tensions remain. Prosecutors are due to decide on Friday whether to charge the six police officers under in the investigation in the death of Freddie Gray.
There are fears that, without an indictment, there may be further riots here.
Updated
