There have been 5 forfeits in MLB since 1955. Before that, games were usually called on account of darkness. I have profiled the other 4 so far this year and we are finally at the last one. While the others were for obvious reasons, this one was the dumbest. Now when I say dumbest, I’ll leave it up to you as to who is being dumb here between Orioles manager Earl Weaver or Crew Chief Marty Springstead. Here’s what happened…
Forfeit #1 – Washington Gives Up on Baseball
Forfeit #2 – 10¢ Beer Night in Cleveland
Forfeit #3 – Disco Demolition in Chicago
Forfeit #4 – Dodgers Fans Throw the Game Away
Forfeit #5 – Orioles Tarpgate
On September 15th, 1977 the Orioles were playing the Blue Jays at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Because it was primarily used as a football stadium, the makeshift bullpens were actually on the field.1 Despite already being a safety hazard, I suppose it was deemed an acceptable safety hazard and they went with it.
Despite the Blue Jays being terrible and the Orioles being very good and in the thick of pennant race, Toronto raced out to an early 9-0 lead. It was even less fun for the Orioles than it sounds too considering the game was played almost entirely in a light rain that the umpiring crew had no intention of delaying.
In the 5th inning, the grounds crew covered the bullpen pitching mounds with tarps secured with bags of sand in order to keep them dry. Orioles manager Earl Weaver came out and complained to crew chief Marty Springstead. He protested that one of his players could get hurt chasing a foul ball and slipping on the tarp. The mounds themselves were bad enough considering one of his players hurt his back tripping on one the game before. Now they were adding a slippery surface to the already unlevel terrain? Weaver wasn’t having it.
Springstead claimed that he had no power over the tarps themselves since it was a groundscrew matter though for some reason he was able to get them to remove the bags of sand. Of course, this made the tarps themselves insecure and defeated the purpose of having them on at all. Springstead told Weaver that he could play the rest of the game under protest. Instead, Weaver instructed his players to leave the field because playing under protest would only cause the game to be replayed at best and would obviously not undo any kind of injury.
In the locker room, Weaver left it to the players to vote on whether they would continue the game. They stuck with the manager and the game was declared a forfeit. The Orioles filed a formal protest to AL President Lee MacPhail who told them to go pound sand (presumably without a tarp on top).
Initially, I was on Team Umpire with this one. Weaver clearly didn’t want his team playing in the rain down 9 runs on the road anymore and used the tarp as an excuse to go home early. After writing it all out though, my opinion has changed. You’re telling me that the Crew Chief has no authority to tell the groundcrew to remove a tarp??? One time an umpire ejected the organist for playing Three Blind Mice. Umpire Bill Klem would famously eject anyone, and I mean ANYONE, who called him “Catfish” including fans.2 Taking a superfluous tarp off a pitcher’s mound though? Impossible? Come on! That guy was just making the game about him.
Now writing it out some more, I am back to this being dumb for everyone. Yes, the umpire could have just had the tarp removed or, you know, just put the game in a rain delay if it was so bad that a tarp was needed. However, Weaver could have just as easily instructed his fielders to not go near the tarp and then walk off the field for safety reasons. He would have at least not had a little kid throwing a tantrum kind of argument.
Who do you think was at fault?
Source: SABR
Photo: Baseball Hall of Fame (not from this game)
- For those who don’t remember, this used to be a thing even in non-football stadiums. the mounds would be in foul territory completely exposed. It was ridiculous ↩︎
- The Dirty Inning Podcast…I have no idea which episode but you should subscribe. It is phenomenal ↩︎
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