Has a MLB team ever had to forfeit a game?

Question

is so, what were the circumstances. I was thinking possibly the 'blacksox', but not sure.

thanks

Answer 1

Yes, but it's pretty rare, the last happened in 1995, and it's usually that the audience is getting out of control. One thing MLB will not put up with is safety risks (players being worth millions of dollars, these days). The home team is responsible for security, so when the umpires rule a forfeit for lack of crowd control, the home team eats it.

Here's quick summaries of three relatively recent ones, and then a link to a much more complete list at Retrosheet.org:

1995 -- the Dodgers have a baseball giveaway day late in the season. In the late innings, fans begin getting upset and -- hey, we've got baseballs! -- the balls rain down. After this happened more than once, the umps called it.

1979 -- Tigers at White Sox for a doubleheader, the notorious Disco Demolition night. The Sox plan on blowing up (yes, really) a pile of disco records behind second base between games, co-sponsored by a local radio station. The crowd was enormous (and not mostly baseball fans), and eventually was piling in to Comiskey unimpeded. The first game ended, the records got detonated, the crowd went nuts, and the second game never got started. Mike Veeck is still living this one down.

1971 -- the last home game for the Senators has the home team leading going into the ninth. Fans were out in force, upset at team owner Bob Short's announced plans to move the team to Texas. With two outs -- a mere one out from winning their last game in Washington -- the fans erupted all over the field, and the Senators had to forfeit. (Owners have been very circumspect since then, not announcing major bad news until the season is over.)

Link, forfeits: http://www.retrosheet.org/forfeits.htm

Answer 2

Yes, if you remember the White Sox did an promotion back in the seventies, where they blew up disco records in the outfield between games os a double header. The event was sponsored by a radio station. The DJ was Steve Dawl.

The down side was the field caught on fire, and the second game had to be cancelled.

She what kind of trouble Disco was, it gave everybody an excuse for acting stupid.

Answer 3

In Major League Baseball, forfeits generally occur only when fans disrupt the game to a point where the stadium staff cannot control them, at which point the home team is forced to forfeit. Forfeits were more common in the early days of baseball (there were five forfeits in the National League in 1886), but have become extremely rare in recent years.

At the Washington Senators' final game at RFK Stadium against the New York Yankees on September 30, 1971, fans angered by the team's impending move (to Dallas-Fort Worth, where the Senators were to become the Texas Rangers in 1972) stormed the field with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and vandalized the stadium.



Ten Cent Beer Night: A promotion held by the Cleveland Indians on June 4, 1974 backfired when intoxicated Cleveland fans jumped onto the field and attacked Texas Rangers outfielder Jeff Burroughs. This led to a riot in which the drunken and rowdy fans, armed with an array of debris (including chunks of the stadium seating), brawled with players from both teams as well as with staff members. Umpires declared a forfeit win by Texas.

The next forfeiture in Major League Baseball took place during the September 15, 1977 game between the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays. Orioles manager Earl Weaver pulled his team off the field after being ejected over a dispute regarding the use of a tarp in the bullpen at Exhibition Stadium.

Disco Demolition Night: On July 12, 1979, the Chicago White Sox held a game in which Chicago radio personality Steve Dahl came onto the field to blow up a box full of disco records between games of a doubleheader. Rowdy and intoxicated fans, who had packed Comiskey Park beyond capacity, immediately stormed the field, engaged in various acts of vandalism and theft, and refused to leave the field until the arrival of Chicago Police in full riot gear. Umpires postponed the game. American League President Lee MacPhail later declared the second game of the doubleheader a forfeit victory for the visiting Detroit Tigers.

On August 10, 1995, the St. Louis Cardinals were visiting the Los Angeles Dodgers, and leading the game 2-1 as the Dodgers came to bat in the bottom of the 9th inning. The Dodgers had given away thousands of baseballs to fans coming to the game as a promotion. The first batter, Raúl Mondesí, was called out on strikes and then ejected by home plate umpire Jim Quick for arguing, as was Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda immediately after. The crowd became agitated, and soon Dodger fans began throwing baseballs onto the field of play. Because of this dangerous situation for the visiting team, the Cardinals left the field and the baseballs were removed, but when the fans started throwing balls again after the Cardinals came back onto the field, the umpires declared a forfeit by the Dodgers.

Answer 4

Sure. the most famous in recent history happened in 1979, when the White Sox hosted an event called "Disco Demolition Night" between games of a doubleheader. This involved people bringing in disco records for reduced price tickets, and the records would be blown up on the field between the games. Somehow things got out of control, the fans stormed the field, and the Tigers refused to take the field for the second game. The Sox had to forfeit.

Answer 5

Yep, the 1899 Cleveland Spiders who won 20 games of 154. They were so bad that they had to forfeit at least two games or so. By the end of 1899, they were no longer a team in MLB.

Answer 6

Billy Martin pulled the yankees off the field because of weather conditions in Baltimore in the late 70s