- Forfeit (baseball)
In rare cases,
baseball games are forfeited, and the score is recorded with the forfeiting team scoring no runs; their opponents are credited with the same number of runs as innings scheduled. Thus, a forfeited professional baseball game score will be 9-0; most amateur leagues play seven-inning games, thus forfeits are recorded as 7-0. However, if a forfeit occurs in the middle of an official game in which the forfeiting team is losing, the score will be recorded as it stands at the point of forfeit.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.MLB forfeits since 1970
* At the Washington Senators' final game at RFK Stadium against the
New York Yankees onSeptember 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. [cite book
last = Leventhal
first = Josh
authorlink =
title = Take Me Out to the Ballpark: An Illustrated Tour of Baseball Parks Past and Present
publisher = Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers
date = 2000
location =New York
id = ISBN 1-57912-112-8 ]*
Ten Cent Beer Night : A promotion held by theCleveland Indians onJune 4 ,1974 backfired when intoxicated Cleveland fans jumped onto the field and attacked Texas Rangersoutfielder 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),brawl ed 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 theBaltimore Orioles andToronto Blue Jays . Orioles managerEarl Weaver claimed a tarp being used on the bullpen mound atExhibition Stadium endangered his players. He was ejected for his protests, and responded by pulling his team off the field.*
Disco Demolition Night : OnJuly 12 ,1979 , theChicago White Sox held a game in which Chicagoradio personality Steve Dahl came onto the field to blow up a box full ofdisco records between games of a doubleheader. Rowdy and intoxicated fans, who had packedComiskey Park beyond capacity, immediately stormed the field, engaged in various acts of vandalism and theft, and refused to leave the field until the arrival ofChicago Police in full riot gear. Umpires postponed the game.American League PresidentLee MacPhail later declared the second game of the doubleheader a forfeit victory for the visitingDetroit Tigers .* On
August 10 ,1995 , theSt. Louis Cardinals were visiting theLos 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 byhome plate umpire Jim Quick for arguing, as was Dodger managerTommy 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 forfeited the game to St. Louis.References
External links
* [http://www.retrosheet.org/forfeits.htm List of MLB forfeits] , a full list of
Major League Baseball forfeits since the late 1800s.
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