MLB game draws shockingly sparse crowd, reportedly smallest in decades
For some baseball fans, it didn’t take long for the excitement of Opening Day to die out.
The Chicago White Sox had paid attendance of more than 33,000 people for their home opener April 5 against Detroit. Some fans didn’t show up because of the bitter cold and snow, but it was still a good crowd at Guaranteed Rate Field.
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) April 5, 2018
Four days — and four losses — later, the team played in front of just 974 fans.
While actual attendance figures are hard to pin down, it was one of the smallest MLB crowds in decades.
Paid attendance for the Sox’s game Monday against the Tampa Bay Rays was announced as 10,377, but the vast majority of those who bought tickets decided to stay home.
Photos of the crowd had some wondering whether even the 974 figure was exaggerated.
https://twitter.com/KyleBudde/status/983788531062591488
I love that there’s a regular season MLB game today with fewer than 500 people in attendance. pic.twitter.com/pBB9vguq3Y
— Andrew Rutberg (@AndrewRutberg) April 9, 2018
Attendance for Rays at White Sox is uhh… low. pic.twitter.com/Xq0TjLdaLE
— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) April 10, 2018
The smallest MLB crowd ever also involved the White Sox, but it wasn’t their fault. The Orioles hosted Chicago in an empty ballpark in 2015. The team decided to close the doors to Camden Yards amid rioting in Baltimore over the death of Freddie Gray in police custody.
Before that, the smallest crowd was six people who showed up for a September 1882 game in Massachusetts between the Worcester Ruby Legs and the visiting Troy Trojans of New York. Fans of the two teams stayed away when they learned the Ruby Legs and Trojans weren’t being renewed for the 1883 season.
Aside from the O’s empty stadium game, the lowest attendance in the past few decades reportedly came when the Braves hosted the Padres at the old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium on Sept. 5, 1989, and drew a “crowd” of 1,528.
Last year, 1,590 fans reportedly showed up when at Marlins Park when Miami played the Phillies on May 31.
As bad as that was, it’s a packed house compared with the White Sox game Monday.
Chicago lost to the Rays in that one 5-4, then dropped the second in the three-game series Tuesday 6-5.
The White Sox (3-7) will try to avoid the sweep Wednesday afternoon.
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