In 1988, the Orioles had the worst start to a season in MLB history: 0-21. During the streak of futility, Cal Ripken, Sr was replaced by Frank Robinson as manager, but they lost 15 more games before it ended on April 29.
The game was at Comiskey, in front of 14k fans. The White Sox were 10-9 entering the game, but they got blanked 9-0 by the erstwhile winless O’s. Eddie Murray hit a two run homer in the second; Cal Ripken had a solo shot in the third. Ripken had a big day, going 4-5 and scoring 3. The White Sox only had 4 hits as a team.
The Orioles went 53-86 the rest of the way for a final record of 54-107 in a season they’d like to forget but will be remembered forever. For the curious, their first win at home was 9-4 over the Texas Rangers on May 2; it was their 9th home game. The game at Comiskey was the 10th of a 12 game road trip, on which they went 1-11.
Also on April 29, this time in 2015, the Orioles defeated the White Sox at Camden 8-2. It was a game I was supposed to attend, but didn’t. Nobody did. Riots in Baltimore had postponed two games. The April 29 game was played but in an empty stadium due to safety concerns. The media wasn’t allowed out of the press box during the game. Players spoke of being able to hear the announcers. O’s manager Buck Showalter said he didn’t even bother with the clubhouse phone to get Zach Britton up in the pen, just shouted. (I was supposed to be in Baltimore for a conference, but the trip got cancelled due to the rioting. This year I was going to go to the same annual conference, this time in DC…and for obvious reasons it got cancelled too, thus ending plans to see the Reds take on the Nats while I was there.)
Fan Interference 