Armour: Major League Baseball makes wrong call in Baltimore

At a time when a little show of faith could have gone a long way, Major League Baseball acted out of fear.

Commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday's decision to have the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox play a game in an empty stadium, and move another series to Tampa, was in the "best interests of fan safety and the deployment of city resources."

Really, though, it was a knee-jerk reaction that assumes the worst of Baltimore.

Yes, there is fear that the city's streets will erupt in rage and violence again Tuesday night, and no one wants baseball fans to be caught in the crossfire.

But there were other options. Better options.

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Postpone the last game of the series with the White Sox, and the upcoming one with the Rays. Move the games to nearby Washington D.C., and play in Nationals Park, which happens to be open. If Orioles owner Peter Angelos and Nats owner Ted Lerner can't make nice under these circumstances, there's another open ballpark less than two hours away in Philadelphia.

Better yet, send a message to those folks in Baltimore – the ones cleaning up their neighborhoods and reclaiming their kids from the streets – that you believe in the inherent goodness of the city.

Play the games as they were originally scheduled, and give the people of Baltimore a chance to show the city is better than those who want to tear it down.

I'm not minimizing the violence that engulfed Baltimore on Monday night, or the long-simmering concerns that exist in many African-American communities over police treatment and economic inequality. There are very real concerns that have to be addressed, or we will find ourselves facing the same scenario over and over again, with only the name of the city changed.

But running away isn't the answer, and that's exactly what baseball is doing.

Imagine the surreal sights and sounds from Wednesday's game: Empty seats everywhere you look, with only the dugouts and field occupied. The PA system echoing across the stadium. It's a scene we've seen in Europe, when soccer clubs have been forced to play behind closed doors as a result of their fans' reprehensible – usually racist – behavior.

In this case, however, neither the Orioles nor their fans have done anything wrong. By forcing them to flee their stadium, baseball is giving into fear rather than standing tall against violence and mayhem.

And that ought to scare all of us more than anything that's happening on the streets.

PHOTOS: VIOLENCE IN BALTIMORE