When Mother Nature Intervenes

[Orioles5]

When I was a kid in Maryland the local high school was playing a baseball game when a tornado touch downed. I was wondering how many of you experienced some crazy weather when playing, coaching or just watching a baseball game.

[ian2813]

I was watching a Rangers-Twins game back in July when this happened.

Similarly, I was once playing a softball game that got canceled by lightning. It had gotten dark, so the lights were on at the field. With (I believe) one out, I got a single. Terrible hitter that I was, it was pretty exciting for me to get a hit. I actually had a chance to score a run here! I was standing on first when suddenly, there was a huge clap of thunder and the lights all went out. Rain immediately started pouring down, and our game was officially over early. I had to wait another day to see if I would make any contribution whatsoever to my team scoring a run.

If any of you are curious, I contributed to two runs later in the season: For the first one I drew a bases-loaded walk (more due to the pitcher's inability to find the zone than my good eye, as he had walked most of the runners who were on base). For the second one, I scored a meaningless run in the last inning of the last game of the season. I believe I drew a walk and then the next hitter drove me in. It cut our deficit to something like nine runs.

[Dude Paskert]

I was at a Rangers game at Arlington Stadium when it started getting REALLY black out West. Some people started getting under the stands, but we decided to hope against hope that it would blow by us. All of a sudden, the grounds crew started rolling the tarp out while it was still nice and sunny...the team clearly knew something bad was coming. Then, without warning, the wind started howling...a corner of the tarp was picked up, and it honestly looked like the whole thing was going to fly up into the stands. The panicked crew somehow got it under control, and we decided it was a good time to get under the stands.
There was hardly any room left when we made it down, and then the RAIN came. Not just rain, but RAIN. Within seconds, there was no room left under cover, but still plenty of people from the seats pushing to get it. People were basically trapped in the tunnels with the collected rainwater cascading down on them like waterfalls...they were more or less getting a free shower. They would have been better off just being in the rain, but the crowd behind them wouldn't let them get back.
I honestly can't remember if was a squall that blew over and they finished the game or it was postponed.

[ol' aches and pains]

I was at a Rangers game at Arlington Stadium when it started getting REALLY black out West. Some people started getting under the stands, but we decided to hope against hope that it would blow by us. All of a sudden, the grounds crew started rolling the tarp out while it was still nice and sunny...the team clearly knew something bad was coming. Then, without warning, the wind started howling...a corner of the tarp was picked up, and it honestly looked like the whole thing was going to fly up into the stands. The panicked crew somehow got it under control, and we decided it was a good time to get under the stands.
There was hardly any room left when we made it down, and then the RAIN came. Not just rain, but RAIN. Within seconds, there was no room left under cover, but still plenty of people from the seats pushing to get it. People were basically trapped in the tunnels with the collected rainwater cascading down on them like waterfalls...they were more or less getting a free shower. They would have been better off just being in the rain, but the crowd behind them wouldn't let them get back.
I honestly can't remember if was a squall that blew over and they finished the game or it was postponed.

I had a similar experience in Arlington in 1994. While driving from Chicago to Arizona, I stopped and attended an afternoon game on a fine sunny day. By game's end, it was clouding up a bit. By the time I got out of the parking lot and back on the Interstate, it was almost black as night, and the wind was howling. I turned on the radio, and as I headed west, they were reporting funnel clouds sighted in multiple towns. Not being from the area, of course I had no idea where these towns were in relation to my location. I had my road atlas open on my lap, but couldn't find these little towns and drive at the same time.

Finally, they said motorists should avoid I-10 between Blair and Abilene, and I realized that's exactly where I was! I never saw a twister, but had the crap thoroughly scared out of me.

[Jason R. Maier]

Well I remember going to an Orioles game with my father in either '93 or '94 . . . and we had sat through a heavy rain/thunderstorm for about 2 hours before the game was finally called off.

And it (sort of/kind of) leads into my next question: what is the record for most rain-outs in one season by a team? (by that I mean at their home ballpark)

[Bothrops Atrox]

I wasn't at the game, but I remember in 2010, in a Reds/ Cardinal's game: the Cardinals were up 2-1 (or something like that) after the 5th inning. During the top of the 6th, a massive storm was coming through, and the National Weather Service Announcement was put on the jumbo screen for everybody to seek shelter due to a tornado warning. Sure enough, a tornado touched down less than a mile away from the stadium. Of course the officials did not delay the game at the time of the NWS warning - and the Reds scored 2 in the wind and rain to take the lead. Of course, the delay came and after a long pause, the Cardinals lost by one run.

[leewileyfan]

It wasn't baseball; but I was out playing golf in the late 1950's at an old course in Flushing, NY [Kissena Park]. The skies had suddenly turned a gun-metal gray color; and just as I addressed the ball and swung, they had gone a midnight blue [this is about 3:00PM of a formerly sunny summer afternoon]. When I was just into my follow through, there was a flash and a blast, and I swear I felt my club grip "tingle." I tossed the club and ran for the clubhouse, about 150 yards away.

Later on, twenty minutes or so, I returned to the hole to retrieve my bag and clubs [including the one I'd tossed]. The storm hit all the evening and night news casts. Right outside Kissena Park, three people were struck and killed, where they had taken cover under a tree. Another victim fell within a mile or so of where we were; but I don't recall whether that was another fatality.

Scary, scary stuff. [I wrote off the ball as a "cost of survival" item; and I figured I'd played enough golf for one day].