Last week, we had another “Question of the Week” from Mike Chamernik, and he’s back today with his latest QOTW.
Enjoy!
by Mike Chamernik
The White Sox had a home game Sunday afternoon and I really wanted to go — as long as the weather was OK.
The morning was overcast with periods of sunshine in Chicago, but the forecast called for light rain in the mid-afternoon with chances of thunderstorms. Since I hate sitting in the rain, I decided to stay home.
I watched the game on TV. The weather actually looked pleasant at Sox Park, and the game was moving pretty quickly. I started to second-guess my decision. But in the seventh inning, it did start to rain, pretty hard. A 2 hour, 48 minute delay ensued, with a tarp snafu mixed in. It must have been excruciating to sit through.
What’s the longest, or most unpleasant, weather delay you’ve had to endure? Either as a fan or player. What did you do to pass the time? How did you stay safe from the elements? If you did remain at the stadium (or watch on TV) until the end, did you feel a sense of accomplishment?
What are some of the longest weather delays or series of postponements that you can remember?
People might forget that Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, one of the most famous games in baseball history, was played after three days of postponements due to heavy rain in Boston.
I’ve been through a few rain delays (as well as postponements following sitting in the rain waiting for the game to start), but the one that stands out the most was actually one that I escaped. On July 30, 2015, Paul and I went to Shea to see a Mets/Padres getaway early afternoon game. We watched the Mets storm out to a 7-1 lead when the black clouds and rumbles of thunder got closer and closer. I checked the radar on my phone, and saw the showers were about 15 minutes away, so Paul and I beat it out of there literally seconds before the heavens opened. Not only did we both barely avoid a deluge of biblical proportions, but had we stayed, the game didn’t get completed until evening AND the Mets lost 8-7, giving up 3 in the ninth for the loss. I managed to drive home from the game, change clothes, and drive out to my summer place before the game ended! Best decision I ever made, weather-wise, at a game.
The rain delays I mostly sat through were all about finding cover for a few hours, but nothing really memorable happened. How about you guys? I’m sure you’ve all got some stories. Fire away!
I have two great stories, both as a collegiate ultimate frisbee player.
Once, our regional playoff tournament got delayed by about 7 hours due to heavy rain. We essentially just farted around the hotel, but I recall several of my teammates wanted to go across the street to SkyZone (a trampoline park), which prompted our team captain (who was staying with family) to drive an hour to the hotel to essentially sit on us, making sure nobody went to a trampoline park, tired themselves out, and inevitably twisted an ankle.
The other story, isn’t actually a story of a weather delay, but we played an entire day in pouring rain, with the temperature parked at exactly 33 degrees. The game never got delayed because we were playing on turf. Whole teams would huddle in the bathrooms for warmth between games and during halftime. I don’t think any combination of weather would be worse.
Trampolines are so dangerous
A Houston Cougar vs Lamar game from a half dozen years ago or so was stopped for severe storms/lightning in the area. We (my wife and I) hung out for a bit but it was terribly hot and humid so he bailed for home. The game resumed almost four hours after it was stopped. That’s the longest delay I know of.
Semi-related note……back when I was attending Orioles games every summer at Memorial Stadium I experienced a few rain delays but I hung out on the concourse through all of them because it was likely my car was blocked in across 33rd Street in the school lot. I quickly learned to find street parking.
That old Eastern High School lot is where I learned how to ride my bike back in the late 80s :-)
Johns Hopkins now owns the building and uses it for offices. Have you been back to Baltimore and seen what they have done with the Memorial Stadium grounds??
It’s been a few years since I drove around that ‘block’. It was a bittersweet experience. I ‘drove’ thru it with Google Streets not long ago and saw the YMCA and ballfield. The area looks nice. And I saw Hopkins is on top of that ‘hill’ just like I remember eastern to be. ;-) I love my hometown.
Went to an O’s game either last year or the year before. Had the fiancee, my son (he was either 8 or 9), and her daughter (she was either 9 or 10). It rained for about an hour or so – one of those summer storms that appear out of nowhere. We went to the concession stand, got some food, stayed under cover while the storm passed, and did some people-watching to pass the time.
Waiting out a storm at Camden Yards doesn’t sound too awful
Mine is from June 9, 2013: Rice vs NC State baseball in the 2nd game of super regionals. I was in grad school at State at the time, and we needed the win to make the College World Series. We were down 4-1 heading to the 9th before tying in the top of the 9th, and then surviving a bases loaded jam in the bottom half. Things remained even until a rain delay in the 12th caused a 77 minute delay. I remember just waiting in my car in the nearby parking garage, getting radar updates from my mom. Upon resumption, we finally scored a run in the top of the 17th, and again survived a first and third in the bottom half to clinch our first CWS in 45 years.
Overall, game stated at 4, went for 5:10, and 1:17 rain delay, so ended around 10:30. Although in my memory, it was later.
Tremendous!
My wife and I went to a Cardinals game in April 2011. After the 1st batter struck out, a major storm came in. It ended up being a series of tornadoes, one of which hit the St. Louis airport not too far away. We had to huddle to a “safe place” (which didn’t seem that safe). It wasn’t safe to leave the stadium either, so we just waited it out. The security guards tried to move people to the safe place, but most of them weren’t having any of it. It’s fortunate that the tornado fizzled out after it hit the airport.
Classic MLB. Start the game to make sure they don’t have to give refunds to the attendees, and then call some delays
I’ve never sat through a rain delay, but I was at Wrigley Field the day Darryl Kile died. We had arrived early, as it was a Friday afternoon matinee with a 1:20 first pitch. We noticed a lack of activity on the field and game time came and went with no announcement. Finally it was announced that the game had been cancelled and we filed out of the stadium kind of stunned.
Joe Girardi delivering the news
Last non-soccer one was Virginia football vs. James Madison in 2023, where it was inevitable that there was a huge storm coming but the game at least made it to the fourth quarter. My brother and I didn’t wait it out and listened to the Hoos blow a lead on the way home. (Would not recommend.)
The Spirit used to have weather delays all the time when playing at the Maryland SoccerPlex because these stupid tiny thunderstorms pop up north of D.C. quite frequently in the summer. There used to be a Spirit podcast called Plex Weather. Since they moved to Audi Field, it doesn’t happen often but last time I got to hang out at the Spirit Squadron pregame bar for longer.
Non-delay weather story is that at the last D.C. United game I went to (2019 opener), it poured the entire time but that was super memorable. Would actually do again.
I would not fare well in a climate with surprise thunderstorms. I like to know what to expect
When I was 12 or so, I left the team that my dad had started and coached since I was six years old. At least half of the players were my close friends from school, so it was a pretty big deal. The following season was the first time we played full field/11-aside, and my new team was scheduled to host my old team early in the season (probably around early June).
The weather was pretty bad that day, but the league decided to give it a shot. By halftime my new team was trailing 1-0 and it was absolutely bucketing down. Since thunder and lightning had started, they had to call it off. I’m not sure if it was a mutual decision between the coaches, but it was decided that an entirely new game would be played at a later date.
The makeup game was scheduled for August, which is a notoriously bad time for soccer in Ontario, with everyone cramming in final cottage trips and other vacations before school starts again. My old team barely had enough players to start the game, and my new team won something like 8-0. Safe to say my friends were all quite angry and insisted that it “didn’t count” LOL! To make matters worse, my new coach was impressed by some of my friends, and they ended up joining my new team soon after…
Ha! I would absolutely taunt them about the blowout, ignoring the context.
Memorable rain delays.
Very early in dating my now-wife, tickets to a Yankees home game vs the White Sox were dirt cheap because of looming bad weather. It was Labor Day weekend and we had nothing else to do and we agreed that the worst case scenario was some train rides and a good story. So we bought cheap tickets on StubHub, navigated trains from LIRR to the 4 train, and went to the game. Luckily, our cheap tickets were high enough that we had a little bit of “ceiling” from Yankee Stadium. Because true to form, it rained and there was a rain delay. Gillian and I had a great time sipping our Bud Lights from our seats under rain cover, while everybody else ran to the concourse. The Yankees won that game, due to some incredibly atrocious White Sox defense in one inning (I want to say 8 unearned runs or more). Quintana got the start for the White Sox, don’t remember who got the win for the Yankees.
The other memorable rain delay story I have: I was at a Mets/Rockies game at Citi with my dad and brother. It rained, and we learned it was gonna be postponed, so “everybody go home now.” As we walk down the stairs, who speeds by? SNY employee and former Seinfeld guest star and first baseman Keith Hernandez. I swear to God, he ran down the stairs faster than I ever thought an old guy could run! Does work suck so much that you can’t wait to get home? No judgment, but I laugh at that image.
The other memorable rain delay story I have: I was at a Mets/Rockies game at Citi with my dad and brother. It rained, and we learned it was gonna be postponed, so “everybody go home now.”
Was that by any chance in 2011? If so, I was at that one as well (fortunately the seats — which were a gift from a grad school classmate — were under cover, so we were able to wait out that rain delay and eventual postponement from our seats).
In 2011, a Mets vs Rockies game in NY was rained out and made up in April. That doesn’t sound right. I should have been in a semester at McGill back then, or else final exams.
In 2009, a Mets vs Rockies game in NY was rained out and made up in late July. That sounds more correct, as consistent with being home on summer break.
So I’ll say we’re probably NOT thinking of the same game, but I can’t say anything with 100% certainty.
Love the date story. A nice delay probably gave you two a chance to connect more than you otherwise would have
Have sat (or stood in the concourse) through many rain delays, none of them particularly memorable. One of them was particularly annoying, though, last summer in St. Louis. I was visiting a pal there and he’d scored tickets for the Braves-Cardinals game. It was a beastly hot day (102 degrees and humid), but about 5 pm a storm hit and dropped the temperature to a more reasonable 80.
We arrived at the park a few minutes before game time to find the tarp covering the field. It wasn’t raining at all by this time, but apparently more storms were expected so they decided to wait it out. Probably didn’t want to have a lengthy delay early in the game and burn the starting pitcher after one or two innings. Fair enough.
Except it never did rain again. We sat there for two hours of zero rain before they called it off. The storm they were worried about didn’t hit until like 11 pm. Fortunately I was on vacation so had no trouble attending the makeup game the next afternoon, but my companions weren’t so lucky and I was solo for that one.
The phantom rain outs are such a pain. I get it, but it would still drive me nuts as a fan
My worst was in Cleveland on Jan. 4, 1981. This was the locally famous Red Right 88 game, which the Browns lost to the Oakland Raiders, 14-12. Game time temp was 4 degrees. I, and just about everybody else, stayed for the entire game.
The key play happened on 2nd and 10 from the 13-yard line with 49 seconds left when NFL MVP Brian Sipe was intercepted in the end zone. It was so cold that field goals and extra points were a problem that day, as we botched two FGs and one XP. That’s why Coach Sam Rutigliano didn’t run down the clock and try another.
My feet were cold on the ride downtown and they pretty much stayed that way until I got home later. Luckily, there was no wind that I remember or it would have been much worse.
Sitting in the brutal cold to watch the Browns lose like that… I would’ve been beyond upset
My most memorable delay was a thunderstorm in Utah that delayed an RSL-DCU game. Sheets of rain falling before the delay, so by the time the lightning detectors went off, we were all soaked to the skins. Game was delayed an hour or so IIRC, and we just made conversation with fans on the concourse. Met some fans from DC and compared notes on our respective teams, so that was fun.
On the flip side, I went to a Royals game in 2005 vs Toronto and it was insanely hot, well over 100, to the point where the Royals had free ice water coolers on the concourse. I felt so fortunate to be in the shaded part of the upper deck because the sun was just brutal.
So, yes, it feels like an accomplishment to stick it out.
What’s up with the weather in KC? It’s somehow like 100-plus in the summer and below zero in the winter (I suppose it’s similar here in Chicago)
Good stuff, everyone!
Another notable rain game is the Rick Camp Game in Atlanta in 1985. It was a 19-inning game with two hours of delays. The Fourth of July fireworks were set off at 4am link
My memory: Early 80s, Braves visiting Cubs. Cubs load the bases with no outs in the bottom of the 10th. Two hour rain delay. Cubs will definitely win. Bases are loaded! No outs! We’re staying! Game starts back up. Almost everyone has left. We move from our OK seats to right behind the Cubs’ dugout. Two force-outs at home. Cubs are going to blow it. Why did we wait two hours? But then Cubs hit a single down the left field line. Cubs win!
When researching for this post, I found this report of the game and learned that my memory is off.
link
Actually, the rain delay happened after the first batter got a double. Cubs loaded the bases loaded with no outs AFTER the rain delay. Otherwise I remembered it correctly. My memory edited the story to increase the drama.
Roger Angell has a funny story in a similar vein in one of his collections, about a long-ago game in which the home team — I think it was Baltimore — trailed by a run in the bottom of the ninth, but had the bases loaded, two out, and a 3-2 count on the batter when a sudden deluge hit.
After a lengthy delay, the rain finally stopped. The grounds crew rolled up the tarp and took a good deal of time getting the field back in shape. The players came out and had a lengthy warmup. Finally the ump signaled for play to begin. The batter stepped in, the runners took their bases and were off with the pitch, the pitcher delivered, the batter watched it go by, motionless. Strike three!
Then everyone went home.
Ha that’s fantastic
Memory is a weird thing. You remembered the important parts, though
1993…the Marlins inaugural season. I was at a game in Miami vs the Astros. Combination of rain delays and extra innings caused the game to end after 1am. During one of the rain delays they started showing David Letterman’s show on the scoreboard.
Ha I love that
My out of state basketball loving cousin was in town so I took him to see my early 90’s UMKC Kangaroos play at Memorial Auditorium in Kansas City. Someone managed to shatter a backboard, usually no big deal, the floor crew would sweep up the broken glass, wheel off the broken goal and replace it with a fresh unbroken goal and go about their business and finish the game. Well, they did’t have one. They ended up having to send someone out with a truck to Kemper Arena to pick up a goal with all the necessary accessories, shot clocks and the like and get it back to finish the game.
I can’t tell you how long it took, but it had to have been more than an hour, most people left but we stayed to finish the game. Go Roos!
I’m surprised it was only an hour
A goal of mine is to get to every MLB ballpark/city. A few years ago, I planned trip around attending a game at Yankee Stadium on the day of my 40th birthday. We went to the stadium early to explore outside, and as we waited for the gates to open, we were told by security that the game was cancelled as there was a thunder storm moving in. We did manage to get tickets for a game a couple of days later, and it was a great experience, but it just wasn’t the same as spending my birthday at the ballpark. It was only after the fact that I also learned that one of my good friends had made arrangements for a birthday message to appear on the score board for me as well. Bummer indeed.
Aw! That’s too bad
I’m also trying to do all the parks. It’s not always possible but lately I’m trying to line it up to hit both a night game and a day game the following afternoon. It covers a possible rainout, allows to get two different game experiences from different parts of the park, and with games being so fast now, it covers us in case of an abnormally quick game
I was attending BYU when Texas came to play football in 2013. At that time it was rare to have a blue blood program play in Provo so while it was hyped, I was cautiously optimistic (BYU football always has a way of letting you down). Being a student I went early to get a seat in the south end zone student section which always got packed well before kickoff. While we were all waiting there a storm rolled in just before kickoff that delayed the game by nearly 2 hours. Most of the students stood pat in the stands even after several attempts by the announcer encouraging us to seek shelter. Eventually I did but we endured the elements a little bit for ego and also not wanting to give up your seats since it was first-come-first-served.
Waiting out the storm was well worth it because BYU ran all over Texas and led to Mack Brown firing the defensive coordinator after giving up 550 rushing yards. It was the beginning of the end of the Mack Brown era at Texas.
OK having to keep your seat, I wouldn’t have moved either
I sat through about a half hour rain delay on my 17th birthday at 3 Rivers Stadium and an hour long rain delay for my son’s Bucco baseball game. It was Skyblast night so we stuck it out, though we had to find other entertainment the last three innings because his attention span was shot by then. PNC Park has this jungle gym thing in the outfield overlooking the river and he made friends with some kids and played in that until the fireworks started. Without planning, he was already at the top of the thing when they started and so it was like they were happening right above his head. Made for some great pictures.
My most story worthy rain delay was the soccer game I was officiating and cancelled due to the run of storms that looked ready to arrive within 20 minutes. The whole ride home though I drove through a picture perfect early summer afternoon and wondered if it ever rained on the fields.
Haha always a risk to cancel before it even starts to rain
December 2009, the D-III Football Championship game (Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl) between my alma mater Wisconsin-Whitewater and Mount Union (OH). Scheduled to start early afternoon in Salem, VA but a snowstorm in the Virginia mountains pushed the start time back to a late afternoon/early evening kickoff. Worse yet, it shut down the interstates that our pep band bus (along with cheerleaders, mascots, non-roster players and families) was driving on so we had to turn around after our breakfast stop that morning.
We headed back to WI but stopped at a Buffalo Wild Wings in West Lafayette, IN to watch the game. We took over the whole damn place, even forcing an early season Purdue MBB game off of most of the TVs. The drumline came into the restaurant and played at halftime, and after the game we all grabbed our instruments and played a rousing rendition of the fight song to celebrate a Warhawk victory and championship. Most memorable game I never went to.
I don’t know much D-III ball but I do know Wisconsin-Whitewater and Mount Union are like the Lakers and Celtics of that level
Ready for still another Kansas City weather game?
My first major league game was in August 1976, a precursor to the Royals-Yankees rivalry. I was 9, just starting to get my feet wet into pro sports, when our family of four took the short jaunt from Topeka, KS to Royals Stadium – unfortunately, for starters, a two-hour, five-minute rain delay. But fortunately, our seats were tucked under the overhang of the upper deck, and straight back from home plate and the majestic Royals scoreboard. When the rain finally stopped and the grounds crew started preparing the field for play, some of the players began venturing out to stretch and play some catch and practice swings. I asked my parents if I could go down to field level and watch them warm up, and since it was a straight walk (and view for them), they let me. It was during those moments that I had my first uniform-watching moments. For whatever reason, probably from my brothers’ ball teams, I had not understood the concept of home and away uniforms
You certainly got your feet wet (because it was raining, you see). But I love it, a uni watching origin story
I couldn’t refrain from commenting. Well written!
Several years ago a friend invited me to join her and two of her out-of-town friends to see the Twins-ChiSox for a weekday afternoon game at Target Field. For their first visit to the park, she got seats in a section in deep center field with a free buffet and beverages…and was mostly covered! After a 5.5 hour rain delay, they finally started play. THAT’S the way to endure a rain delay! Especially when they declared that rain checks would still be honored, even though the game was eventually played.
Late comment but I have a distinct memory of a miserable time under the stands at Texas Motor Speedway waiting for hours for rain to clear.
Many years ago at Tiger Stadium in Detroit I was with my parents. I don’t recall the opponent or date but they did have a rain delay which meant hauling the tarp on the infield. After a while I had a rogue thought: what if I hopped the wall (we had lower deck seats, first base side) and did a slip & slide on the tarp? Of course I would get tossed out of the park, at the bare minimum. I thought better of it and eventually the game resumed. On the way home I mentioned this to my dad and he had the exact same thought! I can only imagine if that had actually transpired and my poor mom would be so embarrassed, not to mention possibly bailing her husband and son out of jail!
Not a delay, but I had season tickets for the NY/NJ Hitmen of the XFL. The Meadowlands winter weather was so bad, they delayed the league for 19 years.