Major league baseball teams tend to have loyal fans who support their team, win or lose. They buy season tickets and attend every home game. However, no fans were allowed to attend the 29 April 2015 game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox, due to civil unrest in Baltimore, Maryland. But although the Orioles-White Sox game (a win for the Orioles, 8-2) may hold the record for the smallest crowd to attend an MLB game, there have been several other games with remarkably low attendance.
Hardly any fans turned up on 17 April 1979, when the Seattle Mariners played the Oakland Athletics in Oakland, California. The A's drew a paltry crowd of about 250 hardy souls on a rainy and windy weeknight. To make matters worse, temperatures dipped to around 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4 °C).
About 413 fans attended the 22 September 1966 game between the New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox at the old Yankee Stadium -- which had a seating capacity of 65,000. Yankee fans were relentless in showing their displeasure with their team, who lost the disappointing game 4-1 to the White Sox.
Average game day attendance in major league parks:
The New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers lead their respective leagues in average game day ballpark attendance, with 42,520 for the Yankees and 46,696 for the Dodgers in 2014.
The Tampa Bay Rays had the lowest average game day attendance in the American League, with 17,858 in 2014, while the Miami Marlins were at the bottom of the National League with an average of 21,386 fans showing up.
Yankee Stadium, Dodger Stadium, Fenway Park, Wrigley Field and Tiger Stadium are the top five most-attended MLB parks.
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More Info: The New York Times
Discussion Comments
The top five should include SF Giants' Stadium. It's a smaller stadium, but usually sells out every day. People who are not baseball fans attend games because it's such a beautiful stadium.
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