When Detroit rioted, Tigers games moved to ... Baltimore

Editor's note: A longer version of this story originally ran on Aug. 30, 1987.

In late July 1967, the Detroit Tigers moved a home series with the Orioles to Baltimore because the city's riot and curfew forced the closing of Tiger Stadium.

"I thought that was out of line," Jim Northrup said of the decision to move the games. "It was too dangerous to play ball in Detroit but we had to go on the road and leave behind our wives and kids? Back then, baseball players didn't question things. You just did what you were told."

The Sunday the riot began, Ray Lane and Ernie Harwell were covering a game at Tiger Stadium for WJR Radio.

"We didn't know it was a riot at that time," recalled Lane. "We weren't allowed to say anything about the smoke coming in over the leftfield stands. Jim Campbell and WJR told us not to mention it."

Later that week, the Tigers played without pitcher Mickey Lolich. He was carrying a rifle at police headquarters, on riot duty for the Michigan Air National Guard.

"I was in probably the safest place in Detroit," said Lolich, who was a bodyguard for a National Guard major. "There were a lot of people down there carrying guns. There was a four-block perimeter around that place. Machine gun nests with sand bags. Troops all over the place. Police. I mean, it was the stronghold of Detroit, unless the rioters decided to attack-the-Bastille type thing. Yes, indeedy. It was interesting."

When Lolich left for guard duty, he was 5-12. After he returned, he went 9-1 and finished the season 14-13.