Empty stadium would be weird for Scully

LOS ANGELES (AP) Hall of Fame announcer Vin Scully says he would have been very uncomfortable if he had to announce a baseball game played in front of no fans.

Scully, who witnessed the 1965 Watts Riots and the 1992 L.A. riots during his 65 seasons in the Dodgers' broadcast booth, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he thought it was a smart decision by Major League Baseball to have kept the public out of Camden Yards for safety and police staffing reasons when the Baltimore Orioles beat the Chicago White Sox 8-2.

Two games had been postponed because of looting and rioting around the ballpark. The turmoil prompted a citywide curfew and began hours after the funeral of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who sustained a fatal spinal cord injury while in police custody.

''I felt it was a very difficult assignment for everybody involved. But they made their decision,'' Scully said. ''At least now it's over, done, gone, and without any problems. That was the big thing. If there had been any demonstrations at all, there would have had to be a heavy police presence, which meant they would take the police presence away from where it should be. So I think it was a wise decision.''

The Orioles-White Sox game was shown live on MLB.com.

''My first thought was that it's historical, if not hysterical,'' Scully said. ''But it would be very awkward for me. I rely a great deal on the crowd - because to me, the crowd adds all the necessary atmosphere. So not to have the crowd would be like missing your front tooth.''