Orioles to pay hourly ballpark employees affected by riots

BALTIMORE - The Orioles will reimburse hourly employees at Camden Yards who lost wages during the week of April 27 after riots broke out in Baltimore following the funeral of Freddie Gray.

The Orioles postponed two games against the White Sox because of the unrest, and those games will be made up as part of doubleheader May 28. The series finale against Chicago was played at Camden Yards in what is believed to be the first Major League Baseball game played in front of no fans.

A three-game series against the Rays from May 1-3 was relocated from Camden Yards to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

''Due to the extraordinary circumstances that led to several canceled or rescheduled games, the Orioles organization will compensate all hourly employees for hours that would have been ordinarily worked the week of April 27,'' the Orioles said in a letter to employees Tuesday that was made public Thursday. ''This adjustment will be added to your 5-29 paycheck.''

Victoria Hong, a spokeswoman the Camden Yards concessionaire Delaware North, said company will pay its employees who were affected by the postponements.

''Delaware North Sportservice wants to publicly thank its loyal local associates who showed great patience during the week of April 27th,'' the company said in a statement. ''Due to the extraordinary circumstances that led to three games being moved from Oriole Park and another being closed to fans, we wanted to show our appreciation and support to our nearly 1,000 game day associates by voluntarily providing each with a monetary payment. We are very proud of our associates and their dedication to serving up the best game day experience to Oriole fans.''