CLEVELAND — Mother nature threw a curve ball on the opening day of the All-Star activities in Cleveland.
Major League Baseball, along with the City of Cleveland, pulled the plug on the outdoor portion of Play Ball Park Friday afternoon leaving some fans concerned they were about to strike out.
The All-Star celebrations on the green space outside the Huntington Convention Center were canceled once severe weather was spotted on radars.
"The big air horn went off and they said there was a severe weather alert and they were shutting down," Matt Crow said.
Jacqueline Secaira-Cotto,, the director of Major League Baseball's special events said they made the decision to cease operations after consulting with the National Weather Service.
"We are all about our fans' safety,” Secaira-Cotto said.
Holly Pierpont, who made the drive from North Canto, stuck around despite the weather but said things got crowded quickly.
"My family paid for tickets clear back in March, we just didn't want to turn around and drive back home. We just wanted to make sure we could come in and enjoy these festivities," Pierpont said. "Because of the weather that was in the area they had closed all the outside events and they had moved everybody inside and because of that the inside was at capacity, so we had to wait about 30 minutes to get in," Pierpont said.
The MLB disputes that claim.
"At no time were we not able to allow people into the space with a ticket," Secaira-Cotto said.
Due to the closure of the outdoor portion, some fans were left empty-handed and confused. Mario Jordan said there were no instructions on what would happen to the money he spent on the zip-line attraction.
"It was like $60 for my zip-line tickets," said Jordan. "Hopefully [I'll] get a refund," Jordan said.
On day one, the MLB and the city announced deep discounts for Play Ball Park, adding to the frustration and confusion among visitors.
Prices for Friday dropped from $25 to $5. To get in the remaining four days it'll cost $10. Officials said the price reduction was simply for fun.
"Every now and then we do some wacky stuff just to do something fun to engage with our fans, so there's no read between the lines here" Secaira-Cotto said.
Despite the weather delay and mild confusions, the MLB is happy with what they’ve seen so far.
"We had great attendance today, there's a lot of interest out there," Secaira-Cotto said.
Visitors, like Pierpont, known that even though things may have gotten a little bumpy to start off, it's to be expected.
"There was a little confusion at first. It's the first day, they'll work out the kinks," Pierpont said.
