VineCaleb Joseph was easily the MVP of the Baltimore Orioles' win today over the Chicago White Sox.
The team's catcher poked fun at the fact that they were playing in an empty stadium—the late-morning game closed to the public due to safety concerns in the aftermath of rioting around the city—and took a moment to sign an autograph for an excited fan.
An imaginary excited fan, of course.
Footage of Joseph making a big show of scrawling his name and then waving and tipping his hat for the Camden Yards "crowd" before game time immediately went viral. And while the Orioles won, 8-2, Joseph's 2-awesome save was the most memorable play of the day.
Next up, the Orioles' scheduled home series against the Tampa Bay Rays this weekend has been moved to Florida.
White Sox center fielder Adam Eaton won the Internet portion of the strange game beforehand, tweeting, "We are gonna do our best to take the crowd out of it early.. Wish us luck."
And though all of the comments we saw seemed to be of the "LMFAO" variety, someone must have taken offense because Eaton followed up with, "Take it easy people. Just trying to lighten the mood. I have the up most respect for Baltimore and its people. Always have, always will."
After the loss, the wind thoroughly removed from the White Sox's sails, Eaton tweeted, "Not a fan of no fan games. We need you guys. Come on back... #AmericasPasttime."
Elsewhere around Baltimore, public schools re-opened Wednesday and some of the 235 people who were arrested during the rioting started appearing in court to answer to charges of looting and other alleged offenses.