MLB.com Columnist
Paul Hagen
BALTIMORE -- It was the middle of the afternoon in Los Angeles on the afternoon on April 29, 1992. A small black-and-white television was on in the near-empty press box at Dodger Stadium. Suddenly, a breaking-news alert interrupted the regularly scheduled programming. The police accused of beating a civilian named Rodney King had been found not guilty.
That night's game between the Phillies and Dodgers was surreal. Police helicopters flew back and forth across the darkened sky, searchlights flashing.