Yesterday, the Yankees opened their season by beating the Baltimore Orioles 7-2. This coming Thursday, the Orioles seek to return the favor, as they host the Yankees in their home opener. Same deal: Opener on Thursday afternoon, day off on Friday in case of a rainout the day before, Saturday (albeit night instead of our day game), and Sunday afternoon.
I started my "How to Be a Yankee Fan In... " series with the Orioles, because they are actually the Yankees' closest opponents, if you don't count Interleague trips to Flushing and South Philly. They are closer to New York than the Boston Red Sox: Camden Yards is 193 miles from Times Square and 202 miles from Yankee Stadium; Fenway Park, 210 and 203.
the South Bronx. About 190 miles south."
I saw 3 Oriole games at the old Memorial Stadium, and I've seen 4 games at Camden Yards, the last 2 with the Yankees as the visiting team. I won't be going this week, but I highly recommend this trip -- if not now, certainly in the future. Baltimore is a good city and a very good sports town.
Baltimore can get quite hot in the summer, but this will be the beginning of April, so heat probably will not be a problem. Check the
For the moment, afternoon temperatures are expected to be in the mid-60s, evenings in the low 50s. It's going to be cloudy all 4 days, but only on Friday, the day off, is rain in the forecast. At any rate, Baltimore is close enough that, if there's a rainout, your raincheck will be fairly easy to use.
Baltimore is, of course, in the Eastern Time Zone, so there's no need to fiddle with your timepieces.
It used to be that getting tickets to any Orioles home game, not just Yankee games, was hard, because they were selling Camden Yards out 44, 45, 46,000 per night. (Officially, seating capacity is 45,971, with the difference long being made up by standing room.) In 1997, attendance peaked at 45,816 per game. As late as 2000, it was 40,704. In 2001, still 38,686.
And then, in 2002, per-game attendance dropped to 33,122. Just like that. So what happened in 2002? Or in the 2001-02 offseason? Easy: The statue of Cal Ripken was removed from 3rd base.
You've probably gotten the joke: That wasn't a statue. That was Ripken himself, who probably played 3 years too long. But after Cal left, and took his overrated legend with him, there was no reason to watch the Orioles anymore: They stunk, and had no drawing cards.
Orioles owner Peter Angelos was afraid that bringing MLB back to Washington would cost him 1/4 of his fan base. By 2010, with attendance bottoming out at 20,662, it looked like he was right. But they bounced back, because they started winning again, getting to 26,610 in 2012. But they fell apart last year, and only got 20,053 per home game, just 44 percent of capacity.
It may be possible to just walk up to the ticket booth and give your request, and basically get pretty much any seat(s) you're willing to pay for. But don't go for the Thursday game, as that's Opening Day, and already sold out.
Field Box seats are $85, Terrace Boxes are $59, Left Field seats are $54, Lower Reserves are $48, Upper Boxes are $39, Upper Reserves are $27, and Bleachers (in center field) are $29.
It's 193 miles from Times Square to Camden Yards. Getting there is fairly easy. However, if you have a car, I recommend using it, and using the parking deck at a hotel near the ballpark. There are several.
If you're not "doing the city," but just going to the game, take the New Jersey Turnpike all the way down to the Delaware Memorial Bridge (a.k.a. the Twin Span), across the Delaware River into the State of, well, Delaware. This should take about 2 hours, not counting a rest stop.
Speaking of which, the temptation to take an alternate route (such as Exit 7A to I-195 to I-295 to the Ben Franklin Bridge) or a side trip (Exit 4, eventually leading to the Ben Franklin Bridge) to get into Pennsylvania and stop off at Pat's Steaks in South Philly can be strong, but if you want to get from New York to Baltimore with making only one rest stop, you're better off using the Walt Whitman Service Area in Cherry Hill, between Exits 4 and 3. It's almost exactly the halfway point between New York and Baltimore.
Once you get over the Twin Span – the New Jersey-bound span opened in 1951, the Delaware-bound one was added in 1968 – follow the signs carefully, as you'll be on Interstate 295, and you'll be faced with multiple ramps signs for Interstates 95, 295 and 495, as well as for U.S. Routes 13 and 40 and State Route 9 (not the U.S. Route 9 with which you may be familiar, although that does terminate in Delaware, but considerably to the south of where you'll be). You want I-95 South, and its signs will say "Delaware Turnpike" and "Baltimore."
You'll pay tolls at both its eastern and western ends, and unless there's a traffic jam, you should only be in Delaware for a maximum of 15 minutes before hitting the Maryland State Line.
At said State Line, I-95 changes from the Delaware Turnpike to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway, and you'll be on it for about an hour (unless you want to make another rest stop, at either the Chesapeake House or Maryland House rest area) before reaching the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel and Exit 53, for I-395 which empties onto Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and the ballpark will be right there.
If all goes well (getting out of New York City and into downtown Baltimore okay, reasonable traffic, just the one rest stop, no trouble with your car), the whole trip should take about 4 hours.
Baltimore, whose airport is named for native son Thurgood Marshall, the 1st black Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, is too close to fly, just as flying from New York (from JFK, LaGuardia or Newark) to Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, once you factor in fooling around with everything you gotta do at each airport, don't really save you much time compared to driving, the bus or the train.
The train is a good option, but not a great one. Baltimore's Penn Station is at 1515 N. Charles Street, bounded on the other side by St. Paul Street, which runs southbound. Get on Charles, and you'll be going northbound, away from downtown, and you'll end up near the Museum of Art, Druid Hill Park ("Droodle Park" in Baltimorese), and the site of Memorial Stadium (now senior-citizens' housing). It's not a good neighborhood (although there are worse ones in Baltimore), and it will be out of your way. In addition, Amtrak is expensive. They figure, "You hate to fly, you don't want to deal with airports, and Greyhound sucks, so we can charge whatever we want."
Still, if you have the money – it'll probably be at least $198 round-trip – Amtrak is a good option. An
anymore) will be much more expensive, $396, but it will take about 2 hours and 15 minutes; a regular Northeast Regional about 2 hours and 45 minutes.
Bus? The old Greyhound terminal was right downtown, but it was an absolute hole. It looked like a homeless shelter. The new one is a huge improvement in terms of cleanliness, and a round-trip fare is $108, but can drop to as little as $45 with advanced purchase.
The problem is that the terminal is at 2110 Haines Street, south of downtown. On paper, it's not unreasonable to walk from there to the NFL Ravens' stadium (currently, M&T Bank has the naming rights) and then past that to ballpark. But you'll be walking under the elevated Interstate 395, and, having done it, I can tell you: You won't like it.
From the Greyhound terminal, the Number 27 bus will take you right to the ballpark. If you want to see the Inner Harbor attractions, change by the ballpark to the Number 7 bus, theoretically in just 3 minutes. (That's what the schedule says, but we're talking night games, therefore rush hour traffic. Expect a longer trip.)
Unfortunately, New York to Baltimore -- or, more accurately, the return trip -- by Greyhound is a bad option on a weeknight. The last bus of the night leaves the "downtown" terminal at 7:30 PM. You'd have to spend the night in the city to go back by bus. Anyway, the trip is around 4 hours.
In hindsight, it's better to come down early on a Saturday, get a hotel, enjoy downtown on Saturday afternoon, see the game on Saturday night, and then on Sunday, choose between going to a second game and seeing something away from downtown such as the Museum of Art. You'll be glad you did. There are 2 more Yanks-O's series in Baltimore in this regular season, and they're both Monday to Wednesday, with the Monday being a holiday and thus an afternoon game: May 29 (Memorial Day) to 31, and September 4 (Labor Day) to 6.
roughly northern and eastern Maryland, plus Sussex County, southernmost Delaware, including Rehoboth Beach -- and it's about 3.4 million. Combine it with D.C. -- something neither area is fond of doing, as they don't like each other -- and it's almost 9 million.
Keep in mind that Baltimore City and Baltimore County are separate entities. (This is also true of St. Louis -- but not Philadelphia, San Francisco or Denver, where the City and the County have the same borders. And the Counties of Los Angeles, San Diego, Dallas and Milwaukee include the cities with those names, as well as other municipalities.) So if someone tells you that a location in which you're interested is in
anywhere near downtown. Example: Towson University (the word "State" has been dropped from its name) is 8 miles north of downtown.
The city's centerpoint is Charles & Baltimore Streets. Charles separates east & west addresses, Baltimore separates north & south. Interstate 695 is the Baltimore Beltway. Sales tax for the State of Maryland is 6 percent. That does not rise when you enter Baltimore City, or Baltimore County for that matter.
ZIP Codes for Baltimore start with the digits 212 (not to be confused with New York's old Area Code), and the suburbs with 210 and 211. The Area Code for Baltimore, its suburbs, the Northeast, and the Eastern Shore is 410, split off from the old 301 in 1991, with 443 and 667 overlaid. The city's electricity is supplied by Baltimore Gas & Electric (BG&E).
Baltimore became a majority-black city in the 1970s. Today, it is bout 63 percent black, 28 percent white, 4 percent Hispanic and 2 percent Asian. Ethnic groups that have placed a notable stamp on Baltimore include the Germans (including the Ruth family), the Irish, the Italians (Little Italy is east of downtown), the Greeks (Greektown is east of downtown and Fell's Point), and the Poles (southeast Baltimore has a neighborhood called Little Poland).
But its status on the edge of North vs. South, and its status as majority-black, has kept Baltimore walking the tightrope of race relations. There was a riot in nearby Cambridge, Maryland in 1963, and there were riots responding to the assassination of Martin Luther King in Memphis in 1968 and the Baltimore police's murder of Freddie Gray in 2015.
Baltimore is way behind the curve when it comes to public transportation. They didn't have a subway (they call it the Metro) until 1983, and it didn't go anywhere near Memorial Stadium. As it is, the Lexington Market and Charles Center stops are each 8 blocks from Camden Yards.
The Light Rail system opened in April 1992, the same month as the new ballpark, and separate stops serve both the ballpark (and Camden Station, enabling MARC commuter-rail access from Washington and the suburbs between the two cities) and the football stadium. The Light Rail does serve Penn Station, although the closest stop to the Greyhound station on Haines Street is Hamburg Street, which is the stop for the Ravens' stadium. The regular fare for a bus, subway or light rail ride is $1.60.
Camden Yards Station light rail stop
As a result of not having a subway or a light rail until a generation ago, old habits die hard, and people overrely on the city's buses, jamming them, sometimes not even during rush hour. So I'll say it again: If you can drive, or if you can get someone to drive you, do it, and park in a downtown hotel's deck. You'll be better off walking around to the various downtown locations.
If you're coming into the city by Amtrak, when you get to Baltimore's Penn Station, pick up copies of the
Baltimore Sun and the
Washington Post. The
Post is a great paper with a very good sports section, and as a holdover from the 1972-2004 era when D.C. had no MLB team of its own, it still covers the Orioles well. The
Sun is only an okay paper, but its sports section is nearly as good as the
Post's, and their coverage of their town's hometown baseball team rivals that of any paper in the country -- including the great coverage that
The New York Times and
Daily News give to the Yankees.
Once you have your newspapers, walk out to St. Paul Street, and catch either the Number 3 or the Number 64 bus, which will take you to downtown, to the Inner Harbor and Camden Yards areas.
Baltimore's major beach destination is Ocean City, Maryland, 138 miles to the southeast. Rehoboth Beach, Delaware is actually closer, 112 miles southeast, but has more people from Philadelphia, so Baltimoreans prefer OCMD, not to be confused with Ocean City, New Jersey.
Going In. Hard to believe, it's now been more than a quarter of a century of service for the stadium that was designed to have all the comforts of the future and all the atmosphere of the past. So now, instead of only looking like it has some history, Camden Yards actually does have some -- although it hasn't yet hosted a World Series. It has, however, hosted an All-Star Game, and the Playoffs 5 times, including the 1996, 1997 and 2014 American League Championship Series.
There are 5,000 parking spaces available at the ballpark (costing $6.00), but over 20,000 within a short walk of it. The official address for the ballpark is 333 W. Camden Street.
However you got there, you're most likely to walk in at the Eutaw Street gate, between the edge of the left field stands and the Baltimore & Ohio Warehouse. This area has statues of notable Orioles and of Babe Ruth. I'll elaborate in "Team History Displays."
But if you can, try to enter by the right field gate. You'll see some of the letters from the front gate of Memorial Stadium, which stood as a memorial to Baltimore City and Baltimore County losses in World Wars I and II. The bottom line of the inscription on the gate was saved: "TIME WILL NOT DIM THE GLORY OF THEIR DEEDS."
Entering by the right field gate will also enable you to get a good look at M&T Bank Stadium, home of the 2-time Super Bowl Champion Ravens, and its statue of Colts legend Johnny Unitas, and to get to what appears to be the only escalator bank at Camden Yards.
Sometimes the ballpark is "The Yards" for short. It's also been nicknamed "Comedown Yards." Nobody calls the ballpark just "Camden," or "Oriole Park," even though that's how its name officially begins. It's always referred to as "Camden Yards," named for the adjoining rail terminal, Camden Station.
It's the only MLB stadium with a name that evokes English soccer grounds, particularly the pre-Taylor Report era (up until 1990, when stadiums had to begin conversion to all-seater in the wake of the previous year's Hillsborough Disaster): "Highbury," "Anfield," "Old Trafford," "Maine Road," "White Hart Lane," "Stamford Bridge." (But nobody ever called Memorial Stadium "Venable Park" after its neighborhood. And when people talk about "The South Bronx," they're not referring to Yankee Stadium, old or new.)
The field is natural grass, and points northeast. The park is not symmetrical. The left-field pole is 333 feet from home plate, left-center a nice, close 364, the deepest point in left-center 410, straightaway center 400, right-center 373, and the right-field pole 318. Unlike its predecessor, pitcher-friendly Memorial Stadium, Camden Yards is very much a hitters' park. Both home plate and the right field pole were transferred from Memorial Stadium, so they've been in use since 1954.
Darryl Strawberry, while with the Yankees on June 17, 1998, hit a 465-foot home run, the longest in the ballpark's history. To this day, no one has hit the Warehouse during a competitive game, although Ken Griffey Jr. did it during batting practice for the 1993 All-Star Game.
The longest homer
inside Memorial Stadium was a shot to center field by Frank Howard, 470 feet. However, on May 8, 1966, Frank Robinson hit the only home run
out of Memorial Stadium, down the left field line, hitting the parking lot 460 feet from home plate, before bouncing another 80 feet. A flag reading "HERE," with black letters on an orange background, was put up on a pole where the ball left the confines of the stadium. (It was among the memorabilia given away in a raffle at the Orioles' final weekend at the stadium, October 4-6, 1991.)
Every seat in Camden Yards is dark green, except for 2, which are Oriole orange: 1, in left field, which marks the spot of Cal Ripken's 278th career home run at the shortstop position, breaking the record of Ernie Banks; and 1 in right field, which marks the spot of Eddie Murray's 500th career home run.
Food. Eat. You'll be glad you did. Baltimore is a really good food city, and the concession stands reflect this. There are plenty of stands, and the lines are usually of reasonable length. The Esskay hot dogs are good, and the beers are varied.
Boog Powell's barbecue stand, on the Eutaw Street walkway, sells good stuff, although his meats are a little too spicy for my taste. Sometimes, you can even see the big fella himself, the 1961-74 1st baseman monitoring the cooking, seeing to it that his recipes are well-cared-for. He runs it with his lookalike son, John Wesley Powell Jr. or "J.W. Powell." Like the Number 19 Phillie jerseys in honor of Greg Luzinski at Bull's BBQ in Philadelphia, Boog's employees wear his Number 26 Oriole jersey.
The Big Fella himself
Also on the Eutaw Street walkway are Baltimore Burger Bar; Esskay Gourmet, run by the company that has long sold the Orioles' hot dogs ("Esskay" as in "S.K.," for the merger of meatpacking companies Schluderberg and Kurdle), and famous for its crab mac & cheese dog (ew); Dempsey's Brew Pub and Restaurant, inside the Warehouse, named for former Oriole catcher Rick Dempsey; Natty-Boh Bar, also inside the Warehouse, complete with National Bohemian beer's one-eyed, mustachioed logo, which is iconic in the Chesapeake region (both Baltimore and Washington).
At Section 27 on the 1st base side is Flying Dog Grill, famed locally for their "Chesapeake fries," a variation on waffle fries. A recent
Thrillist article on
the best food at each major league ballpark
called them the best item at Camden Yards. Nearby, at Section 31, is Ole Mole (a play on the expression "Holy moly!"), a Mexican stand. Near that, at Section 37 (also upstairs at 222 and 366), is Pizza Boli's.
At Section 53 on the 3rd base side is TAKO Korean BBQ. Nearby, at Section 68, is The Chipper, serving nacho-style kettle-cooked potato chips, which come will all kinds of toppings, including that Maryland favorite, lump crabmeat. Near that, at Section 78, is Kosher Sports. And they now have a Shake Shack.
And, of course, Camden Yards sells that most Maryland of foods, crab cakes. I don't like crabmeat, but if you do, this is as good as it gets without actually going to Ocean City, Maryland.
Team History Displays. As I said, there is a nod to Oriole history at the Eutaw Street gate. Since 2004, there have been steel sculptures of the uniform numbers officially retired by the team; and, since 2012, statues of the players so honored: 4, 1968-86 manager Earl Weaver; 5, 1955-77 3rd baseman (and later broadcaster) Brooks Robinson; 8, 1981-2001 shortstop (and later 3rd baseman) Cal Ripken Jr.; 20, 1966-71 right fielder (and later manager) Frank Robinson; 22, 1965-84 pitcher (and later broadcaster) Jim Palmer; and 33, 1977-96 1st baseman Eddie Murray.
The Orioles will only retire a number if its wearer has been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, although the Robinsons and Ripken had their numbers retired before they were elected.
For this reason, Number 7, worn by longtime coach and briefly manager Cal Ripken Sr.; Number 44, worn by former catcher and longtime coach Elrod Hendricks; and Number 46, worn by former pitcher and general manager Mike Flanagan, have not been officially retired, and they don't have statues. However, the team has not given any of these numbers out since these men died.
They have since added an inside display of the retired numbers -- but in a rather inappropriate place, over lower-level restrooms.
Since 1996 -- a little late, just missing the 100th Anniversary of his birth -- a statue of Baltimore native Babe Ruth has stood outside the Eutaw Street gate, roughly at the spot once occupied by Ruth's Cafe, a bar owned by the Babe's father, George Herman Ruth Sr. It's known as "Babe's Dream," and its sculptor, Susan Luery, is also a Baltimore native.
It shows him with a righthanded fielder's glove. This is often considered a mistake, since the Babe was lefthanded. But the first position he played at Baltimore's St. Mary's Industrial School was that of catcher, and he almost certainly didn't have a lefthanded catcher's mitt, since those are so rare, and an early 20th Century orphanage would have been unlikely to have one. So the glove might not be a mistake.
Ruth's 1st professional team was the International League version of the Orioles, in 1914, but the major league version didn't start until 1954, replacing the last one, in 1899.
As far as I know, only 1 other current big-league ballpark has a statue of a person who was never involved with the current home team in any capacity. That's Turner Field in Atlanta, which has one of Georgia native Ty Cobb. (Presumably, it has been moved to the new SunTrust Park in the suburbs.) The Olympic Stadium in Montreal has a statue of Jackie Robinson, who did play in the city for the Triple-A Montreal Royals, but never for the Expos; and, besides, Montreal doesn't currently have a major league team anyway.
The 6 Pennants that the American League version of the Orioles have won -- 1966, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1979 and 1983 -- used to be shown as painted onto the outfield fence. Now, they, and their 3 World Series wins -- 1966, 1970 and 1983 -- are restricted to a pair of murals inside the concourse.
The old, National League version of the Orioles won Pennants in 1894, 1895 and 1896. The Triple-A version of the Orioles won the International League Pennant in 1908, 7 straight from 1919 to 1925, and again in 1944 and 1950. And the team the Orioles used to be, the St. Louis Browns, won the AL Pennant in 1944. However, there is no notation for these at Camden Yards. (It is now generally accepted that the 1901-02 American League version of the Orioles is not the same franchise that became the Yankees in 1903: The AL folded the Baltimore franchise, and started over in New York.)
There's a brick wall on the Eutaw Street walkway that features an Orioles Hall of Fame, with 78 inductees:
* From the pre-title period, 1954-65: Founding owner Jerry Hoffberger, manager/general manager Paul Richards, executive Jack Dunn III, general manager Lee MacPhail, 1st baseman Jim Gentile, outfielder Gene Woodling (the Yankees sent him there in the 18-player deal after the 1954 season that included getting Don Larsen), catcher Gus Triandos, and pitchers Hoyt Wilhelm and Milt Pappas.
* From the 1966-74 glory years: Hoffberger, managers Hank Bauer and Earl Weaver (the ex-Yankee right fielder was fired in 1968, and Weaver hired as his replacement); 3rd base coach Billy Hunter (also involved in that 1954 18-player deal), pitching coach George Bamberger; executives Frank Cashen and Harry Dalton; 1st baseman John "Boog" Powell; 2nd basemen Davey Johnson (yes, the later Met manager) and Bobby Grich; shortstops Luis Aparicio (better known for playing for the Chicago White Sox) and Rick Belanger; 3rd baseman Brooks Robinson; outfielders Frank Robinson, Paul Blair and Don Buford; catcher Elrod "Ellie" Hendricks; and pitchers Mike Cuellar, Dave McNally, Jim Palmer, Stu Miller, Steve Barber, Dick Hall and Eddie Watt.
* From the 1977-84 contention: Hoffberger; GM Hank Peters; Weaver, coaches Hunter, Hendricks, 3rd base coach Cal Ripken Sr. and pitching coach Ray Miller; 1st basemen Lee May and Eddie Murray; 2nd baseman Rich Dauer; shortstops Belanger and Cal Ripken Jr.; 3rd baseman Doug DeCinces; outfielders Ken Singleton (now a Yankee broadcaster), Al Bumbry, John Lowenstein and Gary Roenicke; catcher Rick Dempsey; and pitchers Palmer, Mike Flanagan, Dennis Martinez, Tippy Martinez (no relation), Scott McGregor and Mike Boddicker,
* From the 1985-95 period that closed Memorial and opened Camden Yards: Both Ripkens, Manager Johnny Oates, coach Hendricks; catcher Chris Hoiles, and pitchers Gregg Olson and Mike Mussina (later with the Yankees).
* From the 1996-97 Playoff berths: Davey Johnson, back as manager; coach Hendricks; Ripken, Hoiles, Mussina, 2nd baseman Roberto Alomar, shortstop Mike Bordick, and outfielders Brady Anderson, B.J. Surhoff and Harold Baines.
* From the 2000s: 3rd baseman Melvin Mora.
* From the 2012 Wild Card berth: 2nd baseman Brian Roberts. By the 2014 berth, he was a Yankee.
* Crossing the eras: Broadcasters Chuck Thompson, Bill O'Donnell and Fred Manfra; public-address announcer Rex Barney (formerly a pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers); trainers Eddie Weidner, Ralph Salvon and Richie Bancells; public relations director Bob Brown; minor league director Lenny Johnston; scouts Don Pries, Walter Youse and Fred Uhlman; traveling secretary Phil Itzoe; director of community relations Julie Wagner; clubhouse attendant Ernie Tyler; and Baltimore cabdriver turned superfan Wild Bill Hagy.
Both Robinsons, Ripken, Murray, Palmer, Weaver, Aparicio, Wilhelm, Alomar, MacPhail, and now Mussina and Baines have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Winners of the Ford Frick Award, the Hall's honor for broadcasters, based on their tenures with the Orioles are Ernie Harwell, Chuck Thompson and Jon Miller.
There is a Maryland State Athletic Hall of Fame, but it has no permanent exhibition site. Until 2012, it only included Maryland natives, not figures from other States involved with the Orioles, Ravens, Colts, and so on. Orioles elected to it include Maryland natives Anderson, Baines, Barber, 1950s pitcher Ray Moore, 1960s pitchers Jack Fisher and Tom Phoebus, both Cal and Billy Ripken, and one non-Marylander, Arkansas' Brooks Robinson. Sons of California Frank Robinson and Eddie Murray, Arizona native Jim Palmer, and Missouri native Earl Weaver are not yet in it.
In 1999, Brooks and Cal were named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. That same year, they, Frank, Palmer, Murray, and 1890s Oriole Willie Keeler were named to
The Sporting News' 100 Greatest Players. Wee Willie, just 5-foot-4 and maybe 140 pounds, was the earliest, and smallest, player so honored. Ripken was chosen by Oriole fans in the 2006 DHL Hometown Heroes poll. The stretch of Interstate 395 near Camden Yards is named Cal Ripken Way.
The Orioles have not retired any numbers from the Browns, nor elected any to their team Hall of Fame. Even if they wanted to, who would they take? The Browns' only real members of the big Hall of Fame in Cooperstown were shortstop Bobby Wallace and 1st baseman George Sisler, and they played before numbers were worn. When the 1st All-Star Game was played, only 1 Browns player was selected, Sam West. And that was the highlight of his career.
There is a museum partially dedicated to the team, which I'll describe in more detail in "Sidelights."
The Orioles have plaques on Eutaw Street for every home run hit there. It's been done 88 times. It's been done 9 times by 6 Yankees: Paul O'Neill in 1996, Jason Giambi in 2005, Johnny Damon in 2007, Giambi again on back-to-back days in 2008, Robinson Cano later in 2008, Nick Swisher in 2011, Curtis Granderson in 2012, and Granderson again in 2013.
The rivalry with the nearby Washington Nationals, begun in 2005 when the former Montreal Expos arrived in our Nation's Capital, is known as the Beltway Series or the Battle of the Beltways, since both cities are known for being surrounded by a freeway "Beltway" (Interstates 695 and 495, respectively.)
There is no trophy given to the annual winner. Lucky for the Nats: If there was one, the Nats would have won it only in 2007 and 2018; the O's in 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016; and there were ties in 2006, 2008, 2011 and 2017. In individual games, the O's lead 39-31, and 7-2-4 in seasons.
Baltimore Sun cartoonist Mike Ricigliano's interpretation
In contrast, the Orioles' rivalry with the Yankees means much more to them than it does to us. Counting yesterday's season opener, the Yankees have won 591 times, the Orioles 489. They battled us for the single-division American League Pennant in 1960 and 1964, and have done so for the AL Eastern Division title in 1970, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1996, 1997 and 2012.
Particularly notable is 1980, when the Yankees won 103 games, so, with no Wild Card berth available for the Playoffs in those days, the Orioles, winners of 100 games, were out. From 1977 to 1980, the O's averaged 97 wins a season, but only won the Division once, in 1979.
Stuff. Souvenir stands dot the Camden Yards concourses every few yards, and when I was there in June 2010, some of them sold Yankee T-shirts as well as Oriole gear. I don't know if they do this for other teams -- I haven't been there for a game with an Oriole opponent other than the Yankees since 1999 -- but while I appreciate the effort to pander to visiting fans, I also find it troubling: It suggests that they think that their own stuff might not be good enough.
The Warehouse includes a team store, but if you're looking for nostalgia items, your luck will be limited. They do see B. Robinson 5, Ripken 8, F. Robinson 20, Palmer 22 and Murray 33 jerseys, but that's about it.
If you're looking for Oriole history DVDs, forget it, although it probably shouldn't be too hard, somewhere nearby, to find the official World Series highlight films, sold in an Orioles package of 1966, 1970 and 1983. While a 40th Anniversary video was released on VHS in 1994, there appears not to have been a DVD released for the 50th in 2004 or the 60th in 2014. There a commemorative DVD for Ripken, though.
As for books, the best single-volume history of the team is Baltimore Orioles: 60 Years of Magic, written by Jim Henneman and Jim Palmer. It was updated in 2015 to include the previous season's run to the ALCS. Henneman, now 81 years old, worked in the Triple-A Orioles' clubhouse at Municipal Stadium before it was converted into Memorial Stadium, worked in the press box after the conversion, and wrote for the Baltimore News American and the Baltimore Sun, and thinks he's seen more Orioles games than anyone.
Published in 2015 was Skipper Supreme: Buck Showalter and the Baltimore Orioles, by Todd Karpovich and Jeff Seidel. Begging the question, how can a skipper be supreme if, in 26 seasons, with 4 different teams, he's never won a Pennant?
During the Game. A recent
Thrillist article on "
Baseball's Most Intolerable Fans" ranked Oriole fans 25th -- in other words, the 6th most tolerable. They're right: You do not need to fear wearing your Yankee gear to Camden Yards. Although Baltimore is an old, tough, gritty Northeastern city, home to two tough, gritty, much-honored TV crime dramas (
Homicide: Life On the Street and
The Wire), their fans will not fight you or provoke you into a fight. O's fans are generally classy. And they know the game, and they don't want to ruin their experience by mixing it up with outsiders.
They will, however, boo you and your fellow Yankee Fans when you chant, "Let's Go Yankees!" They don't like it when you (and Red Sox fans, and, with Interleague play coming in, fans of the Mets, Phillies and Nats) take over their ballpark, but they know fighting isn't the answer. This is something some Red Sox fans have yet to learn.
Every Monday and Thursday home game, including this Thursday's game with the Yankees, former Orioles players will sign autographs on Eutaw Street as part of the Orioles Alumni Autograph Series, beginning 1 1/2 hours before game time. (In case of inclement weather, location will be on the lower concourse near home plate fan assistance.)
Every Friday home game is Student Night, where students of any age with a valid school ID can purchase discounted Left Field Upper Reserve tickets for just $10. Friday games are also Fireworks Nights. Every Sunday home game, including this Sunday's game with the Yankees, is a Kids Run the Bases Day.
The Thursday game, the Orioles' home opener, will feature a schedule magnet giveaway. The Saturday night game will be feature a pregame tribute to the late Frank Robinson, still -- more so than Brooks Robinson or Cal Ripken -- the most important player in the team's history. A later game against the Yankees, on Tuesday, May 21, will be Game of Thrones Night. I guess they forgot that the Yankees are the kings in the North -- but then, GoT creator George R.R. Martin is a Mets fan.
There is one thing that might bother you at the start of the game. "The Star-Spangled Banner," played at baseball games since at least 1918 and our official National Anthem since 1931, was written in Baltimore, by city resident Francis Scott Key, following the Battle of Fort McHenry on September 14, 1814. The city's connection with the song remains strong, and since the 1979 Pennant season, it has been a tradition at Orioles games for fans to yell out the "Oh" in the line, "Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave." In this case, "O" is short for "Oriole."
It was started in the upper deck of Section 34, on the 1st base side of Memorial Stadium, by a woman named Mary Powers. Nearby was Wild Bill Hagy, the cabdriver from neighboring Dundalk, known for his physical resemblance to Hank Williams Jr. and his body-spelling "O-R-I-O-L-E-S" cheer. He picked it up, and soon the entire section, and by the postseason the entire stadium, was doing it.
In theory, this is cute. In actual practice, I find it grossly offensive. It trivializes the event the song commemorates. My 1st visit for a Yanks-O's game was on September 11, 2004. As Baltimore was still (for 3 more weeks, anyway) the closest MLB team to D.C., they had Pentagon rescue workers throw out the ceremonial first ball to some Yankees, representing New York and the World Trade Center. But when they sang the "O!" I said, "Not today, people!" They still do it.
To make matters worse, this is done at other sporting events. I heard it in September 2009 when Rutgers went down to the University of Maryland to play football. I understand: While the College Park campus is inside the Capital Beltway, UM wouldn't be the athletic powerhouse it's become without kids from Baltimore City and Baltimore County.
I heard it in the summer of 2006 when the Yankees played the Washington Nationals in an Interleague game at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, and I heard it again that Autumn when I went to see the New Jersey Devils play the Washington Capitals at the Verizon Center.
Baltimore doesn't have an NHL team, and never has, although they briefly had the Baltimore Blades in the World Hockey Association. And a lot of Nats fans grew up with the O's as their MLB team, and old habits die hard. But the D.C.-area natives booed the hell out of the "O!" shouters at both the Nats game and the Caps game. (At the former, the Nats trailed the Yankees 8-2 but came back to win, 9-8, oy; at the latter, the Devils embarrassed the Caps, 4-1.)
I've never been to a basketball game in the D.C. area -- Washington Bullets/Wizards, University of Maryland, Georgetown University or George Mason University -- but I have it on good authority that the "O!" is done at games of the Ravens, the minor-league Aberdeen Ironbirds (owned by the Ripken brothers, adjacent to their Havre de Grace hometown), and the minor-league Norfolk Tides, even before it became the Orioles' top farm club in 2007.
From 1969 to 2006, the Tides, previously known as the Tidewater Tides, was a Met farm club. That's 240 miles from Camden Yards, but apparently they still do the "O!" I don't know if they do it on at Delmarva Shorebirds games in Salisbury on the Eastern Shore. (They're in the Lakewood BlueClaws' league, and not far from Ocean City, Maryland. Maybe I'll check them out someday.)
At any rate, the Orioles hold auditions to sing the Anthem, instead of having a regular singer. When they closed Memorial Stadium in 1991, they asked the fans to sing it a cappella before the next-to-last game, and they had the Baltimore Colt Marching Band play it before the very last. (Both times, the fans shouted out the "O!" They became the Marching Ravens when the new stadium opened in 1998.)
During the team's final regular season homestand, and during the postseason if they make it, in a tradition they started at Memorial Stadium during the 1979 postseason, the Orioles fly a copy of the 15-star, 15-stripe flag made famous by the Battle of Fort McHenry, the original "Star-Spangled Banner," and the First Army Band plays the National Anthem.
The center field scoreboard is sponsored by the Baltimore Sun. Note the Oriole weathervanes at the corners, the big block letter "THE" and "SUN" flanking the paper's "Light for All" coat of arms, and a clock on top of that with the BALTIMORE SUN letters taking the place of the numbers.
May 24, 2014. The Oroles lost to Cleveland, 9-0.
You're reading that right: The O's gave up the DH that day.
Another tradition that started in 1979 was the mascot: The Oriole Bird (or just "The Bird") was hatched out of a giant egg on the field at the home opener, trying to ride the Seventies successes of the San Diego Chicken and the Phillie Phanatic. His head was designed to look like the Oriole logo used on the team's caps from 1966 to 1988, and again since 2012. (Note: With that cap, the O's have reached the postseason 10 times; with all other cap designs, twice.) However, more often than not these days, he wears a cap with the "O's" logo.
The Bird, with Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal
At the 7th inning stretch, after they sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," they go into "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" by John Denver. It was suggested by shortstop Mark Belanger in 1975, as Oriole management was looking for "new songs" to appeal to young fans. During the 1979 World Series, Denver himself came to Memorial Stadium and sang it from the top of the Oriole dugout, along with the Oriole Bird mascot.
John Denver, on a later visit to Camden Yards
I hate that song. And it makes no sense for them. Come on, Baltimore, you're a Northeastern city of over 600,000 people. You're supposed to be tough and urban. You've got a subway, for crying out loud. Stop with this "country boy" nonsense!
Well, you got you a wife, she's a cousin you diddle...
This is what a real oriole looks like.
During the Orioles' heyday in the 1970s, a club song, appropriately titled "Orioles Magic (Feel It Happen)," was composed by Walt Woodward, and they play it after home wins.
After the Game. Don't worry about Oriole fans talking trash to you if they manage to beat you. A few might, but most won't. This isn't Boston. It isn't even Toronto, where the Blue Jays fans take a lot more liberties than their team has earned (since 1993, anyway).
If you want to get a drink before or after the game, there are plenty of choices near the ballpark, including Slider's Bar & Grill (504 Washington Blvd.), Pickles' Pub (520 Washington Blvd.), and the Goddess (38 S. Eutaw Street -- I realize that the last one's name makes it sound like a strip club, or maybe a lesbian bar, but it's neither). Going to Harborplace for a late meal/snack/drink only works for day games, as they close at 9:00 at night.
Smaltimore is a bar known as a hangout for Yankees and football Giants fans. 2522 Fait Avenue, in the neighborhood of Canton, east of downtown. Bus 7 from downtown. No Idea Tavern is known to cater to Jets fans. 1649 S. Hanover Street, in Federal Hill, south of downtown. Bus 1, 3 or 64 from downtown.
Royal Farms, a.k.a. RoFo, a convenience store chain similar to 7-Eleven, has stores throughout Maryland, Delaware, Virginia and Pennsylvania. The closest one to the ballpark is at 36 Light Street, at Lombard Street. Actually, the Royal Farms Arena is closer. (Someone told me they're Baltimore's answer to Wawa, but they're really not, because they don't have the range of specialty sandwiches, bowls and drinks that Wawa has.)
If you came to Baltimore by Amtrak, and you're
not spending the night, be advised that the last train of the night leaves Penn Station at 10:54 PM (and arrives at New York's Penn Station at 1:40 AM), and since Yanks-O's games tend to last over 3 hours, you could be in trouble. You could take Bus 36, leaving from Baltimore Street & Eutaw Street (4 blocks north of the ballpark) at 10:21; Bus 11, leaving from Hopkins Place & Pratt Street leaving at 10:23 (2 blocks east of Eutaw, going southbound before turning left at Conway Street and again at Charles Street to head north); Bus 3, leaving from Charles Street & Pratt Street in front of Kona Grill (4 blocks east of Eutaw) at 10:24; or the Light Rail at 10:16.
If you're trying the Light Rail, make sure you go to Convention Center station (
not Camden Yards), on Howard Street between Conway & Pratt Streets, and get on a train marked "PENN STATION," so you'll be taken directly into the station. Do
not get on a train marked "MT. WASHINGTON" or "HUNT VALLEY," or you'll end up in the suburbs of Baltimore County. They might be a nice place to visit, but not now.
If your visit to Baltimore is during the European soccer season, which has now ended and will start again in August, the best bar in town to watch your team is probably Slainte Irish Pub and Restaurant. (The name is the Gaelic toast, meaning "health," roughly equivalent to "Salud," "L'chaim," "Na zdrowie," and so on.) 1700 Thames Street, in Fell's Point. Bus 10 or 11.
Sidelights. Despite currently having only 2 major league sports teams -- the metro area could probably support another -- Baltimore is a city with a rich sports history.
Just to the east of the ballpark is Camden Station, the former terminal of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. (If you play Monopoly, this was the B&O Railroad.) From 2005 to 2015, it was home to the Sports Legends Museum at Camden Yards. However, the Museum's lease ran out, and it closed.
* M&T Bank Stadium. The home of the Baltimore Ravens since 1998 is part of the Camden Yards complex, just to the south of Oriole Park, separated by a ramp from I-395 that becomes Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Its official address is 1101 Russell Street.
M&T Bank Stadium, with Oriole Park behind it,
and downtown Baltimore behind that
It has hosted 2 Super Bowl winners, but not yet a Super Bowl. It has hosted several games by touring international soccer clubs, and 2 games of the U.S. national soccer team: A July 21, 2013 win over El Salvador, and a July 18, 2015 win over Cuba. It has hosted the Army-Navy Game in 2000, 2007, 2014 and 2016. It has been selected by the U.S. Soccer Federation as a finalist to be one of the host venues for the 2026 World Cup.
* Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum. Three blocks from the ballpark, to the west, at 216 Emory Street, is the rowhouse where the Great Bambino was born on February 6, 1895. It, and the rowhouse next door, are now the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Baltimore Orioles Museum.
The Museum features exhibits on the Babe, and on the history of baseball in the City of Baltimore and the State of Maryland. It's open 10 AM to 5 PM, Tuesday through Sunday -- but not at all on Mondays -- meaning you can visit before Orioles home games, even on Sundays (but not Mondays).
* Baltimore Civic Center. Also 3 blocks away from the ballpark, to the north, bounded by Baltimore, Howard and Lombard Streets and Hopkins Place, is the Royal Farms Arena, formerly known as the Baltimore Civic Center.
This arena, built in 1962, hosted the NBA's Baltimore Bullets (now the Washington Wizards) from 1963 to 1973; the Beatles on September 13, 1964; Elvis Presley on November 9, 1971 and May 29, 1977; and Martin Luther King's "Race and the Church" speech in 1966.
The American Basketball Association team known as the New Orleans Buccaneers, the Memphis Pros, the Memphis Tams and the Memphis Sounds, was supposed to play the 1975-76 season there as the Baltimore Claws. They played 3 exhibition games: In Salisbury, Maryland; in Cherry Hill, New Jersey; and at Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Maryland. They never did play in Baltimore, or in a regular-season game: Financially, the team was a disaster, and the Civic Center's management padlocked their offices. They folded right before the season began, and that's the last time Baltimore had a basketball team that even pretended to be major league.
The Baltimore area appears not to have forgiven the Bullets/Wizards for heading down the Baltimore-Washington Parkway over 40 years ago: According to recent polls, NBA fandom in Baltimore seems to be divided between the Los Angeles Lakers, the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat. Indeed, even in D.C. itself, the Wizards only have plurality support, as most of the people working for the federal government and living in the D.C. metro area have kept their hometown fandom, often rooting against the Wizards at the Verizon Center. (This is also a problem for the Nationals and Capitals, and used to be one for the Washington Senators. Not so much for the Redskins: They own the town, far more than any politician ever has.) Nevertheless, the Wizards, playing 37 miles from the Inner Harbor, remain the closest NBA team.
The closest that Charm City has ever had to having a major league hockey team was in 1975, when the Michigan Stags of the World Hockey Association folded, and the WHA sold the team to Baltimore buyers, and they played out of the Civic Center, winning only 3 out of 17 games before folding for good after the season.
According to an article in the January 8, 2016 edition of Business Insider, the Capitals are the most popular NHL team in the State of Maryland, despite the success of the nearby Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Arena has been a mainstay in minor-league hockey in the Northeast, featuring the Baltimore Clippers (1962-77), the Baltimore Skipjacks (1981-93), and the Baltimore Bandits (1995-97). But despite also having hosted arena football, indoor soccer (the Baltimore Blast won the 1984 Major Indoor Soccer League title, and a newer version has won 7 league titles), lacrosse (a popular sport in Maryland), and concerts, the only current tenant is the reborn Blast.
If Baltimore ever did get a new NBA team, the metro area would rank 20th in population among NBA markets. It would also rank 20th among NHL teams. It does not appear that the Washington teams would claim territorial rights and block such a team being placed in Charm City.
The problem with the arena isn't its condition: Despite its age, it's in good shape. The problem is the cramped conditions, with narrow concourses, not enough concession stands and restrooms, and the installation of wider seats has reduced the capacity to 11,271. (To put that in perspective: The smallest current NBA arena in New Orleans, 16,867; in the NHL, Winnipeg with 15,294.) Several plans to replace it have been floated, but none has been approved.
* Site of Memorial Stadium. "The Insane Asylum on 33rd Street" (1954-2002), and its predecessor Municipal Stadium (1922-1953), were at 900 E. 33rd Street, at Ellerslie Avenue. It hosted the minor-league Orioles from 1944 to 1953, the major-league Orioles from 1954 to 1991, the Colts from 1947 to 1950 and again from 1953 to 1983, the Canadian Football League's Baltimore Stallions in 1994 and 1995, and the NFL's Ravens in 1996 and 1997.
The Army-Navy Game was played on the site as Municipal Stadium in 1924 and 1944. Memorial Stadium didn't host the Army-Navy Game, but it did host a few University of Maryland football games. (Despite having the Baltimore name, the USFL's Stars, in their last season of 1985, actually played at UMd's Byrd Stadium, closer to Washington.)
It hosted the home leg of the Baltimore Bays' 1967 National Professional Soccer League Final against the Oakland Clippers, but the Clippers won the title in the Oakland leg. It hosted 2 U.S. soccer games, a 1972 draw with Canada and, in one of its last events, a 1997 loss to Ecuador.
Senior citizen housing has gone up on the site. The Number 3 bus goes up Charles Street and turns right onto 33rd.
* Hughes Memorial Stadium. This 10,000-seat stadium has been the home field of Morgan State University since 1937. 1700 E. Cold Spring Lane, at Morgan State Campus Road. CityLink Silver Line to Cold Spring & Fenwick.
The Bears have won black college football's National Championship 7 times: 1933, 1937, 1943, 1944, 1946, 1949 and 1967. They were frequently participants in the Whitney M. Young Jr. Urban League Classic, an annual game between historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), which was held between 1971 and 2015, first at Yankee Stadium, then at Shea during Yankee Stadium's renovation, then at Yankee Stadium again, and from 1986 onward at the Meadowlands, first at Giants Stadium, and finally at MetLife Stadium.
* Previous Baltimore Ballparks. Before Camden Yards, before Memorial Stadium, and before Municipal Stadium on the same site as the preceding, teams named the Baltimore Orioles played at several other locations:
* 1872 to 1890, Newington Park: 2301 Pennsylvania Avenue, in the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood in West Baltimore. Metro to Penn North, or Bus 7.
* 1891 to 1899, Union Park: 2500 Guilford Avenue. The National League Orioles won 3 Pennants here, and nearly 2 others.
* 1901 to 1915, Oriole Park: 400 Ilchester Avenue. The 1st American League Orioles played their desultory 1901 and '02 seasons here. Then the International League Orioles were founded. This was Babe Ruth's 1st professional home field.
* 1914 to 1944, also called Oriole Park: 2900 Barclay Street. The Federal League's Baltimore Terrapins played here in 1914 and '15, and when the FL folded, the IL Orioles made the short move in. But they had to leave after a fire on July 4, 1944, and played at Municipal Stadium until its conversion to Memorial Stadium, allowing the St. Louis Browns to restore the city to the majors.
Union Park, home of the Hanlon-McGraw-Keeler 1890s Orioles
These last 3 locations are in the Venable Park neighborhood north of downtown, not far from the site of Municipal and Memorial Stadiums. They can be reached from downtown by Bus 3, and are about a 10-minute walk apart. Worth visiting in daylight, but I wouldn't do it at night.
Oriole Park, before the 1944 fire
The Baltimore Black Sox, Negro League Pennant winners in 1929, played at Maryland Baseball Park, at Russell Street and Brush Street, across from where the Greyhound Terminal now stands, south of Camden Yards.
The Baltimore Elite Giants (that's pronounced EE-lite, not El-EET) played there, and at the 1914-44 Oriole Park, and at Municipal Stadium, but played most of their home games at Bugle Field. Led by Hall-of-Famers Leon Day and Roy Campanella, and later by Campy's future Brooklyn Dodger teammates Jim Gilliam and Joe Black, they won Pennants in 1939 and 1949, but losing players to the major leagues after integration knocked them out, and they folded in 1950, playing that last year at Municipal Stadium. Bugle Field was at 1601 Edison Highway, at Federal Street, 3 miles northeast of downtown. Bus 5.
* Pimlico Race Course. This track opened in 1870, with a race won by a horse named Preakness. In 1873, the Preakness Stakes began to be run there. It became the 2nd leg of U.S. thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown. It was the site of the 1938 match race between 1937 Triple Crown winner War Admiral (son of Man o' War) and his own nephew, underdog-turned-folk hero Seabiscuit. Seabiscuit famously won. 5201 Park Heights Avenue. Metro to Rogers Station, then Bus 44.
* Site of Baltimore Coliseum. This 4,500-seat arena opened in 1930. The original Baltimore Bullets began playing there in 1944, won the American Basketball League title in 1946, joined the Basketball Association of America in 1947, won the title in 1948 under player-coach Buddy Jeannette, became part of the NBA after the merger of the BAA with the National Basketball League in 1949, and folded in 1954.
The Baltimore Coliseum in its final days
The Coliseum closed after the Civic Center opened in 1962, but wasn't torn down until 2008. An auto parts store is on the site now. 1750 Windsor Avenue, in the Penn-North neighborhood. Metro to Penn-North.
* CCBC Essex Stadium. Baltimore's current professional soccer team is FC Baltimore Cristos, a merger between smaller teams FC Baltimore 1729 and Christos FC. They play in the National Professional Soccer League, now the 4th tier of American soccer, at Essex Stadium on the campus of Community College of Baltimore County. 7201 Rossville Blvd., in Essex, about 9 miles northeast of downtown. Bus 56.
When Washington's MLS team, D.C. United, was having trouble getting a new stadium built in the District, Baltimore's Mayor at the time, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, made them an offer, and it looked like they might move. They did, however, get a new stadium site in the District. Still, New York Red Bulls fans continue to taunt them as "Baltimore United."
As I said, the Royal Farms Arena is home to the Baltimore Blast. The Baltimore Bays played in the old North American Soccer League, but couldn't come close to filling Memorial Stadium. That's the last time the city had a "top flight" outdoor soccer team.
* Site of St. Mary's Industrial School. If the old Yankee Stadium was "The House That Ruth Built," St. Mary's Industrial School was "The House That Built Ruth." From 1866 to 1950, including Ruth's residence from 1902 to 1914, it was a combination orphange, vo-tech school, and reform school. After a fire burned down all but one building on the campus in 1919, the Babe took the school's band on tour to raise funds for new buildings.
The Babe continued to donate to the only school he ever knew, until his death in 1948. But declining enrollment, and the Babe's no longer being available to raise money for it, led to its closing in 1950. The Archdiocese of Baltimore, recognizing its place in the local Catholic community, bought the campus, and in 1962 opened Cardinal Gibbons High School on the site. (James Gibbons was Archbishop of Baltimore from 1877 until his death in 1921, and likely knew Ruth. After John McCloskey of New York, he was only the 2nd U.S.-based Cardinal in the Church.)
But "CG," too, faced declining enrollment, and closed in 2010. Adjacent St. Agnes Hospital bought the site, and is expanding on the land, while keeping the athletic facilities, including Babe Ruth Field, the spot where little George Herman Ruth Jr. learned to play that game for which his legend still does more than it even did for him. 3225 Wilkens Avenue, in the Morrell Park neighborhood in West Baltimore. Bus 35.
* New Cathedral Cemetery. Several of the 1890s Orioles are buried here, including John McGraw, who went on to become the legendary manager of the New York Giants. (Willie Keeler, who played for all 3 of the old New York teams as well as the "Old Orioles," and was the Yankees' 1st superstar from 1903 to 1909, is not: He's buried at Calvary Cemetery in Queens.) 4300 Old Frederick Road, west of downtown. Bus 20 from downtown.
* Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens. Colts legend Johnny Unitas is buried here. So is Spiro Agnew, Richard Nixon's 1st Vice President, who had served as Governor of Maryland and Chief Executive of Baltimore County, and had to resign the Vice Presidency in 1973 (during the baseball Playoffs) because of crimes committed while serving in each of those offices.
200 E. Padonia Road, in the northern suburb of Timonium, Baltimore County. Metro to Fairgrounds Station, then transfer to Bus 9 to York Road, then a 1-mile walk east on Padonia.
* Edgar Allan Poe. The author of, among other things, the poem "The Raven," for which the city's NFL team is named, Poe lived at a few different places in Baltimore. The official Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum is at 203 N. Amity Street, about half a mile west of Charles Center. CityLink Orange to Fayette & Schroeder. He is buried a few blocks away, at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 515 W. Fayette Street. CityLink Orange to Fayette & Greene.
When he was found, 4 days before his death, incoherent, he was taken to Washington Medical College, where he died. The original structure, now Church Home and Hospital, still stands at 100 N. Broadway. CityLink Orange to Fayette & Broadway.
* Inner Harbor. No visit to Baltimore is complete without a trip to the Inner Harbor, home to the Harborplace mall. James Rouse, who revitalized New York's South Street Seaport and Boston's Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market, and designed Philadelphia's Gallery at Market East Station (now Jefferson Station), was from Baltimore, and he wanted to give his hometown the best one of all.
He may have succeeded. Aside from the Orioles team store, the highlight may be The Fudgery, where the people making and serving the fudge sing all day. Harborplace is at the intersection of Light & Pratt Streets, and there's a Light Street Pavilion (with mostly food and tourist trinkets) and a Pratt Street Pavilion (with mostly clothes).
To the east of Harborplace is the USS
Constellation museum, a pentagonal skyscraper named the World Trade Center (Boston, Montreal and San Francisco also have buildings with that name we so often associated with New York from 1973 onward), the National Aquarium, a Hard Rock Café, the Pier Six concert Pavilion, and the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House at 844 E. Pratt Street.
The Flag House is where the 15-star, 15-stripe Fort McHenry flag that "was still there" was sewn, not where it is now (it's at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington), and it's also a museum dedicated to the War of 1812 and Baltimore's pivotal role in that conflict, for which 200th Anniversary commemorations were held from 2012 to 2015.
Beyond that is Fell's Point, which is Baltimore's Little Italy, and is loaded with kitschy stores and bars. To the south of Harborplace is the Maryland Science Center, the American Visionary Art Museum (not to be confused with the Baltimore Museum of Art), and Federal Hill, a neighborhood which is the closest thing Baltimore has to a Greenwich Village, a neat (as in both "tidy" and "cool") place to walk around when you've got an hour or two with nothing to do until it's time to go to the game.
Federal Hill includes the South Street Seaport-ish Cross Street Market, and my favorite Baltimore watering hole, the Abbey Burger Bistro. Officially, it's at 1041 Marshall Street, but don't let that fool you: It's actually in a short alley off Cross Street between Light and Patapsco Streets, giving it the allure of an English-style pub. This is one of the reasons it's the home of the Charm City Gooners, the local supporters club of my favorite English soccer team, London's Arsenal FC. Like such new-to-New York chains as The Counter and Five Napkin Burger, you can build your own burger, and it caters to fans of the Orioles and Ravens; but they will put up with Yankee Fans if they're also Arsenal fans. And (assuming you have time either before or after the game), it's a reasonable walk from both the ballpark and the Greyhound terminal on Haines Street.
* Museums. I mentioned the USS
Constellation, the Flag House, the National Aquarium and the Maryland Science Center. The Baltimore Museum of Art is one of the most renowned in the country. 10 Art Museum Drive, in the Wyman Park neighborhood, adjacent to the main campus of Johns Hopkins University. Their Archaeological Museum may also be worth a visit. Bus 3.
But if there's one thing people know about Baltimore, aside from its sports history, it's Fort McHenry National Monument, where the U.S. Army held off the British fleet on September 13, 1814, inspiring Francis Scott Key -- on one of the British ships, as he had gone, as a lawyer, to negotiate for the release of a prisoner of war -- to write "The Defence of Fort M'Henry," which was given the tune of an old English drinking song, "To Anacreon in Heaven," and became known as "The Star-Spangled Banner."
It was named for James McHenry, a physician, a member of the Continental Congress, a signer of the Constitution of the United States, and Secretary of War under Presidents George Washington and John Adams. Last year, on May 3, 1816, was the 200th Anniversary of his death, and the Orioles hosted the Yankees on the day. The Orioles won, 4-1.
The Fort was established in 1800, and continued as a U.S. Army base during the American Civil War. In World War I, in a move that Dr. McHenry would have appreciated, it became an Army hospital, treating returning veterans from the fields of France and Flanders. It was proclaimed a National Monument in 1939. It was where the 1st official 50-star U.S. flag was flown on July 4, 1960, and that flag is still on the grounds, as is the "storm flag" that actually flew during the battle, replaced by the much-larger "garrison flag" when the battle ended -- the flag that Key saw and is at the Smithsonian now. 2400 E. Fort Avenue. Bus 1.
The closest college sports programs are the University of Maryland in College Park, 28 miles to the southwest; and the U.S. Naval Academy in the State capital of Annapolis, 25 miles to the southeast.
UMd's Cole Field House hosted the 1966 and 1970 NCAA Final Fours. The 1966 Final featured Texas-El Paso (then Texas Western), a Southern school with an all-black starting lineup, beating Kentucky, a Southern school with an all-white starting five, one of the landmark games in basketball. The 1970 Final had UCLA beating Jacksonville University. UMd played there from 1955 to 2002, when they moved to the XFINITY Center (formerly the Comcast Center).
UMd's Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium, known as Byrd Stadium from 1950 to 2015, was where the Baltimore Stars played their 1985 USFL Championship season, because, as a condition of the settlement between the city and Colts owner Bob Irsay for moving the team to Indianapolis, no pro football team could play at Memorial Stadium until 1986. However, to get to UMd's campus without a car, you'd be better off taking Greyhound or Amtrak from Baltimore to Washington, and then taking D.C.'s Metro up to College Park; or you could take MARC from Camden Station to College Park.
The Naval Academy is a military base, so you should go to their website to check for visitor information. There is a museum on the campus. For those of you who are New Jersey Devils fans, the team's founding owner, Dr. John McMullen, was a graduate, and a naval engineer, and the school's hockey arena is named for him.
Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium seats 34,000, and has hosted Navy football and Academy graduation ceremonies since 1959. It hosted an NHL Stadium Series game on March 3, 2018, with the host Washington Capitals beating the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2.
550 Taylor Avenue. Bus 64 to Patapsco Avenue & Potee Street, then transfer to Bus 14. The trip takes a little over 2 hours, even though it's only 33 road miles, so you might be better off driving if you can.
Maryland has never produced a President (although Jimmy Carter was an Annapolis graduate), so there's no Presidential Birthplace or Presidential Library. The closest they've come, sadly, is the aforementioned Spiro Agnew. Martin O'Malley, Mayor of Baltimore from 1999 to 2007, and Governor of Maryland from 2007 to 2015, ran for the Democratic nomination for President last year, but dropped out after finishing a distant 3rd behind Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in both Iowa and New Hampshire.
Baltimore does, however, have its own Washington Monument, the 1st monument to the 1st President, completed in 1829, just 30 years after George Washington's death. It's 178 feet tall, and is the centerpiece of Mount Vernon Place, itself the centerpiece of the Mount Vernon neighborhood, named for Washington's home, north of downtown Baltimore. 699 Washington Place, at Charles & Monument Streets. Any bus that goes up Charles.
The Democratic Party made its 2nd attempt at an 1860 Convention, after a disastrous 1st one in Charleston, South Carolina, at the Front Street Theatre. It nominated Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. He lost to the man he beat in his last Senate run in 1858, Abraham Lincoln, the 1st President elected as a member of the Republican Party. The Republicans held their 1864 Convention at the same theater, renominating Lincoln. Built in 1829, it was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1904. A hotel now stands on the site. Southwest corner of Front & Low Streets.
That was the only time the Republicans have had their Convention in Baltimore, but the Democrats frequently held theirs in Baltimore in the early days. They held the 1st-ever national nominating convention in 1832, renominating President Andrew Jackson, at the Athenaeum, at 110 St. Paul Street, where the Quality Inn now stands. Their 1840 Convention, renominating President Martin Van Buren, was held at Odd Fellows Hall, where the current City Hall stands at 100 Holliday Street.
Their 1852 Convention, nominating Franklin Pierce, was at the Maryland Institute, at Howard & Dolphin Streets, at the southern edge of the current MI campus, near that of the University of Baltimore and Penn Station. Mount Royal Station is on the site. Their 1872 Convention, nominating Horace Greeley, was at Ford's Grand Opera House (run by John T. Ford, who also ran Ford's Theatre in Washington, where Lincoln was killed), at 300 W. Fayette Street. Retail space is on the site now.
Their 1912 Convention, nominating Woodrow Wilson, was at the Fifth Regiment Armory, the only one of these buildings that still stands. 219 29th Division Street, on the opposite corner of Howard & Dolphin from the 1852 Convention site. Light Rail to Cultural Center.
Baltimore doesn't have a lot of tall buildings. The tallest is the Transamerica Tower, built in 1973 as the USF&G Building and later the Legg Mason Building, at 100 Light Street at Lombard Street, 528 feet high. It succeeded the old Baltimore Trust Company Building, now the Bank of America Building, built in 1924 at 509 feet, at 10 Light Street at Baltimore Street.
Don't look for TV locations from Baltimore. The best-known series set there are
Homicide: Life on the Street and
The Wire, and they were mainly set in bad neighborhoods. In particular, stay away from the west side, and the neighborhoods to the north, east and south of the Memorial Stadium site. (This includes between downtown and the old Stadium site.)
Because the Orioles were the closest team to the nation's capital from 1972 to 2004, and Ronald Reagan revived the tradition of Presidents throwing out the first ball to start the season at Memorial Stadium in 1984, and especially after Camden Yards opened in 1992, giving closer access to D.C., TV shows and movies that want to show government officials at a ballgame have used Baltimore. The films
Dave and
Head of State, and the TV shows
The West Wing, Commander in Chief, and
House of Cards have shown fictional Presidents throwing out first balls. Camden Yards was used as the Cleveland Indians' ballpark in
Major League II, and it was also shown on
The Wire and
Eastbound & Down.
The movie version of Tom Clancy's
The Sum of All Fears shows the Super Bowl taking place in Baltimore, at M&T Bank Stadium, with the city being destroyed by a nuclear blast, but the stadium scenes were filmed at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. In the book, the Super Bowl was set at Mile High Stadium in Denver. Neither Baltimore nor Denver has yet hosted a Super Bowl in real life, probably due to weather concerns, although with the Meadowlands having pulled it off in decent weather, and with both Baltimore and Denver having new stadiums, maybe the NFL should them a try.
*
Baltimore's Sunday games are usually 1:35 starts, barring switches due to
ESPN Sunday Night Baseball; while all other home games, including Saturday games, are 7:35 starts.
Good luck, and have fun!
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