This is a great ballpark. Easily one of my top five favorites. From the outside, there is lots of brick. They matched the color to an existing warehouse adjacent to the stadium. This is one of two ballparks to use an existing structure into the design of the stadium. [The other being Petco Park and the Western Metal building.] The warehouse is not physically connected to the stadium, but the space between them is used as a wide boardwalk for food and other vendors. Along this boardwalk is a SRO area above right field. When the park first opened they made a certain number of SRO tickets available day-of-game only. This park was relatively inexpensive to build by today’s standards, which keeps ticket prices very reasonable. [By comparison, the new Yankee Stadium cost more than 8.5 times what Camden Yard cost after adjusting for inflation.] There is great access to the park from the surrounding freeways and a mix of stadium lots and private parking.
I have had a positive experience every time I have attended a game here. I attended three games here the third year after the park opened. This was part of my 1994 ballpark tour. We were scheduled to attend two games here. The night before we went to Baltimore, we were in Pittsburgh and saw the Orioles had been rained out. They rescheduled the missed game as a double-header. For our first game, we sat in the lower level in left field [the DH] against the Indians. It was still raining off & on and there was a rain delay. I ate ribs between games from the Babe Ruth BBQ sitting in the stairwell as it rained. To this day, it’s still some of the best ballpark food I’ve eaten. We stayed at a hotel fairly close to the park and had the morning and early afternoon to walk around the harbor. I took the tour of the ballpark. Some of the guys in the tour group [the baseball tour group, not the Camden Yard tour group] scalped better tickets for the second night and offered me one. We sat field level just past first base against the Blue Jays.
Oriole Park is also on my top 5 coldest games I have ever attended. After the 2008 BRBL draft we drove to Baltimore for a game. I sat next to BoCJ’s future wife Yulia. I have attended two games with Yulia, I froze at both, hence the Yulia Curse. [For more on the Yulia Curse, see the ‘new Yankee Stadium’ entry.] There was a big gap in attendance for this stadium, but now that I live in the DC area, I expect to attend more games at this park. Some of the home team players I saw on the first trip in 1994 included Cal Ripken, Rafael Palmeiro, Mike Mussina, and Jack Morris in his last season. For the visiting teams I saw Kenny Lofton, Jim Thome, Albert Belle, Sandy Alomar Jr., Roberto Alomar, Devon White, and Joe Carter.
One my best ballpark experiences happened here in 2009. Try to follow the twisted trail! I was working at NIDA. My boss used to work in St. Louis. One of his former co-workers, and good friend, has a brother-in-law who is a physical therapist. One of the PT’s clients is Luke Scott. Through this connection I am invited to a game. Wilson [now ex-boss but current friend] and I drive to the game. We were running a little late and we met the PT at the entrance behind home plate. We get inside and are in the seats during the first batter of the night. We were in the player’s wives section. Right behind home plate about 20 rows up. It was a fantastic game. The O’s won a 5-4 decision. But that’s not the best part. As we were walking into the park, the PT says he needs to stop at the customer service desk. He gets these blue tags that look like over-sized luggage tags. They are passes to go under the stadium after the game! So we take the elevator to the basement but we’re not allowed into the locker room. There are a few benches in the hall for people to wait for players to come out. As we’re sitting there, Luke sticks his head out the door and sees his friend the PT. He says, “Let me see if it’s OK for you to come into the weight room.” He comes back a few seconds later and invites the three of us inside. Luke and two other players are doing a post-game workout while the Yankee game was on TV. We sat in the team trainer’s office, talking with him, and watching the end of the Yankee game. Since it was a ‘school night’ Wilson and I had to leave to drive back to Bethesda. Luke Scott may never make the HOF and there is a 99.99% chance has no recollection of meeting me, but Thanks Luke! That was an awesome experience for a regular fan of the game. [Big thanks to Wilson and the PT too!]
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