Oriole Park at Camden Yards, 2019 Topps #441

I wonder when this stadium will be full again. At the rate we're going, it certainly doesn't look like it will even host baseball games without fans in 2020. You can thank the billionaire owners for that one.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards, 2004 Maryland Lottery #32

I am safely at home tonight, and I hope anyone that reads this blog is safe as well.

Remember that violence doesn't solve anything. But also remember that media outlets can't be relied on to tell the full, unvarnished truth. And read the words of John Angelos, who eloquently pointed out that the disturbing current events in our city and elsewhere have long, insidious roots.

Be good to one another.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards, 2009 Topps Orioles Team Set #BAL15

I'll be here tomorrow. Of course, now there's a rooftop bar, a statue courtyard in the picnic area, and a lot more fans in the stands, but Oriole Park at Camden Yards remains the same ballpark that the baseball world loved when it opened 22 years ago. Tampa Bay choked away leads to the Yankees last night and tonight, so it'll take a four-game sweep this weekend for the O's to eliminate New York from the A. L. East race. That's no easy task, even though the Birds clearly have the better team in 2014. But they have to start somewhere, and I'm going to see my first doubleheader tomorrow, so maybe the groundwork will be laid.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards, 2013 Topps Orioles Team Set #BAL-17

We drove back home from Ocean City yesterday afternoon and barely had time to unpack our bags before heading downtown for the Orioles-Yankees game. As my sister and I took our usual place in Section 340, we grimaced as we watched scores of navy blue-clad New York fans filled up the seats around us. There's nothing worse than obnoxious Yankee rooters taking over the ballpark and taunting the local fans as a game slips away; I'm still a bit scarred from Jim Johnson's ninth-inning meltdown on May 20.

I turned to Liz and wished out loud for an O's blowout win. I wouldn't say that I was confident in such a result, but there were some positive signs. The Zach Britton-David Phelps pitching matchup gave the home team a fighting chance, and the Yanks lineup has cratered. Jayson Nix batting second? Vernon Wells cleanup? $200 million doesn't buy much depth these days. We also took solace in the presence of fellow Birds fans immediately to our left and right.

Of course, the Orioles granted my wish in the first inning by hammering Phelps out of the gate. Five batters in, they had a 4-0 lead, courtesy of an Adam Jones RBI single and a towering three-run homer to the Baltimore bullpen by (all together now) Chris Davis. Two innings later, it went from a comfy lead to a laugher, as Chris Dickerson singled in a pair of runs and Ryan Flaherty knocked Phelps out with his own three-run clout to the flag court. The "Let's Go Yank-ees!" chants had been stifled almost before they could begin.

I spent the middle and late innings bonding with a boisterous fan sitting to my right. He was wearing an Adam Jones t-shirt, and had made a rare trip east from Frederick with his wife to see the game. They reserved a hotel room in the city in order to drink and be merry without worrying about getting back home safely. As my new pal treated me to a 16-ounce can of Natty Boh, he told me about his hazy memory of the Orioles' 1983 World Series win. He was only eight years old at the time, and didn't fully comprehend the reason for his mother's excitable dancing in the living room. October 16 just happened to be his mom's birthday, and he assumed that she got a really nice present. I guess she did, actually.

The Yankees got frisky enough to chase Britton and plate a couple of runs in the sixth inning, but when  Davis stepped to the plate with Nick Markakis on first base and two outs in the bottom of the inning, the guy to my right assured the New Yorkers (and wannabe New Yorkers) in our vicinity that it would be 11-2 in a moment. Chris made good on that boast by launching a moon shot over the right field scoreboard for his 30th home run of 2013. Yep, it's still June.

Pedro Strop made his now-customary garbage time appearance in the ninth, but even he proved incapable of coughing up a nine-run lead so late in the game. The Yankees settled for one more run and an 11-3 loss. For me and my sister, vacation lasted a few more hours.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards, 2010 Upper Deck #543

I'm running this as a pre-scheduled post because I am at Oriole Park at Camden Yards today. No, I haven't lost my mind...I know the O's are still in Kansas City. OPACY apparently hosts weddings on occasion, which was previously unbeknownst to me. One such wedding is taking place this morning, and my girlfriend (as a family friend of the groom) and me (as the date of a family friend of the groom) will be there. Given the distressing lack of magic on Eutaw Street in 2010 (the Birds are a league-worst 18-33 at home), I wish the happy couple all the luck in the world. They might need it.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards, 1992 Triple Play #263

Even though the Orioles are opening the 2010 season tonight in some bingo hall in Tampa, they will be packing the fans into this beautiful building on Eutaw Street in just a few more days. Today marks the nineteenth anniversary of the first game ever played in Oriole Park at Camden Yards - April 6, 1992. Then, it was Orioles 2, Indians 0, with veteran offseason acquisition Rick Sutcliffe tossing the shutout. Currently the score is Orioles 2, Rays 0 in the bottom of the fourth inning, with veteran offseason acquisition Kevin Millwood blanking the home team thus far. Coincidence? Nah. Let's go O's!

Oriole Park at Camden Yards (Team Checklist), 1994 Score #317

This is an excellent aerial view of Oriole Park at Camden Yards, which in 1993 hosted my first All-Star Game as a fan, and possibly my favorite. I breathlessly watched all of that year's festivities on television with my Dad. I still remember the excitement of the Home Run Derby, which was much less of a bloated ordeal then compared to today's three-round, three-hour slog. Ken Griffey, Jr. was one of my favorite players at the time, the exciting young star with a million-watt smile. He became the first (and only, as of 2008) player to hit the B & O Warehouse on the fly, on his way to tying Texas slugger Juan Gonzalez with seven home runs. They would have two tiebreaker rounds before Juan Gone emerged victorious, 12-11.

The game itself was nothing short of thrilling for me. It was amazing to see all of the brightest stars, the biggest names in the game, playing in my home town. The Orioles' legendary shortstop, Cal Ripken, Jr., started. Though he went 0-for-3, the American League had no trouble dispatching their National League counterparts, 9-3. Kirby Puckett won the MVP award, hitting a home run and driving in two runs. I remember discussing the game over the phone with my mother, who was watching from a hotel room in Philadelphia; she was on a rare business trip.

Three moments in the game stood out to me, and still do after fifteen years. The first was the classic Randy Johnson-John Kruk confrontation, in which the Big Unit threw his patented fastball about six feet over Kruk's head, causing the first baseman to bail out, fan himself off, and strike out weakly. The second was AL catcher Ivan Rodriguez hitting a drive deep to left field that actually stuck between two sections of padding in the outfield fence; Barry Bonds stood helplessly, staring at the trapped ball. The final moment still lives in Baltimore sports infamy.

Aside from Cal, ace pitcher Mike Mussina was the only All-Star for the O's. Late in the game, Mussina still had not been used. The Baltimore fans rose to their feet and cheered as Moose began to throw in the bullpen, but those cheers turned to boos when AL manager Cito Gaston (of the then-rival Blue Jays) neglected to bring him into the game. Rumor has it that Mike was throwing of his own volition, to stay on schedule going into the second half of the season. However, that hasn't stopped many Charm City fans from holding a grudge against Cito and our neighbors to the north ever since.

I hope the Midsummer Classic returns to Baltimore sooner rather than later, especially since Bud Selig has been awarding the honor to Camden Yards knockoffs ever since.