I wasn’t quite sure what to expect of Baltimore. It’s not really a city that gets a lot of press one way or another. I knew it was in Maryland and was home to the Orioles and Ravens and that’s about it. After having experienced it for a day, I can see why. There isn’t too much to be impressed with in this town. Now clearly my experience was limited, and there may be stuff I missed, but I doubt it. So despite an unimpressive city, Oriole Park at Camden Yards was a refreshingly attractive baseball stadium.
We entered from behind home plate at what was a fairly deserted entrance. Since we got four free seats behind home plate for this one, I invited debater/Phi Psi friend from NU and fantasy baseball archenemy Geoff and his roommate Mathias to come up from DC for the game. Once we all arrived, we went to sample Oriole great Boog Powell’s BBQ. It was situated behind the outfield on Eutaw street. I really liked this set up as it allows the fans to walk around and through the entire stadium without ever feeling cramped or funneled through narrow corridors. What’s interesting about Eutaw street is that is is a normal road through the city except for it dead ends and continues to run through the stadium grounds. This provided a very wide open gathering area in between the field proper and the warehouse which runs the length of the stadium. This area housed ample food and beverage options as well as bars and shopping in the warehouse.
The beef bbq was quite good, but as my dad pointed out, we're from Kansas, and nothing beats that.
The view around the stadium from all angles was very appealing. The ballpark definitely has an old timey feel to it, but didn’t lack the modern amenities you find at most of the newer ballparks. Additionally, it appeared that the seating was very compact, meaning that the arrangement of the seats gave the impression of a substantial mass of people. I don’t mean this to mean that there isn’t enough seating room or whatever, but just that it fostered a more intimate atmosphere.
One fun tidbit to look for if you visit the ballpark is the old outfield scoreboard in centerfield. It contains the words “THE SUN,” which is a Baltimore newspaper. Whenever the Orioles get a hit, the “H” flashes and similarly whenever an error is committed the “E” lights up. Kind of hard to see during the day time, but a unique feature that adds to the personality of the park.
Lots of "Hs" today for the Orioles
The most important part of the game came in the 7th inning. Of all the ballparks, the thing I had read about most was the crab cake sandwiches at Orioles Park. Maryland, known for it’s crab, was sure to offer a taste-bud enticing treat not typically found at a ballpark. Despite their $13 asking price AND despite already eating a hefty bbq sandwich, I got the crab. Holy hell, did it live up to it’s reputation. It’s a huge sandwich with large chunks of fresh crab. Each bite was better than the last, and I was kinda pissed I had to share it with my dad. Oh well, it was worth it and I would recommend it to anyone.
The ballgame was a relatively uneventful one, except for the hometeam finally won a game! The usually solid Ervin Santana started for the Angels, who had just acquired slugging first baseman Mark Tiexiera from the Braves, but was beat around by the usually bad Baltimore offense. It was sad to see our streak come to and end, but it did so in an interesting fashion. Prior to this Sunday game, the Orioles had not won at home, on a Sunday, in 15 weeks. So it’s only fitting that our streak ends the same time a more impressive one ends for the real players.
After the game we ventured to meet one of my best friends from high school, Wiener (known as Kate to most people), for dinner. Kate’s in med school at Johns Hopkins, after being at the top of our HS class as well as #1 at Notre Dame…I still am proud of myself to this day that I managed to have the nickname Wiener stick (the nickname came from a day of escalating insults to each other, and somehow that one was funny and stuck) and I can claim the honor of having gotten myself and her kicked out of Mr. House’s AP Psych class because we were joking around too much. I’m sure when she runs for Surgeon General or President, the opposing party will have many attack ads regarding that, the one blemish on her record. We met her at O’Brycki’s Crab House for even more delcious crab, as detailed in my dad’s post. Seeing her was definitely the highlight of the day in Baltimore.
Driving to meet her revealed more flaws in Baltimore. The street layout was quite confusing, with a random hodgepodge of one-way streets. Though getting from the stadium to the restaurant was quite easy, getting back to the highway was pretty tricky. The area of O’Brycki’s was pretty shady as well, and I would not wanted to have stayed long there. It seemed odd that it could get as sketchy as it did as close to the stadium as we were. The one area that was nice was the Inner Harbor. There were large ships to see, a submarine, and many family friendly restaurants like Hard Rock and ESPN Zone. While aesthetically pleasing, this impossble-to-park-near area reminded me of a slightly less annoying Navy Pier – an area desgined strictly for tourists, and one you would never visit if you were a native.
Fortunately our stay was brief, as its less than an hour to Washington, DC, my second favorite city in the US. Will it become number 1? STAY TUNED!
