The Baltimore Experience

This past weekend, I went down to Baltimore to get away from the NYC metro area for a bit and to take in Orioles Park at Camden Yards. We managed to see a bit of the city, including the Washington Monument, Fort McHenry, the Inner Harbor, and the area around Camden Yards.

The area around the Inner Harbor was full of life and the place was packed on this perfect spring day. The weather was just amazing, and I have the sunburn to prove it (wear your sunscreen and hats folks).

Parts of the city remind me of Brooklyn and the new ballpark fits in nicely with the downtown area. There's a reason that so many other teams have tried to replicate the feeling, ambiance, and intimacy that Camden Yards affords fans.

Our seats were awesome and had I tried to spend that kind of money at the new Yankee Stadium, I would have been in the terrace level in the outfield. For roughly $50, we had prime seats behind home plate just rows from the field. Eutaw Street is a thriving area just past the right field fence, and they've even got home runs out on the street immortalized with little plaques.

 

Inside the stadium, the Orioles mascot did his best to keep the crowd interested, and he brought kids out on to the field before the game started to play around. It was quite cute.

 

The first pitch was thrown out by none other than former Bush and Clinton Administration member Norman Mineta, who was introduced as the first Asian American mayor in the country and someone who had lived through the FDR internment of Japanese during World War II.

The outcome of the game didn't particularly matter to me, but the Tigers won 6-3 over the Orioles. However, Oriole fans have a lot to look forward to as Matt Wienters got his first major league hits in the game - a triple followed by a single. Congrats to him, and I expect we'll be hearing lots more about him in coming years. He's got quite the pretty swing.

 

All in all, we had a great time down in Baltimore and I can see going to more games. On that front, Baltimore definitely has a lot to offer, although that is a double edged sword. At times, it sounded like there were more Tigers fans in the stands than Orioles fans, and that's despite the fact that the Red Wings are in the Stanley Cup. I can also see why so many New York fans go down there to catch games - it's cheaper and it's a great ballpark.

UPDATE:
This photo panorama doesn't quite do the park justice. It's a combination of a dozen separate photos.