Northeast traffic is something else though. I remembered it, but not fondly. Kind of like the distant relative you haven’t seen in a few years who has the uncanny knack to immediately put a sour taste in your mouth. Either way, I’ve been fighting it a lot lately and trying to get up to Baltimore for the Orioles game wasn’t what I’d call a nightmare but it still took a while. Pat came with me though so that was cool because it’s always nice to have company at these games.
Game Notes:
We attended the game on Father’s Day – happy Father’s Day Dad, love you!
Before we got to the ticket window we passed by the vendors outside the stadium who were obviously upset with the team’s ownership. Peter Angelos has had a rough ride in Baltimore and has come under much criticism. These vendors outside decided to help the situation by screaming things like “help screw Angelos! Peanuts only three bucks, $5.00 inside!” Nothing like working towards the greater good, eh?
The promotion the Orioles were running was “golf umbrella(ella, ella, eeh!) day.” These things were pretty sweet but I’m sure if I use it I’m going to get ridiculed and met with funny looks like when I use my gym bag. Side note – When I lived in the area I would try to make it to as many Red Sox/Orioles games as possible and at one of them they gave away Orioles gym bags and I still use mine. I always get guff from people back in Boston or those that see me wearing a Sox hat and carrying an O’s bag. Either way, it’s not going to stop me, just foreshadowing an annoyance is all. Most people used their umbrella(ella, ella, ellas) for shade because it was a sunny day game and nobody likes cancer.
As I mentioned, I’ve been to Oriole Park at Camden Yards (aka, Camden) many times already but because of this trip I did my best to complete a full and proper stadium review anyways. And that leads me to another tangent. Pat brought up a salient point and I want you all to know it’s something I’m aware of. Game to game, each park is going to be different. As objective as I’ve tried to remain, I know that a particularly good matchup or well played game or the weather, duration, day/night start times, etc. all play a factor in my review. I can tell you right now that I enjoy night games at Camden much more than day games but I’ve done my best not to let those kinds of factors influence me too much one way or the other.
Moving on, Camden usually has a pretty good atmosphere. Red Sox games don’t count (too much of the Nation skews the true “vibe”) but I’ve been there for non-Sox games too. Sunday was no different. Eutaw Street is an outdoor walkway that runs between right field and a giant warehouse that is a staple of the Camden landscape.
While we’re at it, here’s the entire field so you’ll know what I’m talking about…I found a “super expansion” lens view on my camera and got this great shot.
OK, no, just kidding. The above is only a picture of a picture. I bet I fooled some of you though!
So as I was saying, Eutaw St. is pretty cool. They have food and beer vendors with the staple being “Boog’s BBQ.” This is a place run by former MLB first baseman Boog Powell and it’s wildly successful. I’ll come back to this more later. The most unique part of the street are the baseball-shaped copper plaques that dot the sidewalk. If you look closely you can see names, dates and teams listed on them. Well, they mark the spots where home runs have landed! I found one from old friend Troy O’Leary, the most un-Irish Irishman ever to don a Sox uniform.
The last note about Eutaw St. and the warehouse is that during the 1993 home run derby Ken Griffey Jr. became the first (and only!) player to hit the warehouse on a fly. That’s INCREDIBLE distance. Supposedly there is a plaque somewhere commemorating the accomplishment but I didn’t see it.
Walking towards center field, before you get to the rest of the seats you can walk through this really nice picnic area. It provides fans with a great respite from the hot sun (for day games at least) and is a nice informal area where you can eat your food. Some of the tables can even still see the game action. Pat and I ate lunch here and it was a nice part of the stadium.
Camden was really the first park built in the “modern” era and laid important groundwork for many of the other stadiums in the league. It opened in 1992 and you could definitely tell many other teams stole some ideas. I don’t want to call Camden a rough draft but it was still lacking in some respects. A problem I’ve had at the park before is how far away some of the seats are from the field. It’s not like there is a ton of foul ground and I’m not sure exactly why this phenomenon occurs but at some parks you just feel incredibly removed from the action.
Another problem with Camden are these seats right here. Terrible picture you say? More like terrible memory! It was here, in the late spring of 2006 that I received the worst sunburn of my life (not counting the two times in elementary school when Dad forgot to put sunscreen on my legs at the beach and I literally fell over the next day when I hopped out of bed because I couldn’t walk – Happy Father’s Day!). Anyways, I was commuting up to InterGen at the time and on the Monday after the game I was sitting at my desk when Susan came over to me, took one look at the right side of my face and my right arm and just burst out laughing. I’ll admit, it was funny even at the time. It was totally “attack of the killer tomatoes.” I looked absolutely ridiculous and the burn lasted over a month. So I needed to share the memory.
Aside from that the day went off without a hitch and as always, this place had some good and some bad.
High Points:
-I’ve always loved driving to and parking at Camden Yards. There is a dedicated exit ramp off the highway that spits you out right in front of the park, you make a simple right hand turn, pay your $10 and go to a lot not far from the stadium. On the way out it’s always smooth sailing and I commend them for a great setup.
-The infield was groomed like that in Cincinnati with the little cart making about 40 circular revolutions (can you have a revolution that isn’t circular?) dragging a mat around the base paths. I swear the person has to get dizzy doing that but it looks great!
-There were a lot of food stations offering some unique fare. I wanted a crab cake (due to being in Baltimore) but at $14.00 I wasn’t going to blow the budget. So we went to Boog’s instead and I got a nice BBQsomethingorother that was presented well and tasted pretty good too.
While we’re on the food topic, and specifically Boog’s, I need to mention the beer prices at Camden, which were fascinating. A typical beer at the park is served in a 16oz cup for $5.50. There is one station out in left field that serves 24oz cans (which are then poured into a cup for you) for $10.00 and this place had a LINE!! What the hell? Aluminum tinted beer cannot taste that much better that you sacrifice that kind of price per ounce. What’s more, at Boog’s if you ordered a beer it came in a 24oz cup for only $6.00!!! I was incredulous. How was the line at Boog’s not taking up the entirety of Eutaw St.? If I, a casual fan on a road trip, can make this kind of discovery, how hard is it for the regular fans? Yikes. PS, I only had water because I was driving.
-A handful of stadiums have mirrored what I would call the “2nd tier, first level” seats at Camden. They are seats under an overhang (which provides great shade) above the lower box seats in the first level seating bowl. They are set up a bit higher but instead of just turning that area into luxury space I think it gives the common fan even more access to seats closer to the field.
-Speaking of luxury boxes. Those areas in Camden were tucked away nicely and while they still provided patrons a great view of the game, it didn’t ruin or take away from the experience for the rest of us.
-There was a particularly humorous concession worker in dead center field. Pat bought a bottled water and she kept asking if I/we needed anything else…she even offered up a cup of ice because it was so hot. That was a nice, albeit creepy, touch.
-For some reason I think I look particularly awkward/uncomfortable in this picture. High Point? More like High Comedy!
-The brick motif/décor around the park fits nicely with the surrounding area and Baltimore in general.
-The mascot is an Oriole and nothing else!
-During the condiment race I was reminded of a very fond memory from one of the Red Sox games I attended. Maybe we had all been drinking a little bit but I found it hysterical to receive a text message from a friend in another part of the park who, after the Relish was victorious, sent me the simple message that read “Effin’ Relish…” It’s the little things, ya know?
-The scoreboard contains relevant info and plenty of it. One of the top video boards in the country.
Low Points:
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-Second most terrible thing at Camden is the scoreboard/sound effect operator. He absolutely earns his money every time he comes to the park and the Orioles fans eat it up. I can’t tell you how often they play “Charge!” and it gets ten times worse if the O’s are in the midst of a rally. The fans will do whatever they are prompted with such vigor that I wouldn’t be surprised to see them start throwing beer or food at each other if instructed.
-On a related note, I’ve talked about stadiums playing relevant songs around the 7th or 8th inning (i.e. Deep in the Heart of Texas, etc.). Well, the Orioles chose “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” and, frankly, that doesn’t work for Baltimore, sorry.
-On the whole, the ushers at Camden weren’t too strict but they all wanted to see your ticket. The taking pictures line worked pretty much everywhere. The weird one was the guy at the escalator going UP who absolutely needed to see your ticket to these horrible seats before you were allowed to go up. That was a bit odd.
-$4.50 for a hot dog, $5.00 nachos, $4.00 water…aforementioned $10.00 for 24oz beer…I’m definitely back in the northeast.
-We had to park a little further away because the awesome parking lots around the stadium were mostly taken up by an X-Games like event where they had built a motor cross track, skate park and other such things of a tubular and radical nature.
-I mentioned how far away some of the seats felt at the field. Check out this shot.
-It’s hard to find a balance between catching the game from different vantages and not missing too much by moving seats around or getting food. I missed the baseball shuffle where they put a ball under one of 3 crabs and move them around and you have to guess which one it’s under. I always have been stumped by Baltimore’s version as I think it’s the hardest in the country but I missed it this time around. I was very curious to see if my skills had increased over the last couple of months!
-Pat and I saw ONE beer vendor in the stands. That was just weird.
Here’s a full view of the stadium, and this is a REAL picture.
Overall Grade: B
Game Stats:
Teams: Orioles vs. Pirates
Final Score: 5-4 Pirates
Extra Innings: 1
WP: Matt Capps
LP: George Sherrill
Time: 3:03
Announced Attendance: 31,107
Ticket Price: $9.00
Parking Price: $10.00
Trip Stats:
Home team record: 18-7
Best Anthem: Tropicana Field
Miles Driven: 9530
States Visited: 24
Countries Visited: 2
Districts of Columbia Visited: 1
Beds slept in: 30
Highest Gas PPG: $4.19 [$4.81 if you count Canada]
Next Stop: Philadelphia Phillies
Favorite Park: Petco Park (Padres)
Stadium Grades:
Marlins: D
Rays: B
Braves: B-
Rockies: B+
Mariners: B
Giants: A-
Athletics: C
Angels: B-
Dodgers: B+
Padres: A
Diamondbacks: B
Rangers: B-
Astros: B-
Blue Jays: C
Tigers: A-
Indians: B-
Reds: B+
Cardinals: B
Royals: B
Twins: B-
Brewers: A-
White Sox: B
Cubs: B+
Pirates: C+
Orioles: B
1 comment:
I'll admit, I think the country thing works for Baltimore. They might only be 50 minutes NE of DC, but they're a completely different breed up there...
-Chip
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