Traditional Baseball Roadtrip #6: Mid-Atlantic States-Part 3: The Finale-Baltimore

Date: May 26, 2011

Primary Destination: MLB City of Baltimore

Games Attended:

Game 1: Kansas City Royals vs. Baltimore Orioles, May 26^th, 2011, 12:35PM EDT, Orioles Park at Camden Yards

Roadtrip Summary:

Our two earlier Mid-Atlantic States roadtrips took us to see the Washington Nationals at their old and new home stadiums, RFK Memorial Park and Nationals Park, the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park, and the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. This roadtrip completes our visit to the other four MLB teams located in the Mid-Atlantic States-those not in the Metropolitan New York City area. I have called this baseball trip the “Mid-Atlantic States-Part 3: The Finale-Baltimore. Baltimore is not that far for us that we could not make a return trip in the same day. For this reason, we attended a single Orioles day game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, MD as a daytrip from our homes in Northern New Jersey.

Since this was done as a day trip, no additional time was spent in Baltimore. Baltimore offers many interest family attractions and interesting eating opportunities; however, we have both been to Baltimore and the surrounding area a number of times. But, we did arrive early so that we could check out the area around the stadium and the ballpark itself.

The ballpark is built on land that once served as the rail yard for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Camden Station. Hence the name “Orioles Park at Camden Yard. Eutaw Street, which is located between the right field wall of the stadium and the historic eight story high Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Warehouse, is closed to vehicular traffic on game days. This creates a walking plaza between the Eutaw Street entrance gates to the ballpark.

On game days, starting several hours prior to game time, pedestrians must have a ticket in order to walk on the plaza; however, on non-game days the street is open to all. The Eutaw Street Plaza is populated by a number of interesting business establishments, including the well know Boog’s Bar-B-Q, named after the infamous Orioles first baseman of the 60s and early 70s Boog Powell.

The Eutaw Street Plaza is one of the highlights of the stadium environment. It includes many more interesting features. For example, posted on one wall, know as the “Orioles Hall of Fame” is plaques of famous past players of the Baltimore Orioles. Brass baseballs are embedded into the walkway of the plaza to marking the spot where home runs cleared the right field fence and landed on Eutaw Street. Finally, there is a look out area, called the “Flag Court,” which allows you to view the field over the right field wall. Hung on separate poles in the court is the flag of each American League team and they arranged in the order of the current divisional standings. The Flag court is a fun place to hang out during batting practice with the hope of catching a ball.

Orioles Park at Camden Yards is a very attractive, classic looking, baseball stadium. You are able to walk completely around the inside of the stadium and out onto the Eutaw Street Plaza. Looking at the lower edge of the upper deck in left field, you see the numbers 4, 5, 20, 22, and 33 posted They were the numbers worn by Earl Weaver, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Jim Palmer, and Eddie Murray. These numbers have been retired by the Orioles to honor these important members of past Orioles teams.

A number of interesting business establishments have grown up around the ballpark. For instance, in the streets surrounding Orioles Part at Camden Yard are a number of interesting pubs and eateries. Two are:

• Pickles Pub, 520 Washington Blvd, Baltimore, MD 21230 (410) 752-1784 http://www.picklespub.com/
• Sliders Bar and Grille, 504 Washington Blvd, 410-547-8891 http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/bars-clubs/sliders-bar-and-grill,1025894/critic-review.html#reviewNum1

Here is a link to an interesting article about pregame and postgame entertainment around Orioles Park at Camden Yards http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ycn-8090658.

We had a beautiful sun shinny day to attend the game between the Kansas City Royals and Baltimore Orioles. There was a lot of scoring action early with and by the end of the 4^th inning the game was tied at 5 to 5. However, then both teams were shut down offensively by the other teams pitching and the game went to extra innings. Eventually, the Orioles pushed across a run in the bottom of the 12^th to win. The key hits in the game winning rally were a leadoff double by second baseman Robert Andino and a walk off single by the Orioles DH Vladimir Guerrero.

Nolan Reimold, who played LF and batted 6^th in the Orioles order, had been called up from the Orioles AAA teams Norfolk Tides on May 19^th. He had a big day with the bat for Baltimore. Reimold went 4 for 4 with a walk. Hit two home runs to left and had a double and knocked in 4 of the Orioles first 5 runs.

A Norfolk Tides player, Craig Tatum, was playing catcher in the game for Baltimore. He was called up by the Orioles on May 25^th and playing his first game in the majors this season. Tatum batted 9^th and went 1 for 4 on the day. He lined a single to right field in the 7^th inning, which was his first major league hit of the 2011 season. In addition, Tatum made a spectacular diving catch on a fouled off attempt at a sacrifice bunt. Click here to view a video of the catch http://sportshl.com/baseball/KC_BAL_Tatum_dives_to_snag_a_foul_popup_bunt/1100107?s=Tatum).

In the “Suggestions for Additional Roadtrip Attractions” section, I have added a list of interesting sites and attractions in the city of Baltimore and the surrounding area. This may permit you to add a vacation component to the baseball roadtrip. In addition, I have listed a number of other baseball teams that are conveniently located on the route between Northern New Jersey and the Baltimore, MD area in the section titled “Some Suggested Alternatives.” Website links for these baseball teams are provided in the “Roadtrip Planning Resources” section. This information will permit you to expand the roadtrip with more games.

MLB Final Score and Box Score

Game 1: Final Score: BAL 6 KCR 5 12 innings

Box Score: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL201105260.shtml

Travel Method, Route, and Distances:

GPS Destination Address: Orioles Park at Camden Yards, 333 West Camden Street, Baltimore, MD 21201

May 26th

• Drive: 200 mi to Baltimore.
• Drive: 200 miles to Wayne, NJ

Approx. Total Drive Miles: 400 mi

En-route Attractions Visited:

• Woody’s Crab House, 29 South Main St., North East, MD 21901
• Ripkin Stadium home of the Aberdeen Ironbirds of the New York-Penn League.

Suggestions for Additional Roadtrip Attractions:

• Orioles Park at Camden Yard Tour http://baltimore.orioles.mlb.com/bal/ballpark/tours/index.jsp
• Babe Ruth’s Birthplace and Museum http://baberuthmuseum.com/exhibits/brm/
• Sports Legends Museum http://baberuthmuseum.com/exhibits/slmacy/
• Maryland Science Center at Inner Harbor, http://www.mdsci.org/
• National Aquarium Baltimore http://www.aqua.org/
• Inner Harbor: Harborplace & The Gallery http://www.harborplace.com/
• Historic Ships in Baltimore: USS Constellation , USS Torsk Submarine, USCGC Taney, and Lightship Chesapeake http://www.historicships.org/

Roadtrip Planning Tips:

• Baltimore is easily accessed via major highway from the northeast or other Mid-Atlantic States.
• Plan in a stop at Inner Harbor at Baltimore
• An interesting short side trip is to the village of Annapolis, MD.

Some Suggested Alternatives:

• Penn Station-Camden Route Light Rail Commuter Train. http://mta.maryland.gov/services/lightrail/schedule/ and map http://www.visitingdc.com/airport/baltimore-light-rail-map.htm
• Amtrack to Penn Station, Baltimore.
• Expand the duration of the roadtrip by adding one or more extra days with an overnight stay and see additional baseball games by teams that play in towns/cities on the route between Baltimore, MD and Philadelphia, PA.
• See a home game played by the Philadelphia Phillies.
• Attend a game at a stadium of an Affiliated Minor League Team. Two teams conveniently located just off this route are:
• Wilmington Blue Rocks, Frawley Stadium, Wilmington, DE, Carolina League, Class A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals
• Aberdeen IronBirds, Ripken Stadium, Aberdeen, MD
  New York-Penn League, Class A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles

Roadtrip Planning Resource

The following are the web resources used for planning the "Mid-Atlantic States-Part 3: The Finale-Baltimore" MLB roadtrip:

Official Website of Major League Baseball: http://mlb.mlb.com

• Click on "Team" in the upper right corner and then click on "Baltimore" to get to the Orioles website.
• On the Orioles website click on "Schedule" to view the "Season Schedule".
• Link to view addresses of the Stadiums for each MLB Team:

Official Website of the Carolina League:
http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/index.jsp?sid=l122

Click on the "Logos" listed across the top to choose a team in the league, for instance, "Wilmington Blue Rocks" to get to their specific website. On the specific team's website highlight "Schedule" and click ont "Schedule" in the drop down menu. Highlight "Ballpark Info" to view information about the home stadium. Determine the name of the stadium. Identify the address of the stadium (if the address is not given Google the name of the stadium). Official Website of the New York-Penn League: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/schedule/index.jsp?sid=l127 Click on the "Icon" for the appropriate team to transfer to its website, for instance, the "Aberdeen Ironbirds". View the home games on the season schedule Identify the name of the stadium and its address.