Ballpark experience number five: Baltimore

Wow, it's been some time since I wrote one of these. I suppose I'd better box on and try to get them finished, if only for some small sense of accomplishment. It would be nice to have a written account of this stuff before my memories fade.

The baseball stadium in Baltimore is called "Oriole Stadium at Camden Yards". I really liked this stadium. The main distinctive feature of the stadium is the brick warehouse on the right field side. I'd always assumed that it was right up against the right field bleachers, but as it turns out, there is a street in between.

You can walk off the street straight into the outfield bleacher seats. It is really quite cool. I also appreciate that Camden Yards is located in Baltimore, within walking distance of the CBD and harbour area. This is much better than stadiums that are located in the middle of fucking nowhere...like Angels stadium.

I hadn't bought a ticket on Stubhub before I arrived in the city. I figured there would be plenty of seats for a weeknight game against a non-contender. So here is my paper ticket I got from the stadium ticket line:

Here is the view of the stadium from just down the road. Walking straight ahead gets you to the same point as in the first photo (but facing in the opposite direction).

How was the food? Pretty good actually. Camden Yards has a concession stand called "Boog's Barbecue", which was founded by a former Oriole player. It serves barbecue that is passable by regular standards but terrific by ballpark food standards. I got some beef which came with a roll/biscuit and some crisps. I particularly liked the horseradish sauce you could dollop on.

What about the baseball? It was okay. The game was a low-key meaningless late August game. The Orioles probably weren't going to make the playoffs (and they didn't). The A's certainly weren't going to make the playoffs at that stage. The whole event felt like a relaxed casual nice thing to do on a Monday night, without there being any tension or pressure. The crowd was pretty good and the atmosphere was pleasant. It wasn't quite as laid back as Anaheim, but it wasn't quite as charged as Fenway. My seat wasn't the greatest, so I couldn't see much detail of what was going on:

I wasn't too concerned though. It was a lovely Summer's evening. I didn't even bother spending some time standing in the walkway area behind home plate to catch more of the action.

There was one cool baseball thing from the game. I got to see the only ambidextrous pitcher in the majors, Pat Venditte. He isn't particularly good (basically mediocre to bad with either arm), but it was freaking awesome to see him pitch. He has this custom-made glove that he can swap from hand to hand, depending on what arm he is throwing with.

Watching baseball at Camden Yards was a thoroughly decent and enjoyable experience. It was the 3rd best time I had watching baseball on my trip. The stadium is beautiful, the food was nice and the crowd was good. I would go back.