Throwback Thursday: Baltimore Orioles fans rock the yard

The 2014 season brought a lot of good tidings for the Baltimore Orioles, as well as the fans. So I wanted to take a moment to tip my cap to Orioles fans as part of this week’s Throwback Thursday feature. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Oriole Park at Camden Yards packed to the brims and full of screaming Orioles fans as I did this past season. The O’s have had sellout crowds for sure over the years; but often the majority of those fans were rooting for the opposing team. That wasn’t the case in 2014.

Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

And for the record, I’m not talking about the sheer number of fans as much as I am about the atmosphere at games. Many times in the past the ballpark would be pretty dead before a Sunday afternoon game. Not the case in 2014. Fans were happy to be there, and excited to be get the opportunity to be a part of what ended up being a historic season in Baltimore.

I suppose that the two biggest moments of the season from the fans’ perspective were the night the Orioles clinched the AL East pennant, and game two of the ALDS when Delmon Young’s bases-clearing double effectively won the game for the O’s. In my view, those were the two moments when the fans’ excitement was at it’s peak. That’s a debatable point of course, however that’s just my view – from the perspective of a person who saw and wrote about all 162+ games.

But it wasn’t just at home that we saw orange in the stands. The O’s were very well represented on the road as well. We saw big voices rooting for the orange and black in Boston as well as New York, DC, and even on the west coast. However perhaps the most interesting representation of Orioles fans on the road was at Chicago’s Wrigley Field in August. The O’s don’t play at the “friendly confines” very often, and it appeared that a lot of people in Baltimore took advantage o the opportunity that they had to see their team in such a historic place.

But the best Orioles fans out there will always be at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. As great as some of the crowds down the stretch were in 2012, I would submit that 2014 was the year that Camden Yards truly became the Orioles’ home ballpark. Perhaps a big part of that is due to the losing from 1998-2011. However there can be little doubt that the fans acted as a pick-me-up for the team at various points in games down the stretch. Steve Pearce even commented that the fans’ WE WON’T STOP chant sent shivers down his spine during the playoffs. When the players start noticing and commenting on the fans, I think it’s safe to say that the team and the city has a pretty good thing going!