Baltimore Orioles: It starts with the team

The Baltimore Orioles have been competitive since the 2012 season, when they shocked the world and muscled into a wild card spot in the MLB playoffs. Heck, I’d say it might even go back to the final month of the 2011 season when the O’s surged and ended up keeping Boston out of the playoffs on the final day of the season. But what does that have to do with Oriole Park at Camden Yards’ recent climb to the top venue in sports?

Courtesy of Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports /

I would submit that it has everything to do with it. As yourself; would that ranking have occurred in the mid-2000’s? Let’s put it this way; I think that Camden Yards would have always been in the top fifth of venues in sports regardless of the year. The park itself is that good. But whether they would have been #1 is another story.

When the O’s were bad there were many things in and around the park which were the same as they are now. The neighborhood around the ballpark still had the same features in terms of bars and so forth. Accessibility was still very easy, and ticket prices were still very reasonable. The sightlines in the park were still second-to-none as well – and all of that is still true.

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However the one thing that was missing was people. Sure, the ballpark always sold out on Opening Day, and there were always big crowds (if not sellouts) when Boston and New York would come to town. However that in and of itself was almost a knock on the park. It was as if Baltimore fans literally didn’t want to attend games that weren’t Opening Day. Yet the yard was packed with red and pinstripes when those teams would come to town, making it a miserable stadium experience for hometown fans.

Weekends would bring halfway decent crowds, however weeknight games had a very corporate feel to them. And in fairness that might be a sign of the times more so than anything else, however it wasn’t unheard of for people to be asking “overly-boisterous fans to” sit down if they were being “too loud.” But all of that changed eventually.

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When the Birds returned to glory in 2012 Baltimore came back with it. And perhaps at the same time a game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards started to feel a bit like the magical nights of yesteryear at venerable old Memorial Stadium. As a result, suddenly we saw little changes that made the ballpark better. And I’m talking about small things, people. National Bohemian came back to the yard, and the menu items were expanded at the concession stands. These are all things that factored into the yard being named #1.

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These trends obviously need to be kept up. The ballpark will still be a great place to catch a game – winning season or not. But whether or not the fans come and make it an even better place probably depends on the team more than anything else.