Bob Haynie: Hard To Believe Camden Yards Turning 20
It's Hard To Believe Camden Yards Turns 20 In 2012
Since 1998, the Baltimore Orioles have not exactly been baseball's model franchise. Since winning the AL East in 1997, we have seen managers, players and GM's come and go and we have had a few PED controversies along the way, as well.
Unfortunately, the losing remains a constant.
But the one thing Orioles' fans can continue to be proud of is their home stadium. And this season that stadium reaches a milestone.
The great Camden Yards celebrates it's 20th anniversary.
That fact is mind-boggling, to me anyway, because it still seems like only yesterday I was watching games at Memorial Stadium.
Although the vibe at Memorial Stadium was more intense as far as fan interest and participation is concerned, there is no denying that Camden Yards is beautiful place to watch a baseball game.
I had the pleasure of attending the first two games ever played at The Yards. An exhibition contest against the Mets, which featured the return of Eddie Murray and, of course, the regular season opener against the Indians.
Me and my cousin Duke, who passed away earlier this month, stood in front of Pickles for hours trying to scalp tickets to the Cleveland game. Because of the occasion, we didn't have much luck.
We did manage to find a kind gentleman who--for 50 bucks--let us use his commemorative ticket to get into the stadium.
Since the place was mobbed, finding a seat was impossible. We actually wound up watching the game at Bambino's.
But we were there.
Camden Yards has been host to postseason games, an All-Star game and Cal Ripken's record-breaking streak game.
Exciting stuff.
Sadly, a World Series game has yet to have been played there and it doesn't look like the Orioles are close to making that happen anytime soon.
So let's enjoy our ballpark and appreciate the fact that we have it.
Hopefully, it will host a Fall Classic before it's 30th anniversary.
BH
