Monday, October 4, 2010

Beisbol been berry berry good to me

In December of 1976 while living in the Atlanta area, I decided to change jobs.  When I was young, I changed jobs every two or three years.  I told myself this was advancing my career as each new job brought more money and more responsibility.  I accepted my new job offer in Atlanta on December 6th, and on December 7th the company decided to move me to Baltimore.  It was 72º F when I got on the airplane in Atlanta and below freezing when I got off the plane in Baltimore.  The winter of 1976-1977 was so severely cold in Maryland the Chesapeake Bay froze.  But, this post is not about the cold in Baltimore.  No, this post is about Baltimore Orioles Baseball.

At the time of my move, I was a fan of professional football, and Baltimore had a fine football team (the Baltimore Colts).  The last time I had paid even the slightest bit of attention to baseball was when Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle were playing for the Yankees in the early 1960's.  About a year after I landed in Baltimore, I started dating the man who would eventually become the love of my life, Bud.  Since Bud and I started dating in the middle of winter, sports didn't come up in our conversations very much.  Baseball season had been over for some months and football season was just about all over except the shouting.  As a matter of fact, we had so many other things on our minds during early courtship, we didn't get around to discussing baseball until the 1978 season was almost over.  (This is very strange as Bud lives, eats and breathes sports.)

From 1954 through 1984 Memorial Stadium in Baltimore was home to the Colts and the Orioles.  When Bud persuaded me to attend my first major league baseball game (I was extremely reluctant to go; I thought baseball was boring.) it was late in the baseball season and football had already begun.  I was appalled to see the baseball diamond "ruining" a small portion of the football field and could not understand how anyone would have allowed such a thing.  Bud did take me to Memorial Stadium to see one Colts football game on a cold November day in 1978.  We were in the nosebleed section and the wind was blowing about 20 mph.  The actual temperature was in the teens and the wind chill made it downright frigid.  We stayed though half the game, drinking peach schnapps straight from a bottle we had snuck past the gate tenders.  It did not succeed in warming us at all, so we gave up and left the stadium to catch the remainder of the game on the television in my nice warm apartment.  I never went to another football game in Baltimore.

However, in April of 1979, with the opening of a new baseball season, Bud was determined to turn me into a fan.  We went to O's games frequently that year, and the 1979 Orioles baseball season was fantastic.  They won often and the stands were filled with rabid fans who were loud, loyal, exuberant and colorful.  Baseball is not boring when you're actually in the ballpark.  There is just so much going on around you.  There are vendors of every sort screaming to sell their wares.  There are the aromas of beer and peanuts and popcorn and cotton candy and hotdogs and fries and pretzels and funnel cakes, and in Baltimore crabcakes and Boog's Barbecue (owned and operated by John "Boog" Powell, a former MVP and all-star 1st baseman for the O's).  Then there are the fans, often dressed outrageously, jumping up and down and cheering at the top of their lungs.  It seems to me it would be impossible to go to the ballpark and not have a good time, even if you never watched the game.  But watching the 1979 Orioles was a pleasure in itself.  They were good and they won, and in October they went on to win the American League division title.

The O's went to the World Series in 1979, and at that time it was possible to purchase tickets to all the games.  I was so excited.  My first year as a true baseball fan, and I was actually going to see the World Series.  The weather in Baltimore in October of 1979 was abysmal.  Baltimore was playing the Pittsburgh Pirates and the first two games were in Baltimore, the next three in Pittsburgh, and the final two games back in Baltimore if required.  We had tickets to all the Baltimore games.  Our seats were way out in left field, far past third base, but they were in the park and it was the World Series.  The first game was snowed out.  Seriously.  We went to the ballpark and waited for hours in the cold, drafty, wet corridors until the people who make such decisions decided to call the game.  But, the next two nights the games were played in Baltimore in frigid temperatures that no amount of layered clothing could combat, and we attended them.  Then the series moved to Pittsburgh.  The series went to seven games and the teams returned to Baltimore for the sixth and seventh games.  But by the final game I had come down with walking pneumonia and Bud had to go alone.  It's just as well.  The O's lost the game and the series, and I wouldn't have wanted to see that.

After the 1979 season, I was an avid Orioles baseball fan.  I turned away from football and never looked back.  I've had many favorite players over the years.  In 1979 and 1980 it was third baseman Doug DeCinces.  Bud, unfortunately, was one of those who did not give Doug his due because he had the misfortune of taking the place of Brooks Robinson at 3rd base.  In 1982 the O's traded DeCinces to make room on the roster for Cal Ripken, Jr., and the rest is history.  Of course, Cal was a favorite, as were Jim Palmer (pitcher 1965-1984), Rick Dempsey (catcher 1976-1987), Eddie Murray (1st base 1977-1988), B. J. Surhoff (outfielder 1996-2000) and my current fave, Nick Markakis in right field.

Even though we now live in North Carolina, Bud's brother Michael still lives near Baltimore.  We share a 13 Sunday games, four-seat season ticket package with Mike and his family.  So, from the first Sunday game in April until the last Sunday game in September or October, we drive 5½ hours north at least once a month to catch an O's baseball game.  Memorial Stadium is long gone and Oriole's Park at Camden Yard is an adventure unto itself.  (The football team has its own stadium.  The Colts absconded to Indianapolis in the middle of the night in March of 1984.  In 1996 the Cleveland Browns moved to Baltimore and became the Baltimore Ravens.  In 1998 a new football stadium was completed, adjacent to Oriole Park.)  Sometimes we go to the game with Mike and Andee, and sometimes we bring friends from North Carolina to Baltimore with us.  Our original seats were on the Club Level behind the left fielder.  Over the years, Mike has managed to do some shuckin' and jivin' and every few years our seats have gotten better.  We are currently almost directly behind home plate about 20 rows off the field.  You couldn't ask for a better view.

Yesterday was the last game for this season.  The Birds don't make the playoffs any more (they play in the toughest division in major league baseball).  They haven't had a winning team in years.  But there's always next year.

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