No Ivy at Camden Yards?

Damn you, Phytophthora!

Say it ain't so!

With less than two weeks to go before Opening Day, the Orioles have already suffered the first loss of the season. The score: Mother Nature 1, the ivy at Camden Yards 0.


The ivy that grows up the wall beyond centerfield at Oriole Park, and contributes to its widely imitated retro feel, was attacked by a soil-borne pathogen and had to be pulled out earlier this month, said Nicole Sherry, the head groundskeeper.


"It broke my heart to tear it down," Sherry said Tuesday. "I know how much it means to the fans, and it was sad to see it go."

The batter's eye will get a fresh coat of green paint before the season and Sherry plans to replant the ivy later this year. So hopefully, this is just temporary.

The "bricks and ivy" was yet another nod to the old ballparks (specifically Wrigley Field) when OPACY was constructed and I hope they find a way to make it work again. The park wouldn't be the same without it.

Beer at the Ballpark: Camden Yards, Baltimore

Baltimore has a long brewing tradition and Camden Yards makes a small nod to that by offering "Old Line Microbrew" kiosks offering better beer throughout the ballpark. There are two kiosks of this type on the main concourse and I spotted one way up in the concourse for the cheap seats; they are all basically the same. They offer local brews in the form of Heavy Seas Classic Lager, Falmouth Copper Ale, Flying Dog Old Scratch IPA and the imported Heineken. At some of these kiosks the selection is expanded to include Guinness, Smithwick's and Harp lager.

The prices are steep, $7.50 for a 16oz pour but considering the park is charging $7.25 for 16oz of Bud Light, it's a relative value. There is also a Blue Moon kiosk on the main concourse behind the home plate area, same price and a better option than Miller Lite.

In the luxury box section there are taps for Stella Artois and Samuel Adams Boston Lager at the various bars.



There are a lot of great beers brewed in Baltimore and Maryland in general and it would be great to see more of them represented at the park but there are some quality brews to choose from.

Now, if you are looking for a great beer experience before (or after) the game, just a block from the stadium is the Pratt Street Alehouse, specializing in English-style ales including three varieties on cask. The prices are good, the beer is great and its proximity to the ballpark make it a must stop if you are a lover of fine ale.

Base Hits: 6/24/2009

You don't hear a lot in the Oriole blogosphere/chat rooms/article comments these days about the lack of a "fan-friendly atmosphere" at Camden Yards these days. I expect that it is due to the emphasis the MacPhail regime has put on this aspect of the OPACY experience.

But while we were plenty ready to criticize, we haven't always done a good job at pointing out the efforts the Baltimore Orioles are making now. Like this promotion:

Oriole Park at Camden Yards is located at 333 West Camden Street, but this summer Orioles fans will have the option to reside at 2110 Eutaw Street by taking advantage of a new ticket offer. The Orioles have combined the uniform numbers of two of their best young outfielders, NICK MARKAKIS and ADAM JONES, to re-identify an area of the Eutaw Street Bleachers and give fans the opportunity to take part in a unique promotion.

For a number of pre-selected games beginning with the game on Sunday, July 12 vs. Toronto, fans can purchase a Eutaw Street bleacher seat and a limited edition "I Live at 2110 Eutaw Street" t-shirt for only $21. In addition, Markakis and Jones will toss baseballs into the stands throughout the game, and for every home run hit by Markakis or Jones in that day's game, one lucky fan in the section will receive a bat autographed by the player who hit the homer.

It's fan friendly, community and brand building, creative, gets the players directly involved and may help to sell a few more tickets in the process. This is good and should be encouraged...

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I'm going to keep beating this drum...Last night in Miami, Oscar Salazar gets off the bench in the 8th and gets a hit in the middle of a 2-run rally, then gets up in the 9th with 2 out and 2 on and singles in the tying run.

Give him a shot, Dave!

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Notable minor league stuff: In Aberdeen, SS Tyler Kelly, the 13th round draft selection in the 2009 draft is hitting .333/.333/.389 in his first four games. Of Steven Bumbry is only 1 for 8 but his lone hit was a home run.

Japanese import RP Ryohei Tanaka now has pitched 6 innings for Bowie posting an 0.00 ERA striking out 9 and walking just 1. Interesting guy to watch.

Brandon Snyder has struggled since his promotion to Norfolk. He's only posting a .118/.238/.118 line through five games. He'll be fine but perish any thought of him coming to Baltimore this season.

Chris Tillman: 66.0 IP, 70 Ks, 18 BB, 1.17 WHIP and a 2.59 ERA for Norfolk. Dude's only 21. This guy gets no hype compared to 21-year old Braves pitcher Tommy Hanson but he's doing much the same as Hanson did in the same league.

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I enjoy playing around with Twitter; there's some good Oriole stuff over there. But even if you don't want to Twitter yourself, you have to check out UnPeterAngelos.

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Frost King has moved over to Camden Crazies on the Fanball.com Sports Network. Good luck Dan and congrats on getting your work noticed.

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I've got to stick up for my blog's namesake, Rick Dempsey. Seems that Dempsey took some heat for something he wrote in his blog over at MASN.com.

3.) Brian Roberts: He is a quality position player who could draw a lot of attention from a contender and be worth a few good young prospects. Now the only reason I suggest B-Rob is because he has probably missed his window of opportunity to win with the O's and now that the nucleus is becoming much younger, having to wait two more years to contend may take Brian out of his prime and out of his value. I would hate to see him go, but it might be the best overall for the Orioles for the future.

Absolutely correct. I would like to see Roberts stay but for the right package, I'm OK with the club trading him for the reasons Rick stated. This hardly seems a controversial statement but speaks volumes about the near-Ripken level of popularity that Roberts enjoys in this town.

Outside of Wieters, Markakis and Jones (and perhaps Reimold) everybody on the big club should be available...for the right price.

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The Orioles have made a trade involving a guy named Aubrey! Not Huff though. They traded for AAA first baseman Michael Aubrey from the Indians organization.

My Exile is Over...

I had not been to see a ballgame at Camden Yards in nearly 10 years. July 17th, 1999. Scott Erickson pitched a complete game and Will Clark and Harold Baines both hit solo homers to beat the Expos 2-1.

So why so long? Shortly after the 1999 season, I left the area and moved to Maine. Guess what you don't do during the summer when you live in Maine? Leave. Maine is gorgeous in the summer and you tend to get away during the winter instead. By the time we moved south, my parents had moved to southern Virginia and Maryland was no longer a frequent destination. But we finally went up to visit my sister in Maryland this year and I got to take the whole family out to OPACY.

It was last Thursday versus the Yankees, the game that Alfredo Simon and Brian Bass singlehandedly lost but that didn't bother me that much. Why? The fans at Camden Yards.

Unlike years past, Yankees fans did not completely overrun the park. I would say it was probably 60-40 in our favor. Mark Teixeira was booed loud and long everytime he approached the plate, every time he got a hit and every time he made an out. You can quibble with the logic of why Teixeira is hated but it was great to see such passion, for anything, from the Oriole faithful. Booing Mark Teixeira was a lot of fun too. A "De-rek Je-ter" chant was started by the Yankee fans and they were booed and shouted down by the rest of us.

When Camden Yards opened up, an Oriole game became a real event but all too often attracted a more casual fan, a more polite fan, a more subdued fan. This game I just attended felt a lot more like a raucous, fiery Memorial Stadium crowd and made my heart skip a beat. Yeah, there's something wrong with me. But I loved the passion.

Not to mention, this was the first game I was able to take my kids to at Oriole Park and they dug it. So there's that.

The view from the cheap seats:


Yeah, I'm not going to let 10 years go by until the next time I go to Camden Yards.