I spent the final week of the regular season in Washington, DC. The Nationals were out of town; however the Orioles were home against the Blue Jays and the (damn!) Yankees. I had never been to Oriole Park at Camden Yards, so this opportunity was totally irresistible. I attended two games, one of each. Camden Yards is a beautiful ballpark and I enjoyed it very much!

I bought tickets to both games in the “No Scalp Zone." For the Toronto game on Thursday, we got three seats behind home plate, about 10 rows up, for $100 total. They were terrific seats for about 75% of face value! But, Saturday night against the Yankees, was another matter. The game was sold out, or very nearly so, and you would have had to go to the Bronx to see more NY fans! We had to pay face value, but got excellent seats 8 rows above the 3rd base (Yankees) dugout. As you can see, these seats were OK.



I ate crab cakes the first night ($12 and quite good) and barbecue at Boog Powell’s the second night ($8 and rather ordinary). Acceptable microbrews were available for $6 ($2 cheaper than Safeco!), and I’m reasonably certain they’re not losing any money at Camden Yards!

Eutaw Street is amazing! The designers really got that right —effectively designing and constructing the ballpark to incorporate the existing warehouse. Here’s the lowdown from the Orioles’ website:

Eutaw Street is the festive area located between the warehouse and the ballpark. Eutaw Street is open daily. However, for evening games, Eutaw Street closes at 3 p.m. to the general public. At 5:00 p.m., it re-opens to fans holding tickets for that night's game.

Fans who enter the ballpark on Eutaw Street between 5:00 and 5:30 p.m. are free to roam the bleachers and flag court in search of batting practice home run balls and to enjoy any of the carnival type concession areas located up and down the street.

Fans strolling down Eutaw Street might look for any of the following: the brass baseballs embedded into the sidewalk marking the spot where home runs cleared the right field fence and landed on Eutaw Street; a plaque to mark the spot where Ken Griffey Jr. hit the warehouse during the All-Star Home Run Hitting Contest; the Orioles Hall of Fame plaques which are located near the north end of Eutaw Street; and, just outside the North end of Eutaw Street and Gate H are the 4-foot aluminum monuments depicting retired Orioles uniform numbers and the Babe Ruth statue.

Here is a picture of the Griffey plaque. Pretty amazing! To the best of my knowledge, it’s the only ball ever to strike the warehouse wall on the fly.



-Bill Glassey