With the 2024 season officially wrapped up and the offseason now underway, we continue our tour of all of the different baseball stadiums I’ve been to over the years. This week, we head east for a look at the Baltimore Orioles and their stadium that kicked off the retro craze.  So, without further ado, let’s take a deeper look at my one game history with Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

Stadium Name: Oriole Park at Camden Yards

Years in Service: 1992 – Present

Visits: 1

After 38 seasons at Memorial Stadium following their move from St. Louis, the Orioles opened Oriole Park at Camden Yards in 1992.  It was the first of a wave of “retro” parks that would sprout up over the following 2 decades, changing the architecture of baseball.  The Orioles took the initial contest at the park, defeating the Indians 2-0 behind a Rick Sutcliffe shutout.

The stadium hosted its first All-Star Game in 1993.  On September 6, 1995, the park witnessed Cal Ripken surpass Lou Gehrig for consecutive games played and, on the same day in 1996, saw Eddie Murray smash his 500th career home run.  On April 29, 2015, the park hosted the first game in MLB history to be closed to fans, due to riots in Baltimore.

I made my first visit to the stadium in the summer of 2019, with the Orioles taking on their longtime rival San Francisco Giants.  We had to leave early, as the train we were planning to take to Washington after the game didn’t run on weekends, so alternate plans were needed.  The game was kind of non-descript, as both teams were on a downward spiral, but I hope to make it back some day for a repeat performance.