Talking Baseball: Vol. 7
I went to Camden Yards this week, and it is still the crown jewel of Major League ballparks. Also a huge week ahead for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Sometimes you just need to get away from everything and take a little road trip to a random baseball game. Or at least I do.
A couple of weeks ago I had a craving for some fresh seafood, a random baseball game and decided it might be fun to take a day trip down to Baltimore to get some crab, go to an Orioles game, and just relax for a day off. I have always said I am at my happiest when I am at a baseball game featuring two teams I do not have any rooting interest in. It’s just … fun. See a different ballpark. Enjoy a game without any frustration. Try some different food. See how other teams do things. I love it.
Even better if it’s the defending World Series champions (Texas Rangers) playing a team that might be World Series champions at some point in the next couple of seasons (the Baltimore Orioles).
It goes to another level when it is in the best ballpark in baseball.
And man, I just needed to get away.
So this past Thursday I went down to Baltimore, ate a huge steampot of lobster claws and crab, snagged some club tickets (only $40?!) behind third base and took in a game.
It was my second trip to Camden Yards and it only reinforced my opinion from my first trip there — it truly is the crown jewel of baseball stadiums in Major League Baseball.
While I am still only about halfway through the list of stadiums in the majors, I always had a hard time imaging I would find a stadium I liked better than PNC Park (which is maybe a biased opinion). But with all apologies and all due respect to PNC, I immediately put Camden ahead of it after my first trip there.
This trip just confirmed it.
I don’t know how to really describe it beyond just the feel of it and the atmosphere. From the moment you walk in the main entrance by the warehouse in right field it just has an incredible vibe to it. And it gets even better at night when the overhead lights are on. You almost kind of forget you’re at a stadium.
I think the most impressive thing is simply how well it has held up. This is the original of the “new” throwback stadiums, and it’s hard to even call it new anymore since it’s over 30 years old. But you would never know that walking around in it or seeing a game there. The concourses, the food selections, the architecture and just the overall design. It still mostly looks like a place that was built just a few years ago and is brand new.
I can’t even imagine how much this place blew people’s minds when it first opened in the early 1990s and half of the league was still playing in cookie cutter toilet bowls.
It’s easy to even look past some of the flaws that it does have.
The scoreboard is small and lacks a lot of the features of the newer ones. The lack of an open concourse to the field on the lower level is a dated aspect. But do you know what? I don’t care about either one of them because the rest of the place is just so beautiful.
I wanted to get good seats and was shocked to find club level seats for $40, which is actually cheaper than the club seats to a random Pirates game.
While the skyline view is not quite as impressive as Pittsburgh, it’s still really strong and the sight lines are fantastic.
Even more impressive than the stadium?
The Orioles lineup, and they impressed by clubbing four home runs and scoring 11 runs. From top to bottom it just an embarrassment of riches.
Gunnar Henderson is an MVP candidate in the leadoff spot. Adley Rutschman is a star. Ryan Mountcastle and Anthony Santander are legit big league bats. And then they have another wave of young talent just starting to arrive in Heston Kjerstad, Colton Cowser and Jordan Wesburg. All three of those guys were top-100 prospects and are all crushing the ball. And that doesn’t even get into the best prospect yet to arrive (at least permanently) in Jackson Holliday.
They have no weaknesses 1-9 on any given night.
They have hit on just about every top prospect that is coming through their system.
It makes me completely jealous as a Pirates fan as their top position player prospects struggle to do anything in the majors.
If you have a chance to see them in Baltimore it is definitely worth it not only for the stadium, but also to see a sensational baseball team.
My goal for the season was at least 25 baseball games in as many different stadiums as I could get. This is stadium No. 4 for the season (PNC, Citizens Bank, Citi Field, Camden) and it remains my favorite all-time.
This could be a make-or-break week for the Pirates
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