Our Mixed Review of Camden Yards - Home of the Baltimore Orioles - Day 37 (6/26)

A lot of people that I've talked to who have been to the city of Baltimore don't like it for various reasons.  Definitely do not count me and my family among that crowd.  My wife and I have been to Baltimore probably 3-4 times and both love it.  If like me, you are a fan of the greatest TV series ever made - The Wire, you may have a distorted view of what Baltimore may be like.  Sure, just like any other big city, it has its problems.  But there is a ton to do here, and certainly Camden Yards is definitely one of the crown jewels of the city.

After heading out from Philadelphia yesterday, we took the short 1.5 hour drive down I-95 to Baltimore.  Michael and I dropped the girls off at the Baltimore Aquarium - something that they both highly recommend if you ever come here.  Both agreed that it was the best aquarium they had ever been to, which I guess that means including the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.  That's a tough one to swallow for me!

Michael and I walked over to Camden Yards.  First of all, it is hard to believe that this place is 20 years old.  It was the first of the new ballparks that opened back in the early 90s.  I remember how crazy everyone was about it and how everyone raved that it was the best park in the majors hands down.  Well 20 years later, it's still hard to argue with that.  It's one of those parks that just does things right.  It fits right into the downtown area perfectly.  The outside of the park brings back the old style brick with cast iron fences near the entrances to the park.  And there is plenty to do around the park - lots of places to eat, drink, and be merry.  There's also the Babe Ruth museum and his childhood home right down the street from the park and a sports museum if you are looking to check out Baltimore's sports history.

Michael and The Babe

Old school entrance to Camden Yards

Inside, it is a thing of beauty.  The best ballparks so far have been the ones that give you something unique with great views of the city.  Camden Yards does that perfectly.  It's best known for utilizing the B&O Warehouse (which I learned was the longest building in the country) as the backdrop in right field.  It just works perfectly there.  As you look toward center field, you get a spectacular view of downtown Baltimore.  The scoreboard is just the right size.  It has two video boards stacked on top of each other and during the game, you get just the information you need.  The out-of-town scoreboard is located along the huge right field wall, which again is where it should be and it does a great job of giving you not only the scores, but updated info about each game in progress.

What a view!

The B&O Warehouse is the signature feature of the park.  I think Ken Griffey Jr hit a HR off of the building once.

The view from our seats

Michael next to the jersey of the great Cal Ripken Jr.
Michael could learn a thing or two from Cal about getting up for school in the morning.

Because there are no bleachers in center and right fields, the park feels small and intimate.  Thanks to my brother-in-law Andy who hooked us up for the second time on our trip with some great seats - this time in the club level just to the left of home plate, we had great views of everything.  The thing I also thought was great about the park is the really wide walkways in the behind the stands.  So many parks we've seen have these narrow walkways that make it impossible to walk around if there are a lot of people.  Not Camden Yards.  The food was great too.  When you're in RF, you can smell the Boog Powell BBQ stand.

Camden Yards just does it all right.  It's so hard to believe that it's 20 years old and it's even harder to think that this place will ever be obsolete.  The Orioles haven't had a good team in a long time.  Since Cal Ripken, JR retired, there hasn't been much to cheer about in Baltimore.  But the experience at Camden Yards makes up for it.  And oh yeah, the game.  It was very enjoyable.  The Orioles won 7-5 over the Cincinnati Reds.  It was a great game. We saw three home runs and it was a perfect day weather wise.  Overall, the Camden Yards experience was fantastic for me.  Michael, however, for some reason did not think the stadium rated as high.  Here's his take:

Hi everyone, it's me Michael again.  Dad really liked Camden Yards a lot.  For me, it was just okay.  I loved our seats and it was a really nice day to see a game.  But I thought the ballpark wasn't anything to get excited about.  The stadium was plain.  The food was good though.  But I liked Philadelphia's stadium better.

Well there you have it.  Next up is a drive over to get a tour of Nationals Park in Washington DC tomorrow (Monday) - the home of the Washington Nationals (formerly the Montreal Expos).  We hear the park is really nice.  We'll then take a break from baseball for a couple of days and see the sights in our nation's capitol.  The gals then head back to Phoenix on Wednesday and it will be back to me and Michael for a few days.  We're down to our final five parks on the tour.  We'll be in Washington until Wednesday morning, and then we're taking our show to the deep south with a 12 hour drive to Atlanta to see the Braves play in Turner Field.  It should be a great time for a number of reasons.  More on that later.