This is a story about my first trip to
the wonderfulness that is Oriole Park at Camden Yards. As a kid growing
up in Northern Virginia, Camden Yards seemed like a dream.
While not ridiculously far away, it still seemed to be in a different world.
We went to a lot of minor league games
when I was a kid. They were close and much, much cheaper. And hey, I
had lots of fun. I got to see Jerry Hairston and Brian Roberts come into town to play. I even got to see Pete Rose Jr. play for my local Prince
William Cannons ( now Potomac Nationals ).
We had some family friends from playing
little league who went to Orioles games on a semi regular
basis. On this one trip in 1998 they had an extra ticket and asked me
to go. I was beyond excited. My first trip to a major league park.
This was also going to be the 2,500th consecutive game of
Cal Ripken's streak. As Cal is my favorite player I was even more
excited.
So I got myself ready. I packed up a
glove. I grabbed a stack of cards to try and get autographed. I
tried to bring at least one card of every player on the team, as I had a card for just about every player on the roster. We
got in the car and headed towards Baltimore.
It was a day game on a Saturday. We
left early in the morning. I enjoyed the trip up. We got to the
ballpark a few hours before game time and parked in lot F (now I
always go for lot F, G or H). As we walked up to the park, the size of
the warehouse was the first thing I noticed. It was even bigger than
I thought it would be. Gates were not open yet so we walked
around a bit. We went over to the players parking lot and noticed a
player arriving. I became hopeful of getting an autograph.
The player that
had arrived was Terry Matthews. Not a player I was super fond of; one I had dubbed Terry “Big Butt” Matthews. But nevertheless,
other people were asking him for autographs so we went up. I didn't
have a card of his but had a peace of paper and asked him for an
autograph. Mr. Matthews was vary polite and gladly gave me his
autograph. It was pretty cool, even if it was a player I didn't
really care for.
We got in line a short while later. I
was not aware but this day was a give away as well. Once the gates
opened we walked in and were given a baseball with the entire teams
autographs, albeit facsimiles, but still a cool thing that own to this day.
I was trying to take it all in, looking
at the plaques on Eutaw Street. We then headed to the left field
bleachers to watch batting practice. As someone that had never
been to a major league park at this point and had only been to Single A ball
games, I couldn't believe how green the grass was; it immediately jumped out at
me. The field seemed so large. The dirt was browner. The air somehow smelled fresher. Watching batting practice was fun. I watched as Mike
Mussina shagged fly balls. Running all over the place. Making a
leaping catch at the wall and throwing the ball to another fan. It
was so cool. I was already in love with the park and the game hadn't
even started.
We went to get food. Hot dog on this
trip. Found our seats on the first base side, down the line. Sat down
and just tried to look at everything. The scoreboard, home plate, the
bases. Everything. As the game was getting ready to start I noticed
that Cal Ripken was signing down by the first base line. I ran down.
It was almost time for the national anthem to start. I knew there
wouldn't be much time to waste if I was gonna get Cal to sign
something. I got down and got in line. Someone had some sort of large
poster and Cal was signing it. This guy had Cal sign it in more than
one spot. As I waited rather impatiently the national anthem was
getting ready to start. Cal finished with this one person and then
ran off. Denied a Cal autograph. So back to our seats I went.
I was not aware of the “O” during
the national anthem. And it was a little jarring. But I thought it
was a super cool thing. The game started. The Orioles were playing
the Angels. I don't actually remember much from the game other than
there was a ball hit to the outfield with two outs, I think, could be
wrong, that it was Ricky Henderson that got the hit. Next thing
we know the Orioles are walking off the field after the ball was
thrown back in. We were all confused. It wasn't until the next day
that I read in the paper (yes, the paper, anyone remember the paper??) that the Orioles had pulled off a hidden ball trick and got the
runner out at first to end the inning. Pretty cool.
The real awesomeness came after the
game. We again went to the players parking lot. Waiting for a chance
at some autographs. The first player I remember coming out was Sidney
Ponson. No one said a word to him. Not one person asked him for an
autograph. A few other players trickled out but none were signing.
Finally Joe Carter came out. And Joe went right to signing. I went
through my cards I had brought and found the Joe Carter card I had. I
got “in line”. Which was basically being pushed up against the
fence of the players parking lot by all the other people trying to
get something signed.
After a little bit Joe made his way
towards my card. He grabbed it and signed it. I thanked him for it and
made my way back out. I was super happy to get Joe Carter to sign my
card. I thought it was gonna be the highlight of the day as most
people were saying Cal didn't come to the lot. Lenny Webster came out
next. I had a Webby rookie card with me and was a fan of the backup
catcher. I was next in line with not that many people when the person
in front of me dropped their ball. He asked Webby to try to get the
ball back for him. Webby got down on the ground as the ball had
rolled under a car. He tried but couldn't get the ball. After he was
done with that he was done signing. Denied a Webby autograph that
would be worth an entire 5 cents today!! Thanks to that fan for dropping his ball.
Joe Carter signed for basically
everyone that was there. He was so nice and talked to anyone that
wanted to. As he was signing and signing Roberto Alomar came out. And
much to my joy Robbie deiced to sign too. Maybe to help Joe out as it
seemed he was never gonna go home. I quickly got my Robbie card out.
Again in line, mashed up on the fence. He must have passed over my
card 3 or 4 times when I was the next in line. I don't know if he
didn't like the card or what. But eventually he did grab it and sign
it. This was just the coolest. Roberto was one of my favorite
players. Right behind, Cal was there with Mussina. This was turning
out to be quite the day.
A bit later Rafael Palmeiro came out.
Rafy was another player I loved. I had brought with me one of my
favorite cards I owned of his. His rookie card from when he was a
Cub. I got ready to get in line again. This was apparently the person
people were waiting for as more people were up to get something
signed by Raffy then any of the other players. I was more smashed into
the fence than I was for Joe Carter or Alomar. It was a long wait but
eventually Raffy got to me and signed my rookie card.
I couldn't believe it. I had gotten two
of my favorite players to sign a card. I was on cloud 9 to be sure.
We left a bit later and headed home. On the ride home I used our friends' car phone to call my mom and let her know how the
day was and that I had gotten Raffy to sign something as Raffy was her favorite guy. She couldn't believe I had gotten the autographs and
was happy for me.
I thought this is how it would be every
game. Getting autographs upon autographs. It's never happened like
that again. I still have all three cards. The Alomar one is one of my
most cherished peaces of baseball memorabilia. I thought the Raffy one
would be worth a lot one day. Then he got caught using steroids and
broke my heart. It was great day I will not forget. I have been to
Camden Yards too many times to count in the years since. I have been
in the park for some awesome moments. There isn't a much better place on this Earth to me then a full Camden Yards rocking as the O's are
winning. But that first time will always hold a special place in my
heart.
Matt Baggette @mlb930
