There’s only one person in the starting lineup at The Starting Lineup, a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it corner bar a few blocks from Camden Yards. Nobody’s on the bench either. JR Rockstroh is the proprietor, bartender, cook, bus boy, dishwasher—you get the idea. The ultimate utility player.
Rockstroh opened the pub two and half years ago in the small rowhouse that previously housed The Corner Bistro. Since then, he’s turned it into a hidden gem treasured by Ridgely’s Delight residents and favored by out-of-town baseball fans looking for a genuine Baltimore neighborhood bar experience.
“It’s a place where a bunch of locals can congregate and talk to their neighbors,” says Rockstroh, who previously worked in the home improvement industry. “It creates a good environment of local people and out-of-towners getting to know each other.”
No matter where you’re from, there’s a beer on the menu that you’ll like. Rockstroh’s rotating list of bottles and cans (there are no taps) can top 400. It’s heavily focused on local breweries, and when we visited in March, beers from Oliver, Monument, Raven, Union, Elevation, Peabody Heights, Big Truck, Heavy Seas, Key, and others were available.
Although there’s no liquor, there are so many brews (IPAs, sours, stouts, porters) ciders, shandies, canned cocktails, seltzers, and wines that Rockstroh hands out three books of menus to customers when they sit down. He’s also started a challenge (free to join) that awards 15 percent off the entire bill for life to those who drink 365 different beers. He started it last year, and although no one has summitted the mountain yet, several are close, he says. Not boozin’? Pick from one of the more than 20 nonalcoholic beers or 25 soda options.
Prices here are noticeably low. Natty Boh cans are $3. You may pay six or seven bucks for a double IPA. Rockstroh wants to encourage customers to try new things while not feeling like they’re breaking the bank. That value extends to the food menu, which features bar-type appetizers like wings and nachos, sandwiches and subs, and pizza.
There’s no fryer, so everything is baked—by Rockstroh—and comes out of the oven piping hot. The pizzas are particularly tasty. Even though Rockstroh makes the dough himself, a small cheese is only $6.50. Want toppings? You’ll have to fork over another 95 cents for each.
The intimacy of The Starting Lineup, capacity is 35, makes striking up a conversation easy, but it’s also a great spot to watch a game—or play one. There’s a shelf of board games in the back, decks of cards on the seven-stool bar, and Wii bowling.
Anytime you stop in, Rockstroh will be there. He hasn’t taken a day off since he bought the joint. It’s important to him that if someone needs a place to go on Thanksgiving, Christmas—whenever—they know that they’re welcome at The Starting Lineup.
“You want a place that people can rely on, that’s consistent, where everyone can feel included. That’s the point,” he says. “I get to hang out, talk to people. It’s almost like having people over to your house. So as hard as it is, it never feels like work.”