Clarence Haskett is recognized the minute he walks into the bar. Granted, the bar is Section 771, across the street from Camden Yards, where, during baseball season, he’s usually the most celebrated personality off the field. Wearing his signature Orioles baseball hat with the brim flipped up, he’s not trying to be inconspicuous on this February night. Quite the contrary. Haskett, 67, makes no bones about it—he loves being Fancy Clancy.

Among the most well-known vendors in the country, Fancy Clancy, as he’s universally known, has been a beer-slinging superstar at Orioles games for 52 seasons. During the course of a home game, he’ll pose for some 40 selfies with fans, always with a genuine smile on his face. Some even pass on other vendors so they can buy their $15 brew from him. He’s been featured on NPR and ESPN. A Virginia-based microbrewery makes Fancy Clancy’s Pilsner, with his illustrated likeness on the can, bulging biceps and all.

Last fall, he worked his first wedding, running down the aisle in full vending uniform, slinging cold ones into the crowd of guests. Who knows—bachelor parties and bar mitzvahs could come next. But how did it happen?

It’s a charming Baltimore story of a man with an intense passion—for the work, yes, but more importantly, the people. Clarence Haskett grew up on the city’s west side and started vending at Memorial Stadium as a teenager in 1974. His first assignment was hawking caramel popcorn, sodas, hot dogs, and peanuts in the upper deck. Back then, he was happy making $50, more than enough to buy a sandwich to eat on the bus ride home.

But his hustle got him noticed. Eventually, he was moved to the more lucrative lower level and given any ballpark’s golden goose: beer.

“I started saying, ‘Two cold cans for two thirsty fans, Clancy’s here with more cold beer,’” says Haskett, a natural showman.

“TWO COLD CANS FOR TWO THIRSTY FANS, CLANCY’S HERE WITH MORE COLD BEER…”

His nickname evolved in segments. As a sprinter at Catonsville Community College, his teammates dubbed him Clancy, after another lightning-fast collegiate runner of the day. Fancy grew from his vending antics.

“In the early ’90s, we had to pour a beer out of the can into a cup,” he says. “Then I learned the technique where I was able to pour two beers into a cup at once. And for some reason, I tried to pour the beer behind my back. And that caught on…[Then one time], this guy walked past and said, ‘That’s pretty fancy, Clancy.’”

So are his statistics, printed on the back of his baseball card-style business cards. From 2004 to 2019, Haskett was the top-selling beer vendor at O’s games, also proudly noting that he ranked number one in sales at RFK Stadium in D.C., from 1986 to 1996, and led the vendor standings at University of Maryland football games from 1981 to 2002. He’s worked four Super Bowls, three Kentucky Derbies, and the Preakness a whopping 32 times.

His most memorable game came on Sept. 6, 1995. Turns out there were two epic records set at Camden Yards that night. As Cal Ripken surpassed Lou Gehrig for most consecutive games played, Haskett bested his own record, taking in $960, he says.

Clancy and Cal have something else in common: They’re both iron men. From 2005 to 2019, Haskett missed only seven games. He attributes that durability to his physical fitness, which is evident to anyone who has seen him sprint up and down the ballpark’s lower-level stairs while holding a bin filled with ice and up to 70 beers. He’s not sure how much it weighs.

“All I know is it gets lighter every sale,” he says.

Now retired from his “other” job with the Maryland Department of Transportation after 32 years, Haskett isn’t thinking about hanging up his bin. Fancy Clancy’s here to stay, which means so is his call that echoes throughout his usual Camden Yards real estate, sections 16 to 27.

“You want it fancy, buy it from Clancy!”

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If you happened to catch a teenage David Rubenstein during an Orioles game at Memorial Stadium in the 1960s, you might have noticed that he wasn’t always paying attention to the action on the field. Instead, his head might have been buried in a biography of John F. Kennedy or the pages of some other history text.

“I usually took my books,” he says, “and read so much that my friends would make fun of me.”

Rubenstein’s voracious reading was perhaps a sign that he’d one day work in the White House and later pen a book about U.S. presidents, but it was hardly an indication he would one day become a billionaire or the team’s owner some 60 years later.

But make no mistake, he was also a huge fan. He was the type of kid who snuck down from the 75-cent bleacher seats to the mezzanine, then to the newly created box seats as the innings wore on to get a better view of his baseball idols. Among his favorite O’s were some of the modern franchise’s early folk heroes: 6-foot-3, 215-pound catcher Gus Triandos (“slow runner, but hit a lot of home runs,” Rubenstein recalls); 1960 American League Rookie of the Year Ron Hansen; and All-Star first baseman Jim Gentile.

Then came along a young Brooks Robinson (“a modest, unassuming, low-key guy; I really admired him”), followed by an even younger Jim Palmer, who at age 20 was just a few years older than Rubenstein when he left town for college in 1966, the year the O’s won their first World Series.

Sometimes, an usher working the box seats tapped Rubenstein or one of his buddies on the shoulder and told them to leave. They’d scram, then come back. “We were just kids having a good time,” says Steve Baron, a longtime friend of Rubenstein’s. They rode the city bus to the stadium from their middle-class, predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Fallstaff in northwest Baltimore. In the fall, they split $2 student season tickets to watch the Colts play football, too.

In the pages of his books, Rubenstein was exploring a broader world, but at those games, he mostly just had fun. Making his way to the box seats where O’s then-owner Jerry Hoffberger sat was not part of some master plan.

“I didn’t know what ownership was,” Rubenstein says, chuckling.

On Opening Day late last March, five days after longtime Orioles owner and Greektown-raised lawyer Peter Angelos passed, another local kid who made good—one even richer than Angelos and more of a prodigal son—held his first press conference at Camden Yards.

Sporting a white O’s home jersey, an enthusiastic grin, and a seemingly limitless bankroll, Rubenstein announced, “This is a new day, a new chapter,” from the sixth floor of the B&O Warehouse. And O’s fans, who had soured on the previous regime’s recent underfunded payroll and a 40-plus-year championship drought, were eager for the chapter to begin.

It’s early January and Rubenstein, 75, bespectacled with parted white hair, sits in front of a computer in an office at his suburban Bethesda home. He’s dressed in a suit and tie, typical for his many public appearances. As tycoons go—especially one who got rich in private equity—Rubenstein is astonishingly well-liked, largely due to his easy manner, disarming sense of humor, and fluency in a variety of subjects, including business, politics, history, and, increasingly, sports.

A mural of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.—where he made his career and fortune—is behind him. At 27, Rubenstein achieved his dream of working in the White House, as President Jimmy Carter’s deputy domestic policy advisor. Ten years later, he co-founded the private-equity firm Carlyle Group, which made him extraordinarily wealthy (Forbes estimates his net worth around $4 billion).

Over the last few decades, he’s given away more than $700 million and become known for “patriotic philanthropy,” like buying and then loaning a rare copy of the Magna Carta to the National Archives and putting up at least $10 million to fix the Washington Monument. Until this February, he was the chair of the board of the Kennedy Center. (Donald Trump removed him from the position and installed himself.)

He’s become a prominent interviewer of public figures, too, hosting TV shows on Bloomberg and PBS. He has written books on investing, politics, and leadership. His latest, The Highest Calling, includes interviews with most living U.S. presidents, including Joe Biden and Trump.

Maybe as impressive as Rubenstein’s connections is the fact that he never uses notes when giving a speech or interviewing someone.

“He has a photographic memory,” says Baltimore’s Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress, a friend. “He absorbs and devours information.”

Rubenstein has been focused on baseball a lot more lately. In his first full offseason as Orioles owner since he led the group that bought the team from the Angelos family for $1.7 billion last March, Rubenstein and ownership partner Mike Arougheti have spoken with general manager Mike Elias almost daily about personnel decisions—and Rubenstein is getting up to speed on the modern game.

Gone are the days of his youth when batting average, RBI, and home runs were the only important stats. Today, teams value wonky-sounding metrics like “on-base plus slugging percentage” or “wins above replacement”—an estimate of how many wins a player contributes compared to an average MLB Joe at his position.

“OPS, WAR. I’m learning,” Rubenstein says. But he stresses that he’s not a meddling owner: “I’m [not] saying, ‘Mike, pay this, pay that.’”

Importantly, Rubenstein has put no limit on how much his GM can spend, a luxury for a middle-market team in a salary-cap-less sport where tickets and concessions generate most revenue.

The Orioles’ spending had plummeted in recent years to among the lowest in baseball. Fans were told to trust the process as the team fortified its farm system and spent little in free agency. The rebuild seemed to be working—the club made the playoffs the year before Rubenstein purchased it—but the O’s clearly needed an influx of energy and cash.

In walked Rubenstein. This year, the payroll is up to more than $150 million, 15th of 30 MLB teams, 40-percent higher than early 2024—and more than triple the budget from 2021. (The O’s also made the playoffs in Rubenstein’s first season, although, for the second year in a row, they didn’t record a postseason win.)

This offseason, Elias signed free-agent outfielder Tyler O’Neill to a three-year, $49.5-million contract, the first multiyear deal Elias has given out since becoming GM in November 2018. “We can [now] run the team the way we feel is optimal,” Elias says. “They’ve really liberated us to do our jobs.”

But even with a lot of cash on hand, difficult decisions must sometimes be made. Undoubtedly, the most-discussed topic of this Orioles offseason was the one who got away: O’s ace Corbin Burnes, who signed a six-year, $210-million deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks in December. Fans thought, “uh oh, here we go again,” even though baseball insiders had never expected Burnes to stay here after he arrived in a trade with one year left on his contract.

“Money was not the issue,” Rubenstein insists. Family was. Burnes, 30, and his wife have had a home in Phoenix for six years and are raising three young kids there, including twin girls born last summer. It’s hard to beat driving them to school and going to your home ballpark the same day, Burnes said upon introduction in Arizona.

“I’m not sure any amount of money would have made much difference,” Rubenstein says. “We had an offer that, when you add it all up, was very competitive. We were prepared to put in the money necessary.”

“WE CAN RUN THE TEAM THE WAY WE FEEL IS OPTIMAL.”

Rubenstein didn’t always have the money. His father, Robert, a former Marine who served in World War II and whose family immigrated from Ukraine, worked as a U.S. Postal Service file clerk. His mother, Bettie, went to work making dresses when her only child was six. They lived in a modest, two-bedroom rowhouse at 4834 Beaufort Ave., bought for $6,000, followed by another at 4213 Fallstaff Rd., purchased for $8,000 in 1959.

Like many sports-mad boys, Rubenstein’s childhood dream was to be a pro ballplayer—but he quickly realized he was too small and slow. Later, he was greatly inspired by JFK’s televised inauguration address on Jan. 20, 1961—“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

The next day, Rubenstein and his classmates analyzed the speech in Mrs. Joan Shaw’s sixth-grade class at Fallstaff Elementary. And when he found out that a lawyer, Ted Sorensen, had written it, Rubenstein had a new dream.

“I was reasonably good at writing and reading and talking,” he says. “That’s why I ultimately went to law school. I thought being a policy advisor in the White House would be the highest calling of mankind.”

Rubenstein bussed to high school at City College, about a 75-minute ride each way, and joined clubs to strengthen his college applications. He went to Duke University and law school in Chicago on scholarship. After graduation, he got a job with a New York firm where his idol, Sorensen, worked. And then one day he got a fateful call about working on the presidential campaign of a peanut farmer from Georgia. He said yes.

In the years to come, Rubenstein was a regular in the Oval Office and flew on Air Force One. But then Jimmy Carter lost his 1980 re–election bid and Rubenstein faced a new reality: as a political has-been. He became a partner in a D.C. law firm, but didn’t enjoy it and saw friends making more money in business.

In 1987, newly married and raising the first of his three children, he cofounded Carlyle, a leveraged buyout firm that grew out of his and his partners’ Washington relationships. Six years later, the firm held a majority stake in about a dozen companies that generated billions in revenue annually, chiefly from the U.S. government. (A 1993 New Republic cover story by Michael Lewis said Rubenstein “almost unwittingly” helped create a “new social type: the access capitalist.”)

Carlyle eventually went global and has gone on to have more than $400 billion of assets under management. Rubenstein stepped down as co-CEO in 2017.

Over the years, he didn’t completely forget Baltimore. Rubenstein served on the boards of Johns Hopkins University and Hospital. In 2007, he donated $5 million for a building on Wolfe Street that’s part of Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. And he’s reunited with at least half a dozen old friends from the Lancers Boys Club of his youth who’ve gone on to disparate careers.

“For a couple years, he would fly us all up to Nantucket,” says Baron, the former CEO of Baltimore Mental Health Systems, referring to Rubenstein’s private jet and $39-million estate on the exclusive New England island. When they last visited two years ago, the guest book included a familiar name: Joe Biden.

But after Rubenstein returned home for his parents’ funerals at Mikro Kodesh Beth Israel Cemetery in East Baltimore in 2012 and 2017, his perspective changed. He realized he had neglected his hometown, especially after his parents retired to West Palm Beach, Florida, years earlier.

“Baltimore gave me a good public school education. My parents grew up here, my parents were married here, my parents are buried here, and I’m going to be buried here,” he says. “I gave away a fair amount of money, but I didn’t do as much for Baltimore as I thought I should have.”

He took note of the population decline, crime, and relative lack of corporate headquarters. He had long talked privately with friends about doing something big, namely, buying the Orioles, to help “revitalize” the city, he says.

But as far as he knew, the team wasn’t for sale.

Then the details spilled out about an ugly lawsuit filed by Louis Angelos against his brother, John, and his mother, Georgia, revealing that Peter Angelos—who’d bought the Orioles at auction for $173 million in 1993—had been incapacitated since a collapse in 2017.

Roughly three years later, John, the eldest of Peter’s two sons, was appointed the team’s MLB-mandated “control person” by his mother. By 2023, John would say publicly that the team would be “financially underwater” if it signed players to long-term contracts.

Meantime, a new long-term Camden Yards lease agreement between the state and the Orioles was overdue. Deep-rooted fears about the team leaving the city (aka The Colts, v2.0) grew. In 2022, Ted Leonsis, the D.C.-based owner of the Capitals, the Wizards, and a burgeoning sports streaming channel, Monumental, proposed Rubenstein invest in his two teams, media platform, plus the Orioles, if Leonsis could reach a deal to buy the team. He negotiated unsuccessfully, but the wheels were greased.

In July 2023, John Angelos asked to meet Rubenstein for lunch in Nantucket, where Angelos was renting a home. He offered a minority share. Rubenstein was intrigued but wanted more: a “path to control” in a few years.

A few weeks later, he heard better news. Angelos was willing to sell complete control.

Georgia Angelos endorsed the idea. She liked that Rubenstein was from Baltimore and she “had seen my TV shows, read my books, and thought I might be a good owner,” he said in a 2024 podcast.

Negotiations began and continued for months, through Christmastime 2023, when lawyers and bankers joined a massive Zoom call between interested parties—and everything nearly fell apart. Rubenstein bristled at comments from Angelos’ reps he considered “somewhat insulting about our knowledge of finance” regarding an item on the team’s balance sheet.

“I don’t want to put up with this anymore,” he said on the call in frustration. “I’m done.”

He logged out, walked away, and left everyone wondering what to do. “I thought they would sell to somebody else,” Rubenstein says now, but a week later, cooler heads prevailed, talks renewed, and the deal was finalized.

Since taking over, few dispute that Rubenstein has hit almost all the right notes. Last Opening Day, he proclaimed his goal of returning a World Series winner to Baltimore for the first time since 1983. Excitement filtered to the clubhouse.

“We want leadership to want the World Series as much as we do,” Gunnar Henderson said to reporters.

On Eutaw Street, Rubenstein chatted with fans and famed beer vendor Fancy Clancy and took selfies with anyone who asked. Across the street at Pickles Pub, Rubenstein’s ownership partners, led by Arougheti, bought everyone a pre-game beer. Rubenstein has since attended dozens of games and has deliberately spoken directly to Baltimoreans.

“I want to give people a sense that there’s real hope in Baltimore,” he said in a speech at Beth Tfiloh Congregation in November. “The Orioles are the heart and soul of the city in many ways. When they do well, it makes the whole community feel much better about itself.”

He now has his own box—Suite 33—and he’s invited season-ticket owners to share it with him, perhaps remembering the thrill he felt as a kid at Memorial Stadium. But he finds that he prefers his front-row seat near the home dugout, on top of which he once awkwardly danced to “Thank God I’m a Country Boy.” He was Mr. (Ruben)Splash another evening, hosing fans in Section 86. He has tossed vintage O’s hats—the style he wears—into the seats and made funny promotional videos.

“He loves it,” says longtime friend, former Baltimore Mayor and current University of Baltimore president Kurt Schmoke, who’s part of the new ownership group. “He enjoys getting out into the crowd, walking around, taking pictures.”

“THE ORIOLES ARE THE HEART AND SOUL OF THE CITY IN MANY WAYS.”

People seem to enjoy seeing him, but goodwill only goes so far. Fans remember the Angelos era, which started with a similar narrative about a locally invested, wealthy owner. Even if this offseason underwhelmed some—on top of losing Burnes, no truly marquee player was signed—the payroll increase signals a will to win.

The O’s have revamped their business operations, hiring Catie Griggs from the Seattle Mariners last July to oversee things. The club has $400 million in state funding to refurbish Camden Yards, part of a new 15-year lease agree- ment that began in 2023. The O’s can unlock $200 million more from the state and add another 15 years to the deal if it agrees on a ground lease to redevelop the real estate around the ballpark, which Rubenstein has said he intends to do. Meantime, a 12-item value menu for fans—including $5 beers—revealed in January was a popular choice.

The primary question, though, is whether the O’s will agree to long-term contracts with young stars such as Henderson and Adley Rutschman. If not, what’s the point of anything, really?

“Those are complicated things,” Rubenstein says. “I would just say the Orioles have a tradition of having some players stay with the team for a long, long time,” referring to two of his boyhood heroes, Palmer and Robinson, as well as Cal Ripken Jr. “And I hope Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman will be in that tradition.”

Rubenstein knows the optics and reality: They are a new generation’s baseball idols. In October, on the first day of the O’s short-lived 2024 postseason, Rubenstein headlined a networking event hosted by nonprofit media outlet The Baltimore Banner at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.

“How many people think we should keep more of our young players in Baltimore?” he asked the audience. A roar of applause followed.

Months later, on the eve of the 2025 season, he shares this answer: “I’d like fans to know I’m focused on trying to win a World Series. It’s not easy. There are 30 teams, and only one can win, but we have a good young team, and we’re prepared to spend the money to get a good team and make it even better.”

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The night before the biggest game of his life, Bruce Zimmermann walked on to a quiet, empty, mostly dark Camden Yards field to imagine how things might go the next day—and take in the setting.

In a scene from a baseball fairytale, a little after 9 p.m. on Sunday, with no one else around, the 27-year-old that grew up a 20-minute drive away near Ellicott City stepped on the pitcher’s mound at Oriole Park and gazed at the sights.

There was the Opening Day logo spray-painted in white in the grass behind home plate. The new deeper, and higher left field wall, reconstructed in the offseason, to help pitchers just like him. And, of course, his eyes drifted to the iconic brick warehouse in right field, gently lit in the black sky.

“It was storybook, in a way,” Zimmermann said.

So was what happened the next day.

In the 30th Opening Day in Camden Yards on Monday afternoon—and the first home opener in two years where most of the stadium’s seats were filled—Zimmermann’s performance compelled thousands of fans to chant his first name, as if he were the New Jersey-born lead singer of the E Street Band.

Bruuuce!

On a warm spring afternoon, the 6-foot-1, 220-pound leftie buttoned-up his No. 50 Orioles jersey and threw four scoreless innings. He tossed 66 pitches in all, and allowed only three hits to power the Orioles to their first win of the year, a 2-0 victory over the visiting Milwaukee Brewers. (If you’re a fan of symmetry, it was the exact same score the Orioles won their first-ever game at Camden Yards, 30 years ago.)

For a guy only beginning his second full big-league season, who grew up in the Baltimore suburbs, went to high school at Loyola-Blakefield, and then had a mostly unremarkable stint pitching at Towson University, it was as magical a day as they come.

“This one will always be up there for sure,” Zimmermann said afterward, standing near his locker. “I have to put it right there with my debut, maybe a little bit more, with everything and the environment. The first time seeing Oriole Park like that, as a player, was incredibly special.”

It was for those of us in the crowd, too. For one thing, the noise was back, along with the sense of a freewheeling, communal experience that, even with limited crowds last year, has been largely missing from Camden Yards since 2019 because of the pandemic.

On Monday, when Orioles outfielder Cedric Mullins smacked a go-ahead, two-run single in the second inning, scoring lightning-fast shortstop Jorge Mateo all the way from second base, the cathartic sound of celebration was reminiscent of a big playoff moment.

“Oh yeah,” Mullins said. “That was awesome. It was an exciting moment. And we’re going to have a lot more.”

Frankly, Opening Day 2022 felt almost normal, as if we had we not lived through the past two years.

I was one of the rare few to attend the last two home openers. In 2020, I sat with a few dozen onlookers in the press box for an eerie July game against the Yankees played in front of no fans and in near silence with hand sanitizer use strongly encouraged.

Last year, a limited capacity of roughly 10,000 fans took in the O’s more traditional early April opener against the Boston Red Sox. We wrote then that it was a step toward life as we used to know it.

This year’s Opening Day marked another, and perhaps the biggest—in a baseball context. It was a crisply played game in which health protocols and COVID-19 worries finally seemed secondary to what happened on the field.

Before Zimmermann’s first pitch, fans strolled down Eutaw Street in orange-and-black gear, without masks, some in pursuit of a fresh Boog’s Barbecue sandwich, others in search of a table at Dempsey’s Brew Pub on the first level of the warehouse.

Yet a few other architecturally-inclined minds—and some kids in search of baseballs from the Brewers warming up on the field—headed straight to something new: the remade left-field stands.

In the offseason, the O’s removed roughly 1,000 seats from the short porch in left, making the field larger and home run wall a little higher, a design intended to reduce the number of home runs that fly out of the park, some that would be routine flyouts in other pro stadiums.

If it looks like someone—or specifically, construction workers—carved a slice out of what used to be there, that’s exactly what happened. There’s also now an awkward sharp corner in deep left field that we hope no one runs into full speed.

One game into the season: So far, so good.

Eventually, everyone (the crowd was announced as a sellout of 44,461 but there were obvious empties to the contrary) found their seats, and the lower bowl filled beneath a clear blue sky and gentle sun, as the orange carpet was rolled out in center field to cap off orchestrated pregame ceremonies.

As part of the festivities, Mullins received a giant Silver Slugger trophy—marking his peers voting him the best hitter in all of baseball at his position in 2021, following a breakout season in which he became the first Oriole ever to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in a season.

Fan favorite, cancer-beater and longest-tenured O Trey Mancini, who started at designated hitter, received the loudest ovation. First baseman Ryan Mountcastle, who set a team record for home runs by a rookie last year, beating a mark previously held by Cal Ripken Jr., enjoyed a loud welcome back too.

After the game, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde, who, like the rest of us, didn’t sign up for the circumstances of the past two years, said, “It was fun to hear Orioles fans cheering, and a lot of them. Our guys fed off the energy.”

Also during pregame, on the scoreboard in center field, Baltimore-based poet and author Kondwani Fidel delivered a video tribute to Camden Yards’ 30-year anniversary that gave us chills.

The Morgan State University choir, which performed the national anthem at Oriole Park on April 6, 1992, did the same this year (more symmetry!), while a giant flag from Fort McHenry was draped behind the green facade.

And, for the ceremonial first pitch, Kortez Baker, the son of slain Baltimore City police officer Keona Holley, as well as relatives of the three city firefighters who died in action in January, and the one who survived, John McMaster, took positions near the mound.

Then there was Zimmermann, who became the first Maryland-born pitcher to start a home opener for the Orioles since 1990, and first to ever do it at Camden Yards. And it happened nearly four years after he first joined the Orioles organization as a minor-leaguer via a trade that sent pitchers Kevin Gausman and Darren O’Day to the Atlanta Braves.

Before the game, Hyde said he hoped Zimmermann could handle the obvious butterflies in anticipation of the moment. He started 13 games last year after being called up late in 2020, but had never started Opening Day in his hometown ballpark. (Thus the night-before walkthrough, perhaps.)

After the game, Hyde said, “Zim pitched extremely well,” and highlighted his effective mix of fastballs, changeups and curveballs.

So how was Bruuuce’s anxiety level? “Pretty manageable,” Zimmermann told us. “It was high, but I knew it was going to be high. It was another start, with a lot of added adrenaline. I was more concerned about just getting through a clean first inning and setting up the rest of my outing.”

After a 1-2-3 first inning, we heard his first name being chanted a little bit in appreciation from O’s die-hards. And, after the second inning, when he struck out a batter with an off-speed pitch and a runner on second, it felt like we were at Springsteen concert. Same at the end of the third, when he got out of a bases-loaded jam following a brief mound visit from pitching coach Chris Holt.

“Walking off and hearing the Bruuuce chant and everything,” Zimmermann said, “that really hit and fired me up a little bit more.”

So did the knowledge that a large crew of longtime supporters, including his parents, aunts and uncles, and former college coaches were in attendance behind home plate.

Admittedly, though, Zimmermann tried not to look at them. He feared even a momentary distraction in the loud, jumpy environment could veer him from the vision of success he’d had on the mound in the quiet moments at Camden Yards the night before.

“Internally, there was a lot going on,” he said. “Usually, I do try to peek up, but [with] the magnitude of the day today, it was just kind of, ‘Stay focused as long as possible.’”

That was about four innings. On the surface, a performance of that length might not seem like something worth much glory, but it was the most that was expected of him. Given an abbreviated spring training stemming from labor negotiations between Major League Baseball owners and players that delayed the start of preseason and Opening Day, Zimmermann’s pitch count on Monday was predetermined to be 70.

He finished four just shy of his maximum, and he looked sharp, striking out four and allowing two walks. Two-thirds of his pitches were strikes, a very good sign of things to come.

“It’s a long season ahead,” Zimmermann said, “but getting this win and everything about today was the perfect way to set off a hopefully long, healthy, successful season.”

Larry Lucchino grew up in the Greenfield section of Pittsburgh, the next neighborhood over from Schenley Park and Forbes Field. When the former Orioles president was a kid, he and his buddies only had to jump on a city bus to see Bill Mazeroski, Smoky Burgess, Dick Groat, and a glorious young outfielder named Roberto Clemente in the turn-of-the-century ballpark.

Built in 1909 with Pittsburgh’s finest steel, the elegant, Bouquet Street-situated Forbes Field possessed a wonderful repeating arch and window exterior, copper roof, asymmetrical dimensions, and a scoreboard embedded into the left field wall.

“It was a baseball field in a neighborhood park,” says Lucchino, who was 15 when Mazeroski smashed a walk-off home run over Forbes’ fence in the seventh game of the 1960 World Series. “Maybe the obsession with old ballparks began there. I also grew up going to football games at Pitt Stadium, which was a concrete doughnut,” he continues. “Two different concepts.”

In short, this is why Baltimore has Camden Yards.

Thirty years after the fact, we’ve forgotten that most Baltimoreans—yes, even Orioles fans—would’ve rejected building Camden Yards had it gone to ballot. Funding for renovating Memorial Stadium? Absolutely. Abandoning Memorial Stadium? No way. But all the debates and objections about public money going for a new stadium—recall the Marylanders for Sports Sanity lawsuit?—and about World Series memories and Waverly being left behind, were erased the moment Rick Sutcliffe’s called third strike clinched the O’s Opening Day shutout on April 6, 1992. (Irony: city planner Evans Paull, who lived near Memorial Stadium, had organized the local fan group “Save Our Stadium,” before going to work on, and falling in love with, Camden Yards.)

Of course, the full story behind The Ballpark That Changed Baseball Forever™—the Orioles trademarked the phrase in 2012—is more complicated than a reluctant fan base and the team president’s nostalgia. It involves a city jilted by a duplicitous Colts owner and his snowy night run out of town; an O’s team then-owned by a big-shot Washington lawyer; a stubborn Baltimore mayor on his way to the governor’s mansion; a Syracuse University student’s architectural thesis; and a 31-year-old woman with no baseball experience hired to oversee the entire Camden Yards project.

“It plays. That was my immediate thought after the last out on Opening Day,” says Janet Marie Smith, the sharp urban planner ultimately hired by Lucchino to manage the development of Camden Yards for the Orioles. “You test everything you can. We’d built a scale model to test the impact of the warehouse on the wind. You flush all the toilets at once. You run a vendor check. But you just don’t know until there is a ballgame, and so you hold your breath. Then, the game barely lasted two hours. It ended in the middle of rush hour [because of Opening Day’s late afternoon start], but no traffic jam materialized.”

The combination of parking, trains, and pedestrian access worked. “But no, I didn’t think of it as ‘a hit.’ We had the whole season in front of us.”

The Orioles shortstop that day, who would celebrate his own historic moment at the former train yard three years later, knew otherwise. “It feels like baseball has been played here before,” Cal Ripken Jr. said at the time.

Affectionately known as “The Old Grey Lady of 33rd Street,” Memorial Stadium reached the end of its natural lifespan at the worst of times. Baltimore was a ship taking on water in the economic tumult of the late 1970s and early 1980s. The steepest population decline in city history came in the decade leading to 1980, when 120,000 Baltimoreans, including our NBA team, left for subsidized suburban pastures. Mayor William Donald Schaefer famously responded by charting a bold course and remaking the Inner Harbor, but even as that effort succeeded beyond all hopes, the departures continued. Among others renting moving trucks, our beloved Colts rolled out, heading for a new, domed stadium in Indianapolis. That left the teetering Orioles, who had been sold in 1979 to high-profile Washington defense attorney Edward Bennett Williams. He soon began signing one-year leases at Memorial Stadium, while making his own demands for a new park.

Over the previous decade and a half, Astroturf concrete multipurpose stadiums had been built in St. Louis, Houston, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Arlington, Seattle, Minneapolis—and, yes, Pittsburgh—many replacing historic urban parks. The Washington Senators had been lured to Texas after 1971, and Williams and others in the Orioles front office saw the opportunity to create a regional franchise. The concern in Baltimore was our championship Birds might migrate further south, and, in fact, six months after Williams bought the team, Schaefer said publicly he believed they were on their way to Howard County.

Against expectations, however, Williams assured Schaefer he’d leave his options open about keeping the Orioles in the city. Unlike the owner of the Colts, Williams kept his word to Schaefer, too, giving him time to act, as mayor and then later as governor. Shortly after the Colts left, Schaefer set up a local commission to study the twofold stadium issue—the goals at that point were to lure an NFL team back to Baltimore and renovate Memorial Stadium to keep the Orioles in their nest.

Meanwhile, the Maryland Stadium Authority was formed in 1986 and a new state commission that year recommended a 70,000-seat multi-purpose stadium in Lansdowne in Baltimore County. Their findings touted the beltway-adjacent site because it was equidistant from Baltimore City to Washington. City of Baltimore planners, including Paull, responded with their own study, however, which poked holes in the state’s findings, specifically calling out the wisdom of constructing a massive parking lot that would encircle the stadium, and proposed a bold idea: a brand new stadium in downtown Baltimore, namely Camden Yards. They cited the benefits: public transportation, which would include a new light rail, and nearby hotels, restaurants, bars, and tourist attractions already in place.

“We leaked it to the press,” Paull says proudly today. “It worked. Momentum turned back to a downtown park.”

The Camden Yards location—Port Covington had also been under consideration—had the O’s backing. It satisfied Lucchino’s desire for an urban park and Williams’ wish to move closer (than Memorial Stadium at least) to baseball fans in the D.C. area. Lucchino, all along, had remained adamant about building a baseball-only venue. He’d recognized the friendly confines of Wrigley Field and Fenway Park were the reason Chicagoans and Bostonians turned out even as the Cubs and Red Sox often put mediocre clubs on the field. Williams and Schaefer eventually came around to the idea, too. In 1987, just months after becoming governor, Schaefer pushed the General Assembly to approve the Camden Yards project and then blocked a referendum campaign to put the whole thing on the ’88 ballot—which polls had indicated would not have passed.

Lucchino, who had been hired by Williams to serve as the team’s vice president and general counsel, was promoted to team president in 1988. That off-season, he got a resumé from Janet Marie Smith, which she’d sent on her 31st birthday. She was from Mississippi, but she had studied the Inner Harbor in graduate school. She’d worked on a Battery Park makeover in Manhattan and a similar effort in Los Angeles, though never in baseball. Lucchino found her resumé in his HR director’s “thanks, but no thanks” file.

“This is a woman who is an architect with a master’s degree in urban planning,” Lucchino recalls saying to his HR head, explaining he had enough baseball men around him. “Don’t you think a person with this kind of experience is someone we ought to be talking to?”

Lucchino invited Smith in for an interview and promptly asked if she knew what league had the designated hitter. She rightly took offense and he responded by asking her to look at an early draft of the Camden Yards master plan in his office. She identified some shortcomings in the working design and impressed Lucchino with her mix of baseball knowledge, aesthetic eye, attention to detail, and confidence.

“The plan hadn’t yet come together,” Smith says, recalling the preliminary drawings didn’t fully capture Lucchino’s vision of an old-style ballpark, which took cues from its urban landscape. If he wanted someone who would offer the conventional sports response it wouldn’t have been the right fit, she says.

Little did Smith know her career was about to change forever. Not only did Lucchino hire her for the job, she would go on to oversee ballpark efforts in Atlanta, Boston, and L.A., where she now works for the Dodgers. Twenty years later, in 2009, she returned to supervise Camden Yards’ renovation.

With Smith in place to help carry out Lucchino’s vision, baseball was about to get its first retro ballpark—Lucchino fined staff members $5 whenever one of them used the word “stadium”—of the post-World War II multi-purpose era. But not until Smith and her team figured out what do with the eight-story, 1,116-foot warehouse, the longest brick building east of the Mississippi. The 1899-built B&O warehouse that many people thought was standing in the way of progress, and blocking a potential view of the harbor, instead became the key to its entire concept.

The man who saved the warehouse is largely forgotten today. But it was fifth-year Syracuse architectural student Eric Moss who made the first model of Camden Yards utilizing the neglected B&O building. A Phillies fan who grew up going to Veterans Stadium, Moss had an epiphany during a visit to Fenway. While casting around for a final project idea, he’d become aware of the Orioles’ relocation plans, and the image of the warehouse reminded him of Fenway’s Green Monster. He thought, what if they incorporated the warehouse into the right field fence? Among Moss’ thesis jurors was Syracuse alum Adam Gross of the Baltimore architecture firm Ayers Saint Gross, who hired the young man and brought him and his plans back in the hopes of winning the Camden Yards contract. The Ayers Saint Gross bid didn’t win, but Moss’ idea generated news and buzz.

That said, the back and forth over the warehouse continued for several years. Among the warehouse detractors, notably, was John Steadman, the longtime Evening Sun columnist. “That warehouse offers absolutely nothing, and it destroys the vista of downtown Baltimore,” Steadman wrote. “And if you buy the best seat in the house, next to the Baltimore dugout, you’re going to spend nine innings staring out at a brick wall that reminds me of the Maryland state penitentiary.”

Steadman was wrong, obviously. The warehouse brought in almost everything we value about Camden Yards, and probably now take for granted. For starters, the warehouse, like the train tracks out front, runs north and south. By coincidence, the ideal direction for a third-base line is north and south because it means the sun, crossing east to west, never shines directly in the eyes of batters or outfielders. That also meant that the warehouse could sit perpendicular to the first-base line, and its massive backdrop, as Moss imagined, would create a sense of authentic intimacy.

And it meant Eutaw Street, with the Bromo-Seltzer Tower in view to the north, could be gated at each end on game day, and left open on non-game days to further establish a genuine connection to its immediate environs.

“I’m not gonna say I had all the best ideas,” Moss told Bloomberg CityLab several years ago, “but I still think it would be fun to have the warehouse in play.”

“…BUT I STILL THINK IT WOULD BE FUN TO HAVE THE WAREHOUSE IN PLAY.”

In the end, the debate around keeping the warehouse came down to the cost of its renovation and whether or not it could be utilized, because the Maryland Stadium Authority didn’t intend to assume care of an empty building. Developer Bill Struever, who was doing groundbreaking adaptive re-use projects around the Inner Harbor, was brought in to provide his expertise and offered encouragement that the warehouse could be put to good use. Once there was a realization the building could house the Orioles’ and Maryland Stadium Authority’s offices, the park’s commissary kitchen, the Stadium Club, and the locker rooms for stadium workers, form and function came together.

“We thought of the warehouse as a natural feature, I said like a cliff or waterfall, that was my soundbite, but it’s true,” says Joe Spear, the lead architect of Camden Yards at what was then HOK Sport and is now Populous. “It was familiar to Baltimoreans and in terms of the city scape, its scale became an important element.” The warehouse remains the ultimate target for lefthanded sluggers. To date, Ken Griffey Jr. is the only batter to reach it, during the 1993 All-Star Home Run Derby.

Another key decision was sinking the field of play 18 feet, which dropped the outfield walls to street level and helped keep the ballpark from towering over nearby rowhouses in Otterbein, Ridgley’s Delight, and Pigtown. Fusing the warehouse with steel rather than concrete infrastructure was a creative choice, adding to the park’s throwback feel and appropriate size. The brick warehouse also served as the foundation of its classic visual composition.

“Once we had a decision to keep the warehouse, we knew the color palette of the warehouse would pretty much become the color palette of the ballpark,” Spear says. “A lot of time went into deciding the absolute best color for the brick.”

It was Smith, he says, noting her research into historic ballparks, who suggested the dark-green slatted seats, another traditional baseball look. The metal frames of the seats, stamped with the emblem of 1890s O’s star Wee Willie Keeler, furthered the pre-modern era vibe. The Oriole birds serving as weathervanes atop the scoreboard were another inspired touch. As was using the “H” and “E” in the block letters of advertisement for T-H-E S-U-N to signal a hit or error. That idea was borrowed directly from Ebbets Field’s legendary Schaefer beer sign.

When the editor of Architect asked if she could take a tour, Spear began to believe they were on to something special. They spent two hours walking around Camden Yards before he finally asked, “What do you think?” She said, “Oh, this place is totally hot. This is going to be a huge story.” He also recalls Herb Belgrad, then the Maryland Stadium Authority chairman, asking how long it would last. “I told him if we do our jobs well, fans will fall in love with it,” Spear recalls. “If the community cherishes it, then they will maintain it and that means it can last ‘indefinitely,’ like Wrigley Field and Fenway Park.”

Inspired by the success of Camden Yards, which drew 3.5 million fans in 1992, including 1.6 million out-of-town visitors who accounted for a 12 percent increase in downtown tourism, retro parks exploded across the U.S. “It put us on the map,” Spear says with a laugh, noting subsequent HOK Sports projects in Cleveland and Denver in 1994 and 1995. The gaudy attendance numbers here largely put to rest questions about the propriety of using state lottery money and state bonds for its construction. (Though not permanently. Earlier this year, the Maryland Stadium Authority told the state legislature they are seeking $1.2 billion for combined upgrades for Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium. The Orioles’ current lease expires in two years.)

The literal chef’s kiss was the opening of former star Boog Powell’s BBQ stand—another hit since Opening Day in 1992. Powell had the idea to do it at Memorial Stadium, but it wasn’t viable until Eutaw Street created a cozy corridor behind the right-field wall.

“We’ve had everyone from astronauts to politicians,” Powell told Baltimore a few years ago. “[William] Donald Schaefer stopped by when he was governor, and we shook hands. That was memorable for me. I was a big Donald Schaefer fan.”

The Eutaw Street utilization was critical, not just for delicious barbecue, but for everything else. It enabled home plate to be placed at the site’s south end—an unconventional distance from the park’s main entrances, by creating outfield vistas for fans as they entered, as well as the picnic area. It was while wrestling with some of the dimensions of the field that Murphy recalls receiving an unexpected letter from an older Baltimore baseball fan.

“You could tell an elderly person had written the address,” Murphy recalls. “I opened it and it was a letter from a gentleman that said Babe Ruth’s father’s saloon had been just behind second base in the outfield. We started to research it, you know, and wow, sure enough, he’s right. The building was gone, but at one point, it was there. So that added a little bit more to the sacred-ground aspects of the ballpark. You got goose bumps on your arm.

“That was kind of magical. That was kind of a cool discovery I’ll never forget.”

Or, like Camden Yards, a rediscovery.

Oh, no. Not again. Light rain sprinkles from the overcast sky above Camden Yards, and Nicole Sherry instinctively unlocks her smartphone to check the weather radar. Because of a series of rain delays during last night’s game, it was nearly 3 a.m. before she got to her Eldersburg home, and now, on this summer afternoon, the 30-person grounds crew that she manages is scattered about the right field grass, once again ready to drag a 170-foot, 2,000-pound tarp across the infield the minute she gives the word. Sherry, the Orioles’ gregarious head groundskeeper, has as many weather apps on her phone as years in her role—15.

“I’m always checking them,” she says, because, well, the digital weathermen can be as unreliable as those on TV. “You have to have a backup for a backup for a backup.”

On this occasion, though, as she sits in the front row behind home plate, four hours before the O’s will play the visiting Houston Astros, one is enough. It’s been raining all morning, but the image on her phone shows a thin line of light blue and green above downtown Baltimore. This spritz is moving east, with nothing else behind it.

“We’re just going to wait it out,” Sherry says softly, looking toward short right field, where one of her full-time assistants is eagerly awaiting orders. Sherry raises her right hand near her neck and makes the universal hand signal for ixnay. “It can take water,” she says of the ballpark’s lush grass. “It took like eight million pounds since last night.”

Sherry, of course, knows Oriole Park, the physical field, better than anyone else alive today. One of only two women in Major League Baseball’s 118-year history to be a head groundskeeper and the first woman to be named professional facilities director for the national Sports Turf Managers Association’s board of directors, she is the keeper of Camden Yards.

It’s not hyperbole to say she knows every patch of grass. Specifically, Kentucky bluegrass, Sherry says, rooted in 12 inches of sand. This time of year, when extreme heat and humidity are the norm in Baltimore, she’s more concerned about the high temperatures causing the grass to dry up than it getting too much water. The grass can drain 16 inches of rain per hour. But the thick infield dirt can’t. That’s why the bulky tarp, and Sherry’s call to use it, is so important.

As a kid growing up in New Castle, Delaware, she never dreamt of monitoring radars and suggesting game delays to umpires. At the age of 9, Sherry was the only girl on her Little League team. Eventually, while pursuing an agriculture degree from Delaware Tech, she visited Camden Yards on an irrigation class field trip and fell in love with the idea of working at the stadium one day.

“I realized I could do this in baseball, my favorite sport,” she says, and the thought of being a woman in a male-dominated profession never crossed her mind. It simply seemed more exciting than working with plants and flowers anywhere else.

Two years after that trip, she cold-called former O’s head groundskeeper Al Capitos and landed an internship with the grounds crew. She was an assistant head groundskeeper for three seasons, then had a three-year run in the minor leagues as the Trenton Thunder’s head groundskeeper in New Jersey. But in November 2006, Capitos left Baltimore for a new job. Shortly after, the head groundskeeper’s office at Camden Yards became hers.

It’s a corner office with a view unlike any other. Beneath the right field seats near the foul pole, a window carved into the wall looks onto the diamond and the westward sky—by design.

“I can actually see the big black clouds coming over the ballpark,” she says, which in the end is way more reliable than some fancy radar.

There aren’t many sounds that tickle Tom Leonard’s ears more in Pickles Pub than the roar of the crowd from across the street at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

There’s a slight delay on the television feed of the ballgame, so Leonard, who co-owns the bar, knows that, in a matter of seconds, most of his customers (assuming the Yankees or Red Sox aren’t in town) will break into cheers of their own.

Hearing those hoots and hollers on April 8, when the O’s played their first home game in front of fans in 18 months, was like “a large weight coming off my shoulders,” he says. The bar was packed, which in the spring of 2021 means something different than it has for most of Pickles’ more than 30 years as the preeminent before-, during-, and after- the-game watering hole.

Despite coming off a difficult year, business has been booming since this baseball season began.

“It’s like night and day,” says Leonard, who is also the bar’s general manager. “Weather and baseball are huge factors for us. Things look a lot brighter.”

Leonard and his partner never considered closing Pickles permanently, but they made changes to the way they do business in order to mitigate dramatic drops in sales.

Fans who return this season might notice that pizza is no longer available, but staples like the house-made crab pretzel, wings, fries, and tots still are. (Curiously, fried pickles are absent from the Pickles menu.) One of the biggest changes in the kitchen is that meat for burgers is now ground on site daily. Pickles uses a mixture of 40 percent brisket and 60 percent chuck, and the result is a delicious, flavorful, and juicy patty.

At the many picnic tables outside and tables and bar spots in the expansive interior, no shortage of Budweisers, Miller Lites, and Natty Bohs flow. Buckets of 16-ounce domestics go for $17, while premiums, which include Union Duckpin, Flying Dog’s Snake Dog IPA, and Terrapin IPA, are $24.

Don’t sleep on Pickles’ fresh-squeezed crushes. Lemon, lime, and grapefruit are available, but how could an Orioles fan pass on the orange variety, made with Deep Eddy orange vodka, triple sec, and Sierra Mist. A 32-ounce cup of refreshment costs $9.99.

On a Thursday late in April, about an hour before the Orioles went on to beat the Yankees in a glorious Thursday afternoon extra-inning affair, the crowds were back at both Pickles and the ballpark, and all felt right with the world.

“With us, there was never a question of ‘Are we going to make it?’ It was more like, ‘How much of a sacrifice are we going to have to make?’” Leonard says. “My partner and I both realized that we’re where we’re supposed to be, and we’re doing what we want to do.”

Thousands of baseball fans who have flocked back to Pickles this season know exactly what he means.

He wasn’t doing it intentionally, but something Orioles manager Brandon Hyde told reporters (via Zoom) this week perfectly illustrated just how different this baseball season—if it even happens as planned—is for everyone involved.

“We’ve done a nice job of staying apart,” Hyde said, looking into a laptop computer on his office desk at Camden Yards, where 47 players, coaches, and other staff have gathered to prepare for an unprecedented, pandemic-shortened 60-game season.

Following an abbreviated three-week summer training camp, the O’s season is scheduled to begin July 24 against the Red Sox in Boston in front of no fans—one of the many standard operating procedures in place to bring pro sports back to life while hopefully not causing a further spread of COVID-19.

Hyde, the Orioles second-year manager, spoke to the media each day this week from his office right near the O’s locker room, which is kind of a sensitive area these days. Those inside must wear masks and keep social distance.

Out on the field, the stay-six-feet-away protocol is a bit easier to manage given the environment. As outfielder Austin Hays put it, “The great thing about baseball is it’s a very big field.” But even outdoors, on Camden Yards’ typical beautifully manicured green grass, scenes are different than they ever have been before.

Handwashing stations have been placed near the dugouts, and leather-bound baseballs are being cleaned and recycled. Staying apart—and clean—has become the new team bonding experience. When third baseman Renato Nunez hit a home run during an intra-squad game Wednesday night, he air-handshook teammate Rio Ruiz as he rounded the bases. “It was kind of weird,” Nunez said. “But it’s great to be here and playing the game we love.”

Indeed, after longer-than-expected negotiations between Major League Baseball’s owners and its players union throughout the last few months—the fine details of an appropriate paycheck in a shortened season being the unfortunate primary sticking point—baseball is back, for now.

The question of whether all the safety protocols will work well enough to prevent what’s proven to be a highly contagious, invisible, airborne virus from invading an entire team—and thus likely ending the entire league’s season—is still a legitimate one. But O’s staff, coaches, and players seem to be doing everything that can be practically and logistically done so that they’re not the ones to make any headlines.

Upon their return to Baltimore last week, all players started to get tested for COVID-19 every other day—though results have been slow to arrive, a common problem, pro baseball or not. Temperature screens are routine. Every piece of team apparel has been personalized so there aren’t any mix-ups. Players have rotated through day-long practices in smaller groups. On the first day of camp, position players sat in one dugout and pitchers in the other.

“The sport is making an effort to get going,” Orioles general manager Mike Elias said. “It’s tough circumstances. There’s a lot of challenges involved, but I think we’re doing a great job.”

Here are five things you should know about this unique attempt at a baseball season.

1. It’s a busy schedule (and a lot of games are against the Yankees and Red Sox…)

The Orioles are scheduled to play 60 games in 66 days starting with the season opener on July 24 in Boston, the first of 20 games the O’s will play against either the Red Sox or the Yankees.

That’s by design by Major League Baseball. In this shortened pandemic season, teams will mostly play division opponents, so the bulk of the schedule is against division opponents in the A.L. East.

In interleague games, the O’s will play the N.L. East, including games against the Washington Nationals. It might be one of the toughest schedules ever faced.

2. There will be no fans (yet)

The O’s new home opener is scheduled for July 29 against the Miami Marlins, but for fans, the designation is sort of an unfortunate footnote. Only players, coaches, team staff, and media (we think, we hope) will be allowed in Camden Yards.

Though all of the green seats in the stadium will be empty for now, it will still be nice to see the Warehouse in the background of games on TV. And, in general, live competition and commentary from MASN’s Gary Thorne and Jim Palmer will be welcome entertainment for us all watching at home and on our phones.

“It’s going to be weird,” says All-Star pitcher John Means, “but the weirdest part is all these games count more than they ever have, and you’re not going to feel the energy of these games coming from the fans. It might take some getting used to.”

When the O’s announced their new schedule on Monday, they left open the possibility that fans will be allowed in person at some point this year, but whether that happens—and in what form (half capacity, or a quarter, for example) depends on the decisions of state government officials, the Maryland Stadium Authority, and pro baseball leadership.

3. A short season might work in the O’s favor

From a competitive standpoint, a shorter than normal schedule—rather than the usual 162 games—makes the outcome of every game even more significant in the standings and playoff positioning.

Say one underdog team (cough, the Orioles) goes on a brief winning streak against a few division opponents (like the Blue Jays and Rays). Suddenly that team could be in contention for a spot in the 10-team postseason.

“It’s going to be a season like no other,” Means said. “We feel like we’re in it. We feel like we have a chance.”

On the flip side, something like a 10-game losing streak could end a team’s motivation pretty quickly. Either way, it’s never been better to be a team with low expectations, mathematically speaking.

“This is a sprint. Anything can happen in 60 games,” Hyde says. “We’ve talked about going out and shocking people and winning some games.”

4. We’ll get a nice look at the Baby Birds

While Major League Baseball is back, Minor League Baseball is not. That is certainly a blow to the O’s long-term rebuilding plans—which are focused on developing talent within the farm system in places like Bowie, Aberdeen, and Frederick, and funneling it to the big leagues.

As a result, we might see a huge sampling of players this year, and at the very least, playing time for a lot of Baby Birds. Rosters have been expanded, and the O’s currently have 47 players in their player pool (of a maximum 60).

Top prospects such as 2019 No. 1 overall draft pick Adley Rutschman, 2020 first-round pick Heston Kjerstad, and others could be added in the coming weeks. And at the start of the season, look for all kinds of relief pitchers to get time as starters work back into game shape.

Potential Opening Day starter Means, for instance, is working on getting comfortable throwing four and five innings during this abbreviated summer training camp, and most of all the possible starting pitchers are in the same situation.

5. Change can be good

Few things about this baseball season will be normal. But strange times can also lighten things up for a lot of people. Take Davis, a former home run champ who—after putting on 25 pounds of muscle since the end of last season—looked good during spring training in Florida before COVID-19 hit.

Davis said earlier this year that he was “physically and mentally” drained after last season, during which he took all kinds of criticism and notably expressed frustrations in the dugout. This week, he spoke to reporters via Zoom wearing a green camouflage mask. He mentioned how he kept in shape with the home gym he set up in the winter even before the pandemic (“I guess that was a good move,” he said), and he seemed content.

On the field, Hyde said Davis has been launching balls onto Eutaw Street during batting practice. We’ll see if that continues, and what happens with everything else, once (fingers crossed) the games begin.

In the scheme of things, like oh, I don’t know, a global pandemic, tattered economy, eerily empty streets, that sense of “WTF” that’s just hanging in the air like a bad smell, should we even bother to lament the loss of Orioles baseball in Baltimore this spring?

Let’s.

In normal times, even normal hard times, you could count on baseball as a daily distraction this time of year.

But not this year. Oh no. No Opening Day. No daily box scores. No games on TV. No Orioles to fret over, complain about, or see in person at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Tom Hanks’ character in League of Their Own famously said, “There’s no crying in baseball!” But dare I ask, is there crying when there’s no baseball?

What to do? Like with most things related to the coronavirus crisis, there’s not much we can do but stay home. But since we’re stuck at home, let’s do what baseball fans do best: complain! Without further ado, here’s a list of baseball and Orioles aspects of life I’m missing most right now:

Stolen Memories from Opening Day 2020

The season was set to begin on Thursday, March 25, 2020, with a 3:05 p.m. first pitch against the Yankees. The Yankees! That day was crisp and clear. Sun in the sky and a high of about 60. Every year, I close my office on Opening Day and bring the team down to celebrate the start of the season and the start of spring. Baltimore’s downtown streets and bars would have been packed, full of life, and, dare I suggest, optimism? I know the Orioles weren’t predicted to be very good, but there would have been a sense of hope in the air—along with a whole lot of alcoholic beverages.

The Day-in, Day-out Routine of Following The Orioles

True story: A few years ago, I took a client to an Orioles game. This client, let’s call him, Jason, because that’s his name, was not a big baseball fan. But he was a sports fan, and as we settled into our seats, he asked me, “Greg, do you watch a lot of the Orioles games?” And I said “Jason, I watch all of the Orioles games.”

I’m not completely insane or a masochist. I don’t watch every pitch of every game. I definitely did not follow every game the last two seasons when the Orioles were brutally bad. But I do keep tabs on most games, whether on TV or on the MLB app or the radio. There’s a comfort in having the game on TV as background noise. You don’t have to watch every pitch, but it’s just there, waiting for you.

Going to the Games

Let’s be honest. Baltimore has become much more of a Ravens town throughout the last 20 years. The Orioles own the nostalgia and the history, the Ravens own the passion.

That said, baseball is different in that there’s a game nearly every night. During an Orioles homestand, the downtown area begins to simmer with energy in the late afternoon as the outdoor vendors set up, and the fans start to walk along Conway, Pratt, and Eutaw Streets. Fans from visiting clubs emerge from nearby hotels in their jerseys. The calls of “Five-dollar-hats!—get your five-dollar-hats here!” ring through the air. But not this year. There’s no “cheaper-on-the-outside” hot dogs and icy cold beverages. It’s just quiet.

Obviously, the bars and restaurants around the stadium are hurting—like bars and restaurants everywhere—as are the Orioles’ seasonal employees such as vendors, ushers, and security personnel. As is true for everyone who works in the hospitality industry, these are challenging times. For all of us.

Stadium Food

A subset of missing going to the game is missing the ritual of stadium food. Whether your pleasure is a juicy Boog’s BBQ, funnel cake, Boardwalk fries, a grilled sausage with the works, a crabby mac and cheese dog, tacos, nachos, crab dip-smothered waffle fries, chicken tenders, icy cold draft brews, or flagging down Clancy or Howard the vendor for a canned beer, or cooling off with soft serve in a helmet cup, or… (I could do this for a while)—if you’re anything like me, you miss stadium food.

And it’s not just the food. It’s the planning and talking about what snacks you’re going to get. In my family, if I wasn’t able to tell the 15-year-old (not a huge baseball fan) that he’s getting some tenders and fries and soft serve at the stadium, I’d have a much harder time getting him out of the house.

Bonding Time

All of these experiences—watching on TV, going to the game, talking about the Orioles, texting about them, following them online—create bonds and opportunities for connection with friends and family. Taking my wife and two boys to the game is a good reason to do something together.

Our 12-year-old is a big baseball fan, and the ebb and flow of the season gives us daily opportunities to connect. Last season, for example, we both became big Hanser Alberto fans, as the young infielder found a home with the Orioles and improbably made a run for the batting title. Whenever he came up to hit, one of us would say, “It’s your boy, Hanser Alberto!”

I’ll end with this. Baseball is about family for me. My dad is a huge fan, as was his dad, who left us way back in the mid ’90s. My grandfather took his boys, my father and his brother, to the parade downtown in 1954 to celebrate the Orioles’ arrival from St. Louis. For the last 65 years, Orioles baseball has been a staple of spring in this city. And it will be again, we just have to wait it out, kind of like a very long rain delay.

Greg Abel is the founder and CEO of Abel Communications, a Baltimore public relations firm. He can be reached at greg@abelcommunications.com

With the introduction of a shiny new and improved Camden Station comes a vision for what similar projects across Baltimore might look like.

“It could be a jumpstart,” says Brian O’Malley, president of the Central Maryland Transportation Alliance (CMTA). “It shows that riders and the public that transit can be what we’re used to, and that we need more investments like this to be competitive and vibrant in the 21st century.”

In mid-September, tons of improvements to the Light Rail station adjacent to Oriole Park at Camden Yards were unveiled. The $7-million upgrades highlight the history of the transit hub, which was built in 1856 and once served as a stop for Abraham Lincoln on the way to deliver both his inaugural address and the Gettysburg Address.

“This new facility is a milestone for Baltimore and all of Maryland,” said Governor Larry Hogan in a press release. “This station represents a tribute to Camden Station’s historic past, as well as its bright future as an important transit resource for commuters and visitors.”

With this in mind, it’s also a model for how the city can place an emphasis on more specific initiatives within its projects. Here are a few things to look out for at the new Camden Station:

A New Look

Though the location of the station hasn’t changed, it is newly polished and refurbished after shutting down in 2018, which makes it a huge boon for commuters and those traveling to Ravens and Orioles games. There is updated art on the station’s walls and a drawing that dates back to 1869 provided by Baltimore City Sheet Maps Collection at JScholarship, which is the digital hub at the Sheridan Libraries of Johns Hopkins University. In addition, an MDOT MTA graphic designer contributed brand designs and incorporated the colors of the Maryland flag. The brick at the station is the same that is used at Camden Yards. “The station is an important location for people working downtown and for visitors to the Inner Harbor,” O’Malley says.

Going Green

Camden Station’s redesign was done with the environment in mind. MDOT is pursuing LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, which would designate Camden Station as a “green” facility. “It’s critical to have public transportation infrastructure,” O’Malley says. “For our region to be green, we need a working state of good repair and high-performing buses and trains.” To that end, there is an emphasis on reducing energy consumption, and MDOT has installed lighting and plumbing fixtures designed to curb energy use related to heating and cooling.

A Streamlined Ticketing Experience

Among the new additions to the station installed with riders in mind is a larger waiting area with plenty of seats and a new ticketing vending machine that accepts Apple and Google Pay. Riders can also purchase commuter bus tickets on the machine as well.

Bike Racks

Perhaps most importantly, a new bike canopy has been installed outside on the west side of the station, housing four bike racks that can fit four to eight bikes each. These racks join two existing bike stations. It’s an indication that MDOT is committed to creating multi-modal opportunities for Baltimoreans at a site that has a lasting footprint in Baltimore.

“Cities evolve,” O’Malley says. “And the most exciting projects keep elements of the past but allow progress to take place at the same time.”

Like all of us, Billy Joel is only human. At 70 years old, the bushy black hair he once had on his iconic 1970s and 1980s album covers is long gone, and he’s now married for the fourth time. His body is a little bit rounder, his voice just a little more gravely, and his high notes a little lower—though he’s said that he’s never considered himself a great singer anyway.

Of course, critics have always tried to take shots at the man who is one of the best-selling artists of all-time, who has made 12 studio albums, and has been nominated for 23 Grammys, as well as inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He’s too pop, they say, and some of his lyrics are cheesy. Just a few months back, one Twitter user even went viral for asking: “Is Billy Joel good or bad?”

To that we say, sing us a song, please, he’s the Piano Man.

After seeing Joel at Camden Yards over the weekend, the first-ever standalone concert in the ballpark’s 27-year history, I can safely say that, even to this millennial, he’s still got it. He’s not jumping around the stage like a wild man anytime soon and hasn’t recorded a hit song in two decades, but, man, can he tell a meaningful story, and sing a catchy tune, from his seat at the piano.

What’s more, Joel’s two-and-a-half hour, two dozen-song performance on Friday night did us all a favor that lasts beyond one show. It proved that the home of the Orioles is a capable big-time live music venue for more concerts in the future.

Now, I can’t go on without telling you: I’m from Long Island, originally, so in addition to having bagels and pizza in my blood, I feel as if I’m related to Billy Joel, who grew up 25 minutes from where I did. He’s like the embodiment of my homeland, famously telling the world everyman stories of our Italian restaurants, teenage years, and New York states of mind as only a proud son can. I’d have been happy to hear him play piano and sing in the seediest bar or darkest alley you can imagine.

And I typically attend Orioles games either for work or as a fan, so when it was announced that Joel would be performing at the stadium this summer, I immediately knew that I wasn’t going to miss the chance to join the approximately 40,000 others in attendance who listened to him deliver hit after hit with his ebony and ivory instrument—rather than hearing the crack of the wooden baseball bats that usually do the work in Oriole Park.

The stage in centerfield. The speaker towers on the infield. The bright lights turned off for the evening. Guys selling concert T-shirts outside. It was groundbreaking stuff for the venue—an “I was there,” event that grew in enjoyment as the hands of the Orioles’ scoreboard clock turned in the night.

Perhaps the most indelible moment came during the most signature of Joel’s ballads, when against the backdrop of the darkened stadium dotted with light from just enough smartphones, the a capella voices from the crowd sang the lyrics of “Piano Man” back to him: “We’re all in the mood for a melody. . . ” The communal experience felt needed, and this was before the president’s Saturday morning tweets about this city.

Maybe, in the grand scheme of things, the event was a reason to get people to the stadium during the summer of a less-than-compelling baseball season. And maybe Joel was a safe pick for the occasion—a seasoned headliner who is basically a performer-in-residence at Madison Square Garden—who would no doubt attract fans to the city on a Friday evening. There are definitely flashier performers who skew younger and can do more than twirl a microphone stand when they’re not seated at the piano.

But, so what?

“Welcome to the first concert at Camden Yards!” Joel bellowed after playing his second song, “Pressure.” After that, he transitioned into a brief cover of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” acknowledging the renewed popularity of the Queen opus thanks to the recent movie of the same name, and then told a story about opening for Hall & Oates in the 1970s in Baltimore, which led to an impromptu cover of “Rich Girl.”

From there, it was mostly him, running through his own deep catalogue of tunes like “The Entertainer,” “Vienna,” and “Movin’ Out.” And as he typically does between songs, Joel delivered funny, tried-but-true asides, like a spot-on impersonation of Elton John, and one-liner quips like “This song’s from 19-who-the-hell knows” and “It might be a good time to go to the bathroom” when he played the relatively lesser-known “Big Man on Mulberry Street.” The joy in the stadium was palpable.

Now, not everything about the night was perfect. Anyone who struggled to move on the overcrowded concourse or along the packed aisles before the concert’s scheduled 8 p.m. start time would tell you that. (Unsolicited recommendation for next time: create more paths to funnel floor-seat ticketholders to the field faster, as that bottleneck seemed to fuel the backup.) Those who were told to check their bag as a result of a surprise strict policy weren’t happy either, especially anyone who had to wait until near midnight to retrieve their belongings afterwards.

But, logistical nightmares aside, it was a fun night, the type that could happen again at Camden Yards, possibly by next year, according to Orioles spokesperson Greg Bader. The team’s vice president of communications and marketing was among those enjoying himself that night, standing on the temporary white flooring about 40 rows back from the stage, right about where Adam Jones used to line up in centerfield.

“You’ll certainly see other events like this at the ballpark,” says Bader. “It was great to see so many people downtown, wandering around the area, eating at restaurants and staying over in hotels. And then selling out the concert. It was a great, great night.”

Joel’s talented band also gave a few nods to Baltimore. Backup singer Crystal Taliefero belted a passionate cover of “Dancing in the Street,” including the cheer-inducing line “Baltimore and D.C. now.” Drummer Chuck Burgi wore a No. 19 Orioles’ home jersey with his last name on it during the show. Trumpet player Carl Fischer donned a black Os jersey during the five-song encore that started with 1989’s Grammy-nominated, “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”

By then, the crowd was juiced, but alas, it was soon time to go. Fantastically, though, as we headed back to the parking lot, I heard one more song that set a romantic scene. In the distance, sounding like it was coming from the Hamburg Street light rail station, a lone saxophone played the notes to none other than “Piano Man,” once again.

And, in my mind, I hummed to myself—critics and any ridiculous cheesiness be damned:

“And you’ve got us feeling all right.”

For the first time in more than 25 years, Oriole Park at Camden Yards is hosting a concert at the iconic stadium. And, luckily for us, the Os booked one of the few acts worthy of such a momentous occasion—the Piano Man.

In honor of Billy Joel’s return to Baltimore for the July 26 concert, we devised a few (maybe unrealistic) ways that Charm City should roll out the red carpet for one of the best-selling performers of all time.

The gesture was small in the grand scheme of things, and a ceremonial and promotional stunt all wrapped into one: Lamar Jackson throwing out the first pitch at an Orioles game, on the eve of the start of Ravens’ training camp. But the mash-up did what it was supposed to do, and caused us to wonder about Baltimore’s 22-year-old quarterback of the present and future.

Maybe it was because of the charm of Jackson’s boyish mannerisms as he bounced around Camden Yards on his first trip to the stadium, wearing an Orioles jersey with his—and Cal’s, of course—number eight (“Legendary,” Jackson said in respect), while doing stuff like eating a Boog’s turkey sandwich and meeting guys like Trey Mancini and Chris Davis in the Orioles clubhouse.

Or maybe it was how Jackson, like a good student, appeared to quickly pick up the whole pitching concept. He took instructions from outfielder Dwight Smith, Jr. (lower your shoulder, this isn’t football; but use the threads on a baseball for grip like laces on a pigskin), and practiced a few throws in the batting cage beneath the stands while waiting out a 90-minute pregame rain delay on Wednesday night.

Finally, after the skies cleared around 8:30 p.m., Jackson, now the guy, trotted out toward the pitcher’s mound, and waved his arms to excite those of the announced 20,786 paying fans still in attendance. When it was time to throw, he pretended to shake off a few signs from Smith, his stand-in catcher, then cocked his right arm, and tossed a hard, fast strike. It was just what everyone, we presume, wanted to see.

Jackson flexed and smiled as he walked from the field. “I loved it,” he said. “I had to show up and show out.” The outcome was exactly what he wanted, too, which was to not embarrass himself throwing a baseball—like rapper 50 Cent once did. (Just a bit outside!)

Cue the jokes about the Orioles needing a pitcher. . .

But O’s manager Brandon Hyde said he’d first try out Jackson somewhere else, like centerfield, shortstop, or second base given his speed and baseball teams’ premium on strength at those “up the middle” positions.

Jackson agreed. “Probably,” he said about playing centerfield, when he met with the media before the O’s played the Nationals, “but I’m a Ravens quarterback right now, so I’m good.”

Yes, he is. That might be the biggest takeaway of this week’s football-baseball crossover act. In just his second pro season, Jackson begins the year as the undisputed starting quarterback of his Ravens—the first time in a decade that anybody besides Joe Flacco can say that.

That’s why this Ravens QB—one who’s endearing, yet still maturing (aren’t we all?) and is as relatively unproven as a pro quarterback (yes, despite his 6-2 record as a rookie starter) as his skills are unconventional—was asked to come to Camden Yards in the first place thanks to our two pro sports teams getting along. And it’s why he stood in front of reporters and answered questions, covering a variety of topics and touching on his development as a billboard-status face of the franchise.

He addressed his disappointment with his Madden video game rating, 24th-best among NFL quarterbacks, and low on passing ability. But his speed and agility? No. 1. “I don’t make Madden,” he said. “It’s them.” He talked about how he’s spent the offseason (he worked out some, throwing footballs with Ravens backup quarterback Robert Griffin III and wide receivers like Willie Snead, which should be a positive signal to fans who want to see improvement there). On the Baltimore summer heat, he said being a Florida native is no solace. “I’m one of those people complaining I was sweating a lot,” he said. And he even discussed how he prefers to top his hot dog.

Because in addition to Jackson’s pregame appearance reminding us that Ravens training camp starts next week, National Hot Dog Day was observed at Orioles Park on this night, too. In a season of many fantastic fan giveaways, the O’s had one of their best, offering ketchup, mustard, and relish t-shirts—a creative nod to the famous and kid-friendly between-innings hot dog scoreboard race.

“I don’t really eat mustard,” Jackson said about his preference, “so ketchup and relish. I go from there. Pretty standard.” Like we said, charming.

Out of a nearly empty Camden Yards and into the familiar humidity of a Baltimore summer night stepped Manny Machado, conqueror of his former home, in pursuit of a pre-planned victory feast: a pile of crabs from L.P. Steamers. Can’t leave here without them, he said earlier, “so we’ll be having some of that tonight.”

He came, we saw, and—in the San Diego Padres’ 8-3 win over the Orioles, a game that marked Machado’s first visit since being traded away nearly a year ago—he homered, a 455-footer to centerfield, the longest of any of the 100 he’s now launched into the stands here. “Was it?” he said in the visitor’s clubhouse afterward, when told of the record distance. “I guess it’s good to be back in Baltimore, hitting in this park.”

How do you put words to it? A heartbreaking homecoming might be appropriate. None of the announced 21,644 in attendance, most of whom gave Machado—the closest thing the Orioles have had to a Hall-of-Famer in two decades—a standing-ovation before his first at-bat, wanted to see him ever acknowledge the crowd wearing No. 13 in a road gray uniform. (At least he’s not a Yankee.)

And nobody knows how last year’s trade deadline move—engineered, we were told, because the O’s weren’t able to afford the type of monster contract that Machado eventually signed in free agency ($300 million for 10 years)—will look in hindsight. But, for now, none of the prospects the O’s received from the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for Machado, the former franchise cornerstone—a four-time All-Star, two-time Gold Glove winner at third base who will turn 27 next week—are in the majors.

Before the game, occasionally flashing a smile, Machado entertained reporters with a trip down memory lane—saying names like Adam, Schoop, Markakis, Davis, Hardy, and Buck, and recalling the excitement of the Orioles’ 2014 playoff run. He explained the “weird” nervousness he was feeling being back where it all happened.

“It’s just different,” he said, speaking in the same room behind home plate where he was introduced to the media nine years ago as an 18-year-old shortstop. “It was always coming into that same clubhouse, walking into that same door, parking in that same parking spot, taking the same route to the baseball field every day. It was just all different today.”

And he talked briefly about his frustration with how things ended with the Orioles, being kept “out of the loop,” he said, as the trade with the Dodgers was finalized by the previous front office regime before the All-Star Game break last July.

“I didn’t make the choice. It was made for me,” he said. “When you’re here for so long in a place you call home, you see the same faces every day, the same people, it grows on you. To leave like that halfway through the year kind of sucks.”

He later signed a few autographs down the third-base line, but not many. Then, shortly after 7 p.m. on a steamy 88-degree night, he stepped toward home plate, waving to the fans, some still wearing his old orange-and-black jersey, as they cheered for nearly 40 seconds and a video montage on the centerfield scoreboard showed highlights of Machado’s seven-year O’s career. He touched his right hand to the bill of his navy blue Padres batting helmet to say thanks.

It didn’t quite match the theatrics and adoration of Adam Jones’ sendoff, but “it was awesome,” Machado said. “The fans, like always, didn’t disappoint. I’ve seen it for many, many years, how they’ve gone above and beyond for us, and they did it today. The whole experience playing here brings back a lot of good memories. It’s special and something I’ll never forget.”

The O’s stadium staff even played video of The Play—Delmon’s Young bases-clearing double against the Tigers in the 2014 playoffs—as the Padres took the field for the sixth inning, and Machado put his arm around San Diego star rookie shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr., and pointed to the scene, like he were saying “This is what it could be like.”

Nostalgia, though, eventually met reality. In the third inning, Machado smacked his massive home run on the first pitch he saw from O’s starter Jimmy Yacabonis. And in the bottom of the third, Machado came the closest he did to flashing signs of that Brooks Robinson-like defensive brilliance, tagging out an audacious Dwight Smith Jr. when he overran third base following a hit down the right field line. Machado added an RBI single in the fourth, finishing 2-for-4 at the plate.

His skills, of course, nor his sometimes boorish behavior were never questioned. The business of baseball ultimately sent him away, an unfortunate truth in a modern-day professional sports era where money is usually valued more than loyalty, and change is a constant.

Case in point: As Machado exited his pre-game press conference, exasperated by the 15 minutes it took and the expected queries, he asked a Padres public relations staffer, “Do I even have time to get in the cage?”

Yes, he did. In fact, he had to wait. At almost that very moment, a 21-year-old kid by the name of Adley Rutschman, a switch-hitting catcher picked No. 1 overall by the Orioles in the MLB Draft three weeks ago, was on display in a special batting practice session organized by the team as part of his introduction to Baltimore.

The coveted prospect, wide-eyed and widely considered the Orioles best since Machado, took his first smooth swings. And on the third soft-toss pitch he saw, Rutschman sent that tiny white ball onto Eutaw Street, as if to say as one narrative was ending, another was beginning.

Mercy! The Orioles have given up so many home runs this season—105 and counting—that even the typically ebullient Gary Thorne, who is supposed to tell us what’s going on, was left speechless the other night.

“I . . . I don’t know,” the play-by-play voice of the Orioles on MASN said live on the air Wednesday when the Yankees’ Gleyber Torres hit another out of Camden Yards—his ninth homer against the O’s this season. Then Thorne delivered a demoralized, monotone version of his signature call, “Goodbye! Home run!” He’d seen enough.

Then it happened again. Two innings later, when Torres hit another dinger off reliever Gabriel Ynoa, Thorne’s reaction was correctly identified below as “dies inside.” It was Harry Doyle-esque.

So it goes for the Orioles, and even the 70-year-old, Emmy Award-winning Thorne, a 33-year baseball broadcast veteran who, as good broadcasters do, has endeared himself to much of the fanbase in 13 seasons working O’s telecasts.

We were afraid something like this might happen, in the first full season of a much-ballyhooed, publicly-stated franchise rebuild.

The O’s not only seem to be Torres favorite team to hit against (he only has two home runs against any other this year), but everyone’s.

On Monday, in the first of a four-game homestand against the division-leading Yankees (again?!), starting pitcher David Hess — who has allowed a major-league worst 17 home runs alone — gave up the team’s 100th, as the O’s pitching staff became the quickest in major league baseball history to achieve the undesirable feat.

It’s still May, there’s four months to go in the season, and the O’s unfortunately are on pace to obliterate an infamous low-water single-season record of 258 home runs allowed by the Cincinnati Reds in 2016.

To hear first-year manager Brandon Hyde describe the situation, some of it might be avoidable.

“There’s definitely a pitching plan [and] it’s definitely not throw the ball in the middle part of the plate, and we just continue to do it,” he said the other night. “That’s inexcusable at this level.”

But some of it may not. When a team decides to overhaul the roster from top to bottom and plan for the future while sacrificing the present, without a bonafide ace, and sends pitchers to and from the minors as if day-trading stocks, this is what happens. It’s hard. Even Gary gets exhausted.

Other than players and coaches, there are few people associated with a professional baseball team who see more pitches, hits, and outs than its local television play-by-play announcer.

And in our case, we’re blessed to have Thorne, a former lawyer—in his younger years, he was assistant district attorney in his native Maine—who has called national games and many sports in addition to baseball for the last five decades. (As a kid, I remember hearing him do hockey games on ESPN and locally for the New Jersey Devils.)

He and analyst and Hall-of-Fame pitcher Jim Palmer are one of the best local broadcast teams in any pro sport. In fact, right now Thorne is teaching a remote class on broadcasting for Arizona State’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

It’s a craft, and dedicated fans here know Thorne’s quirks, character, ties, and sometimes irreverent commentary. Some might even know his drink preferences: a glass of GTS cabernet sauvignon, or a finger of bourbon over a single ice cube. And his favorite book: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway.

“I read it at least once a year because it’s such a concise, yet total picture of human life; battling the elements, winning, and then suffering the loss and surviving both,” he told fans earlier this year.

In addition to his signature in-game phrases like “mercy,” following a notable play, Thorne signs off a broadcast by bidding us “adieu, adieu,” for a win, or just one “adieu” for a loss.

About a third of the way into the season, so far the O’s have a baseball-worst 15 wins and 35 losses, a last-place status many observers expected. But how it’s happening is nonetheless painful. The home runs? We knew it was possible, but it hurts to see so many balls flying into the hunter green seats at Camden Yards, off the bats of the other team.

Thorne, as good voices do, spoke for a lot of the fans.

In Westeros, the night is dark and full of terror. In Baltimore, the night is full of dark ales and terrifyingly good drink specials. Game of Thrones, the HBO show about frowning and dragons, begins its final season on April 14 and establishments around the city are ready for the premiere. Here are the best places to go before your watch has ended.

Baltimore Improv Group: Improv gets a bad wrap. Some might think of it as a bunch of goobers repeatedly shouting bawdy innuendos, but when done by skilled performers, it is uproariously hilarious. For the next six Thursdays, the Baltimore Improv Group at the BIG theater will host a Game of Thrones-inspired variety show. Come watch Baltimore’s funniest turn incest into high comedy. 1727 N. Charles St.

Camden Yards: On May 21, the Baltimore Orioles will force the Minnesota Twins to bend the knee during Game of Thrones night. Ticket packages are available and include access to an exclusive pregame party and a Game of Thrones bobblehead. Adding to the cross-promotional synergy, the only thing colder than a White Walker is Chris Davis’ bat. 333 W. Camden St. 410-685-9800

The Charles: Spring may have sprung, but winter is undoubtedly coming to The Charles. Starting on April 14, this Federal Hill watering hole will host watch parties on its massive screens throughout the GoT season, celebrating the show’s return with a bevy of drink specials and bar snacks. 1110 S. Charles St. 410-727-2333

The Charmery: We’re just putting this out there, but our favorite raft of angsty Westerosi characters would probably be a lot more laid back if they had ice cream—especially if they could gather around this Hampden creamery’s “Game of Cones” pints. Pledge your allegiance to “House Lannister” (a pinot noir caramel base flecked with golden white chocolate bits), “House Targaryen” (a dragonfruit base with Atomic Fireball swirl), or “House Stark” (a wintergreen and spearmint base with peppermint chips). The pints will be available for pre-order only and can be picked up from The Charmery’s ice cream factory inside Union Collective from April 13-21. 1700 W. 41st St.

Donut Stop Believin’: On April 20, chef Doug Wetzel’s donut pop-up will return to the 32nd Street Farmers Market serving the “You Know Nothing Jon Sno-nut.” The chocolate cake doughnut, topped with vanilla sea salt glaze and charcoal Oreo frosting, is the kind of outside-the-box—or, more fittingly, beyond-the-wall—thinking that has made Wetzel one of Baltimore’s most acclaimed chefs. 400 E. 32nd St.

Live! Casino & Hotel: Here is your chance to prove that you drink and you know things. At this Game of Thrones trivia brunch on premiere day, channel your inner Tyrion Lannister for the chance at winning a seven-day trip to Croatia and visiting the real life King’s Landing. There will also be a special menu of GoT-inspired dishes including Littlefinger-ling potatoes, Wolfswood free-range turkey, Robert’s Rebellion bacon, and Ramsay’s crispy breakfast taters. Tickets are $50 in advance and $60 at the door. 7002 Arundel Mills Circle.

Order & Chaos: No, “Order & Chaos” is not the name of the next entry in the original book series that you will never read. Rather, this South Baltimore coffee shop is offering a cornucopia of Game of Thrones’ eats and drinks. Stop by for the “Valar Morghulis” mocha (espresso, mocha syrup, and milk, topped with dragon art) and try not to think about the fact that all men must die. There will also be fittingly named cupcake flavors including the red velvet “Dragon Egg,” vanilla “Winter is Coming”, and chocolate “Dragon” with buttercream icing. 1410 Key Highway. 410-244-1111

The Outpost American Tavern: Here’s your chance to sit on the Iron Throne. Well, sort of. This Federal Hill restaurant will be outfitted with Game of Thrones decor—such as the sigils of major houses that are vying for the throne—and will serve a specialty brunch menu of GoT grub on April 14. 1032 Riverside Ave. 443-388-9113

Give him credit. Chris Davis, the once proud slugger and now overpaid fallen hero, stood at his locker after the Orioles’ home opener and answered the inevitable questions.

Of course the media, the conduit to the fans, wanted to know what the player formerly known as Crush thought about the fact that a good number of the announced 44,000-plus in attendance at Camden Yards booed him—loud, uncomfortably, and repeatedly—during the O’s 8-4 loss to the hated Yankees. The foul sounds started in pregame introductions, as Davis trotted down the traditional orange carpet from centerfield to a mix of cheers and boos. And the jeers intensified after each of his three strikeouts in the first, fourth, and sixth innings.

Then things reached a pointed crescendo in the bottom of the eighth inning. Little-known utility infielder Hanser Alberto, playing in his fourth game in an O’s uniform, pinch hit for Davis, the 33-year-old former MVP candidate who’s in his ninth season here. A thunderous, positive roar erupted from those still watching.

“I mean, it’s not something that I was really expecting,” Davis said afterward, with a throng of cameras and reporters surrounding him. “At the same time, I heard it a lot last year, and rightfully so. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, I understand the frustration. Nobody’s more frustrated than I am.”

How has it come to this? Well, it’s been a few seasons in the making, and the unravel has been fascinating.

Davis led the majors in home runs in 2013, when he finished third in American League MVP voting. He was the home run king again in 2015, albeit while also leading the league in strikeouts.

Three years later, last season, he recorded one of the worst hitting seasons in baseball history, hitting a career-worst .168, and he’s now a bad 0-for-17 with 11 strikeouts to start 2019. At times, he seems as far away from hitting a baseball as one could imagine.

This is not what anyone wants to see from someone in the middle of a seven-year, $161 million contract to do exactly that. And, in the past, some, like the O’s beloved Hall-of-Fame broadcaster Jim Palmer, have questioned his desire to put in the work to change.

But, man, the public shaming of Davis yesterday was tough to watch and hear. For boos to rain down on the guy the way they did after every at-bat of the home opener, with still 150-plus games to go this season? I’ve never been one to say that a paying fan can’t voice frustration with any player or vent anger for whatever reason occasionally, but it certainly doesn’t do anyone on the field any good. It seems almost like a more New York or Philadelphia thing to do.

Davis has been relatively open about his struggles at the plate—last year he talked with MASN’s Roch Kubatko about hitting into shifts, trying to bunt, his apparent 20/10 vision, and whether his ADHD diagnosis and treatment has anything to do with his hitting problems. He addressed the problems again at FanFest in January, and he seems to genuinely want to turn things around. You can only guess what thoughts are racing in his head as he tries to square the bat on a ball headed his way at 90-plus miles per hour, much less while he’s surrounded by a cacophony of anti-support.

“It’s very easy to shame or boo people from an outside perspective,” the Orioles young leader, Trey Mancini, said after Thursday’s game, shortly after he patted Davis on the back with encouragement after his media session. “But you never really know until you go through it. . . . [Chris] is in there every day working on things. He’s a professional. Look at the back of his baseball card and what he’s done in his career. He’s an incredible hitter and still is. I still believe that.”

“To feel that in front of your home fans, I mean, I can’t even imagine,” said yesterday’s starting pitcher Alex Cobb. “I get all sides of it. Chris works really hard. He’s a great guy. He’s one of the better teammates that I’ve had in my time in the big leagues, and I know he cares so much. I do feel for him. [But] I understand the fans’ frustration as well.”

Sure, had O’s ownership not given Davis the monster contract in January 2016 after he led the majors with 47 home runs, he’d probably have been traded long ago with Manny, Britton, and the rest of the Buck Showalter-era stars. Had he performed a bit better the last few years, maybe the O’s would have won more games. But it’s hard to pin all the faults of a team on one player, though Davis even alluded to the idea that he was a buzzkill on Thursday. “Especially a day like today,” Davis said, “the kind of game that we were having. Really had them on their heels the whole game and it was a frustrating day for me personally and the team collectively.”

The Orioles went ahead early on the second pitch of the game via a Jonathan Villar home run to right field, then scored two more runs on a bases-loaded balk and a wild pitch from Yankees’ starting pitcher James Paxton in the top of the first inning, which ended with Davis striking out swinging. The O’s eventually led the Yankees 4-2 behind a strong start from Cobb, before reliever Mike Wright threw a two-out, two-strike pitch to the Yankees’ Glayber Torres, who crushed it for a three-run home run. Luke Voit hit another three-run homer in the ninth for the final margin.

The Baby Birds are now 4-3 on the young season, good for second place in the A.L. East standings, and they play the second in a three-game series with the Yankees on Saturday night.

Perhaps the reception Davis got is more a signal that many fans have embraced the Orioles rebuild plans, and want the beleaguered slugger out of the way. That’s ultimately a good sign for new general manager Mike Elias and company. If things keep going like this, the O’s could conceivably just cut Davis, but, considering the contractual commitment involved, it’s in the team’s best interest to get the most from the player they can, to see if the new analytics-minded regime can do anything to revive his career.

As Davis even said at his locker, wearing a gray T-shirt that read “Courage” on the front in red block letters, “I’m going to be here for the foreseeable future.” He’s got four years left on his deal and you’ll hear his name long after that, since Davis is due to receive New York Mets/Bobby Bonilla-like deferred annual payments until the year 2037. (He’ll be 51 years old by then.)

“I’m going to continue to play him, and I’m going to continue to support him and find the right match-ups for him,” first-year manager Brandon Hyde said, and he was also surprised the response to Davis’ strikeouts. “I haven’t been around here, so I wasn’t aware of fan reaction. I’m not really concerned about it. I’m going to support the guys on the club. It is what it is. I’m going to continue to stay positive with him.” Hyde also correctly pointed out the hitting woes haven’t seemed to affect Davis’ defense at first base.

But Davis certainly understood what the fans were getting across.

“I don’t think anybody’s feeling sorry for me right now,” he said. “I think people are ready to see me turn it around, and I’m ready to turn it around.”

COMING SOON

Peter Chang Restaurant: Get pumped, “Changians.” Though details have yet to be announced, devoted fans of cult icon Peter Chang will be happy to hear that the chef’s family plans to open an Asian restaurant in the space that was previously Fork & Wrench in Canton. A former chef at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., Chang started his empire by opening strip-mall restaurants in towns throughout Virginia that weren’t particularly known for their Asian cuisine. While Baltimore boasts some stellar global eats, locals have long been waiting for an authentic Chinese food spot to open within city limits. Here’s hoping we’re next on Chang’s list of places to introduce to his Sichuan specialties—which include dry-fried eggplant, crispy pork belly, and Peking duck. 2322 Boston St.

OPEN

Lyfe Cafe: Experts say that late-January is typically the time when New Year’s resolutions start to go off course. But this new Towson eatery is making it easy for diners to prioritize healthy eating. Local nutritionist and personal trainer Penny Seabolt opened Lyfe Cafe inside The Shops at Kenilworth earlier this week, offering everything from protein shakes and wellness shots to vegan fare and meal-prep services. In addition to the lengthy list of breakfast, lunch, and dinner dishes, the daily menu features a “Food for Mood” section with suggestions for specific health concerns. Need a B-12 boost? Try the veggie omelet with egg whites, spinach, and red pepper. For a healthy heart, Seabolt recommends the Summer Salad with grilled chicken, strawberries, and balsamic. The new eatery joins old standbys Atwater’s and Italian Gardens at the shopping destination, which also plans to welcome Felipe’s Mexican Taqueria next year. 800 Kenilworth Drive. Ste. 800, Towson. 410-842-1050

NEWS

The Elephant Building for Sale: Although co-owners Steven and Linda Rivelis and Mallory Staley assure that this fine-dining destination is in it for the long haul, they recently decided to put the historic building that houses the restaurant up for sale. In an open letter sent to diners via email earlier this week, the owners explained their struggles to secure a bank loan to pay back investors who helped fund the multi-million dollar renovation of the Mt. Vernon mansion. “Without even looking at our financials, nine banks told us that they will not make a loan for a restaurant, especially in Baltimore City,” the owners write. “Unfortunately, we have run out of time. After two years, our friends and family who loaned us the gap funds deserve to be paid back.” The iconic North Charles Street property is currently listed at $2.9 million. Although it will soon have a new landlord, The Elephant’s elegant dining rooms, craft cocktails, and worldly cuisine are here to stay. 924 N. Charles St. 443-447-7878

So Long, Esskay Hot Dogs: Don’t be surprised if you can’t find orange-and-black packages of Esskay hot dogs on your next trip to the grocery store. Virginia-based Smithfield Foods recently made the tough decision to discontinue the fan-favorite franks in an effort to reduce expenses and competition with its other products. As a result, Esskay will also soon disappear from Camden Yards. “The Orioles have always offered a variety of hot dogs, including Kosher options, at Camden Yards, and there are many brands that are expressing strong interest in bringing their product to the ballpark,” Orioles spokesman Greg Bader told The Sun this week. Though summertime cookouts will never taste quite the same, we’re confident that the team will soon find a new brand to spark the same kind of hometown pride. Perhaps the only good news to come of the Esskay loss is that officials say it will not have any effect on the famous Hot Dog Races at Camden Yards.

Baltimore Spirits Company Releases Limited Liquor Line: In the very first collaboration between Baltimore Spirits Company and its Union Collective neighbors Union Craft Brewing, the distillery has created a malty, chocolatey liqueur using fermented wort (extracted liquid) from the brewery’s seasonal Snow Pants Stout. Singularity #1 is the inaugural release in Baltimore Spirits Company’s new “E.B. Smith’s Singularities” line, which is named after co-founder Eli Breitburg-Smith. The liqueur will be available in the tasting room starting this weekend. Other Singularity releases, including a pear brandy, are expected to debut in the coming months. 1700 W. 41st St. Ste. 430. 443-687-9099

EPICUREAN EVENTS

1/25-26: Masarap Filipino Pop-Up at Fadensonnen
If you still haven’t gotten a chance to stop by Fadensonnen—the Old Goucher beer garden from husband-and-wife owners Lane Harlan and Matthew Pierce—this weekend is an ideal opportunity. Not only will the spot offer its local beers, wild ciders, and natural wines, but it will also host chef Rey Eugenio in the food truck out front. Authentic Filipino dishes on deck include a braised pork noodle bowl with fried garlic chips, grilled veggie skewers with Jasmine rice and kimchi cabbage, and a beef-and-potato bowl topped with fermented chili paste ketchup. 3 W. 23rd St. 5-9 p.m.

1/25-26: Harry Potter Pop-Up at Order & Chaos
Key Highway coffee spot Order & Chaos is collaborating with Hampden’s Full Circle Artisan Palace to host a Hogwarts-themed pop-up party this weekend. Fans can enjoy butterbeer lattes while sampling a selection of magical sweets crafted by Full Circle. Among them include doughnuts like the chocolate-glazed “Deathly Hallows,” espresso-sugar covered “Floo Powder,” and cinnamon dusted “Potter Spice.” 1410 Key Highway. 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

1/29: Johntay Bedingfield on Chopped
Head to La Food Marketa in Pikesville to watch the restaurant’s own chef Johntay Bedingfield compete on an episode of Food Network’s Chopped. The kitchen will be closing at 8:30 p.m., at which point diners and staff will gather at the bar for drinks and light snacks while cheering on the chef during the episode. 2620 Quarry Lake Drive, Pikesville. 8-10 p.m. 410-415-0606

SHUT

Cafe Andamiro: MICA students were saddened to hear that this cozy Midtown-Belvedere cafe will be shutting its doors for good this weekend. “We appreciate your business and support,” mother-and-daughter owners Ran Yun and Bomin Jeon posted to Facebook earlier this week. “Being able to share food, drinks, and moments with you was special to us.” Since opening in 2016, Cafe Andamiro—meaning “overflow in abundance” in Korean—has been known for its espressos and pastries, as well as Seoul-inspired specialties including noodle bowls, seasonal salads, avocado toasts, and pressed paninis. 241 W. Chase St. 443-453-9314

Since it opened 27 years ago, Camden Yards has attracted more than 100 million visitors to downtown Baltimore to attend baseball games. Now the Orioles are hoping to generate additional tourism for a very different reason.

With the launch of Orioles Entertainment, Orioles executive vice president John Angelos announced that legendary singer-songwriter Billy Joel will play the first-ever concert at Camden Yards on July 26. Tickets go on sale to the public Friday, January 18.

“We’ve been very active in drawing people to Baltimore and also been very active on the media front in TV and radio,” Angelos said. “The one thing we haven’t done is diversify in other entertainment fronts. The opportunity now is to take the next step and we look forward to great Billy Joel coming to Camden Yards this summer.”

The Orioles have been in talks with LiveNation for years about the possibility of bringing a concert to Camden Yards, ever since Joel started his stadium tour six years ago. The last time the Piano Man was in Baltimore, he played a two-hour-plus set at M&T Bank Stadium in 2015.

“Being completely serious, it has been our dream to play Camden Yards since his tour began,” said LiveNation COO Wilson Howard. “Billy’s agent called John Angelos first and said they’d really love to do it. This was the year we were able to work it out.”

Asked about the timing of this announcement—following the Orioles year-long slump and and record-low attendance, Angelos said that this has been a long-time coming.

“I think you do this in a down year, middle year, or up year on the field,” he said.
“In a lot of ways, we owe it to the city and state.”

Joel’s summer run is a part of an eight-stadium tour, which also includes Madison Square Garden in New York City and Wembley Stadium in London. The capacity for a concert at Camden Yards will be relatively more intimate at just 37,000.

“I’ve been thinking, Billy Joel, Camden Yards, Baltimore, doesn’t get much better than that,” said Howard. “Billy’s concerts aren’t just musical concerts—they are events.”

Angelos said that this announcement is hopefully “the first of many,” and the idea is that Orioles Entertainment will bring more emerging artist to play post-game show on Fridays and Saturdays.

“To start with a legend like Billy is a great opportunity,” said Angelos, who mentioned the last time he saw the singer in concert was 30 years ago. “We want to know who else the fans want to see. There are other creative events we could put on in the concourse or the parking lots. Really, the sky’s the limit.”

There was the time, 26 years ago, when former President George H.W. Bush threw the first ceremonial pitch to open Camden Yards.

And there was the year before, when the sitting president visited Memorial Stadium to host Queen Elizabeth II, at her request to experience some American culture.

And two years before that, in 1989, when Bush watched three Orioles games in person. He was a presidential good luck charm—the O’s won all three, two of the games here and one on the road in California.

The late 41st president, who died last Friday at age 94, has been remembered during emotional memorial services in Washington, D.C. and Texas this week: He was a Navy pilot during World War II. Oil man turned Congressman. Ambassador to the U.N. and China. Director of the CIA. Vice president and ultimately president.

Under his watch, the Berlin Wall fell and the Cold War ended. The first Gulf War was fought and taxes raised despite his campaign promise otherwise. (“Read my lips: No new taxes.”) He was the father of another president (and Texas Rangers co-owner) George W. Bush and a family man whose character traits were cherished by his wife, children, and grandchildren, and whose voice and mannerisms were impersonated by comedian Dana Carvey.

Bush 41 was also the “baseball president.”

Just like new Orioles general manager Mike Elias, Bush played baseball at Yale University, where he was captain way back in 1948. He played in the first-ever College World Series, and even met Baltimore native and former Orioles minor-leaguer Babe Ruth during his college years.

Bush kept the mitt he used at Yale in his desk at the Oval Office, and when an opportunity presented itself to watch a game during his time as commander-in-chief, he didn’t pass it up. D.C. didn’t have a pro baseball team from 1971 to 2005 so naturally Baltimore was Bush’s destination of choice to take in pro games and host dignitaries.

In 1991, the year Bush attended the All-Star Game in Toronto with Hall of Famers Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio, he even attended a minor-league Frederick Keys game a few weeks earlier. He also watched a Hagerstown Suns game in person.

Chris Hoiles was the catcher for the famous first pitch that opened the O’s sparkling new stadium in 1992. Bush was on the field with his son and grandson. The stadium, Bush said, was “a magnificent tribute to Baltimore.”

The year before Camden Yards opened, Queen Elizabeth II and the British royal family’s visit to Memorial Stadium in May 1991 came with much pomp and circumstance, as this video shows.

The television announcers, Tom Davis of HTS and Brit Hume of ABC News, debated if players from the Orioles and Oakland Athletics should take their hats off and the protocol for shaking the queen’s hand.

Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, on opening day of 1989, arrived with slightly less fanfare. But his visit was just as much an expression of sports event diplomacy. Like the queen, it was Mubarak’s first baseball game.

“President Bush had a hard time explaining the game to his guest at first because the first run was not scored until the fourth inning,” columnist Maureen Dowd wrote in The New York Times, after setting the scene: “The two Presidents sat in the sky box, watching the baseball game with their Orioles caps, their hot dogs, their pickles, their horseradish, their Cokes in Orioles plastic souvenir cups, their player lineup sheet on White House stationery, their little white binoculars and a black secure phone.”

Two months later, Bush was back in Baltimore for a regular season game, his first non-opening day appearance. As The Washington Post’s Mark Maske wrote, there was no grand introduction, no first-pitch ceremony. But it was a big day. Bush sat in the in the box of Orioles’ principal shareholder Eli Jacobs, who showed off a replica model of the future Camden Yards, on the day demolition crews began to clear the site.

It turns out, as much as anyone, the 41st president was part of Baltimore baseball history.

Adam Jones has been around a while. I can guarantee he doesn’t remember, but I talked to him seven years ago, at the start of Buck Showalter’s first full season in Baltimore, which coincided with my own arrival here. While reporting on a story for the New York newspaper I used to work for, looking ahead to Showalter’s return to his old Yankee Stadium stomping grounds a few days later, I approached Jones at his locker in Camden Yards before a Sunday afternoon game and asked how things we’re going so far, with Buck at the helm.

“Heck of a lot better than last year, I can tell you that,” he said, earnestly, and without hesitation. The O’s were in first place in the division at the time. “Winning is a lot better than losing.”

Jones, who arrived in 2008, obviously knows the toils of the pre-Buck years, as much as the spoils of success during the memorable playoff runs in 2012 and 2014. And now, 33 years old and near the end of his 11th season wearing an O’s uniform, he’s a metaphorical bridge of sorts to the bad times again, finding himself of all people—benched for four recent games, including last night against the A’s at home—as the latest piece of evidence of perhaps the most dismal of the franchise’s 64 seasons.

The O’s have lost more than 100 games—104 to be precise; just three short of the team’s infamous low-water mark of 107 defeats in 1988—and they still have 16 games to play the last three weeks of the season.

There’s speculation of a possible offseason house-cleaning, meaning goodbye to Buck and general manager Dan Duquette. We already saw the roster imploded—Manny Machado, Zach Britton, Jonathan Schoop, Kevin Gausman, Brad Brach, and Darren O’Day, where art thou?—and sold for prospects. Hope for the future, they say.

But, jeez, the present is hard to digest. If the O’s don’t have the resources or yearning to keep a player like Manny, what, exactly, is the point of all this? Empty green seats at Camden Yards are the lasting image of the last several months, which hit a bottom on Monday with a little over 9,141 fans announced in attendance.

That came after a weekend series away in Tampa Bay in which Jones, the team’s de facto captain, was benched for three games in favor of giving “the younger guys” playing time, after he already acquiesced to management about a month ago and shifted from his traditional centerfield position to the less glamourous right.

The benching led to this tweet . . .

. . . and support from Jones’ teammates, like shortstop Tim Beckham, who was quoted this week in the The Sun saying, “As much as he’s done for this city, as much as he’s done for this organization, he should be in there every day.” Jones also happens to lead the team in batting average since August 1.

So, sadly, it appears Jones and the O’s could now be headed for a bad breakup once the year is over. He, and Chris Davis, with his own set of circumstances, again wasn’t in the lineup last night, displaced by Joey Rickard, who’s 27, not exactly young by baseball standards and former top pick D.J. Stewart. Nothing says more about the state of the franchise than this situation.

Here’s Jones, the not-too-long-ago centerfielder and pie-throwing centerpiece, whose been a pro’s pro for 10-plus years and with the Orioles for at least five, a “10-and-5” status that, under Major League Baseball’s negotiated player rights, gave him the ability to veto a trade that would have sent him to Philadelphia in late July.

And did anyone else notice that it was Jones (and a few others) who were put on billboards around town and featured in MASN giveaway posters, and not the lame-duck Machado, clearly the team’s best player, before the season started?

Jones is a guy who’s appealed for a contract extension for several years, and subtly told the media during FanFest his desire for one again. But he hasn’t gotten one.

More recently, he mentioned publicly that if the O’s mentioned trading him to a contender for just the rest of this season, he’d be up for it, and would still consider signing back to play in Baltimore, where his wife is from and where he’s spent most of his adult life.

Then, of course, Jones nixed the trade to the Phillies, who were in first place in their own division. That decision presumably ruffled a few front office feathers, and certainly got us to where we are today, amid the O’s looking to the future at the expense of a fan favorite.

Professional sports is a business, at times more than it should. We know that from the Orioles’ enduring TV contract discussion with the Washington Nationals that’s set to impact the team’s finances, big name players we’ve seen leave or not sign here, and the hopefully-not-important fact that the team’s lease at Camden Yards ends in 2021, and has yet to be extended.

There are so many questions without answers right now, not the least of which is who’s really running the team? Brothers John and Louis Angelos seem to be in charge, with their father and owner, Peter, 89, reportedly in declining health.

For now, there are 10 games left at Camden Yards this season, and six straight starting tonight. We already missed a chance to wave an official goodbye to Manny Machado, although the writing was on the wall.

If this is also the end here for Jones, let’s hope the team gives anyone who wants to see him one more time the opportunity to say, “We love you, A.J.”

As we are all aware, the Orioles are in the midst of a historically bad season for the franchise. Nonetheless, some pretty awesome things are happening on the field this month.

The O’s are set to become the first team in American professional sports history to incorporate Braille lettering into their game-day uniforms when they take on the Toronto Blue Jays at Camden Yards this September 18.

The Orioles also will host international concert pianist and singer Carlos Alberto Ibay, who has been blind since birth, to perform the traditional pre-game Star-Spangled Banner. The president of the National Federation of the Blind, Mark Riccobono, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch.

During the 7:05 p.m. Tuesday night contest, O’s players and coaches will wear specially designed jerseys with the script lettering of “Orioles” and player last names in Braille. Afterward, the game-day jerseys will be autographed, authenticated, and auctioned via the Orioles team website to benefit the National Federation of the Blind.

“The National Federation of the Blind is proud of our 78 years of working together to help all blind Americans live the lives they want,” said Riccobono. “For 40 of those years, we have coordinated that work from our headquarters here in Baltimore, where we have invested tens of millions of dollars to create a top-notch facility that benefits our organization and the surrounding community.”

The first 15,000 fans will receive a co-branded NFB/Orioles Braille alphabet card, the team said in a press release, which will be distributed by National Federation of the Blind volunteers.

The NFB, founded in 1940, is the oldest and largest nationwide organization for the blind, with 50,000 members. With affiliates in every state, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, the NFB offers programs and resources to enhance learning, advance job opportunities, help with recreation activities, and improve the quality of life for blind persons.

Though this is a marketing campaign for the team, the sentiment has been hitting home with baseball fans around the country.

The Chicago Cubs notoriously toiled under the “Curse of the Billy Goat” for 71 years. But the Orioles have a much more hospitable animal in their corner: The Rally Raccoon.

The raccoon was first spotted at Camden Yards during the ill-fated series against the Yankees. Proving what we all already know—that there are no bad seats at Camden Yards—he situated himself comfortably near the press box to take in the game and was captured by The Sun’s Eduardo Encina, aka Eddie at the Yard. (Dear Eddie: Consider using portrait mode next time).

Not liking the results of that series, Rally stuck around for the far more productive series against the Toronto Blue Jays, which the Orioles actually swept (only our second series sweep of the season, after a measly 2-game sweep against the Mets in June). He was apparently safely escorted from the Yard—possibly by Animal Control—on Wednesday night.

Fan reaction to Rally Racoon was swift and positive, with tons of RTs, likes, and heartfelt tributes (“Rally Raccoon is the hero we deserve,” tweeted Os fan Chirping Bird). A Twitter account, @OriolesRaccoon, was promptly created in his honor by him. (Sample tweet: “Someone told me I misspelled raccoon. I’m a raccoon. You’re lucky I figured out how to type.”)

And, of course, the Orioles ran with their new unofficial mascot (we said unofficial! Don’t have a cow, Orioles Bird) with this fun tweet:

At this point, a few things are certain:

• Rally Raccoon is a cute little bugger.
• Rally Raccoon knows a good thing when he sees it. Not only does Camden Yards have great vistas, it also has great garbage.
• When your team’s season record is 40 and 94 you need all the help you can get: We must bring back Rally Raccoon. Our 2019 season depends on it.

Back in December, the Gay Lesbian Community Center of Baltimore (GLCCB) put out a request for locals to send in their ideas for the theme of this year’s Baltimore Pride celebration. Of all the submissions, the one that stood out most to committee members was “United We Shine.”

“It’s representative of everything we stand for,” says LaKesha Davis, Pride coordinator with the GLCCB. “Even though there is still room to grow within the community, as long as we remain united, we will continue to shine.”

The inclusive theme will permeate to every aspect of the celebration—happening June 16-17—which officially moved its annual Saturday-afternoon block party from Mt. Vernon to the Station North Arts District last year.

The parade route has shifted slightly this year. Instead of beginning in Mt. Vernon, it will step off from East 33rd Street in Charles Village at 1 p.m. and head south on Charles Street—descending into the block party on East 23rd Street in Station North. The decision to switch up the route was sparked by concerns of traffic congestion from last year’s parade, which ended on North Avenue.

Davis says that the new route is not only practical, but also symbolic. Revelers will march through Charles Village, where the GLCCB originated in 1977, and descend into Pride’s new home.

“We try to find a way to make things better every year,” Davis explains.

Parade day celebrations will include the annual high-heel races and a new pet parade, as well as live entertainment by Chance The Rapper’s kid brother Taylor Bennett, hip-hop goddess Miami Tip, our own club queen TT The Artist, and The Voice runner-up Davon Fleming.

As in previous years, the fun continues on Sunday at Druid Hill Park with a festival showcasing local vendors, live DJ entertainment, eats and drinks, and a performance by headliner Tish Hyman. The Druid Hill festival is also home to the GLCCB’s Elder Pride and Family Pride programs, which will offer kid-friendly activities led by The Walters Art Museum and the Maryland Zoo this year.

After months of hard work organizing the event, which attracted nearly 30,000 people last summer, Davis says she’s eager to see the community come together.

“I would love to see the whole community stand together and be represented as a whole,” she says, “because that’s how we get things done. We have to remain united in order to make things happen.”

In keeping with this year’s theme, establishments all over town are hosting a number of rainbow-inspired events to celebrate Pride month. Here are a few to mark on your calendar:

6/13: Wine’d Up Wednesday
Kick off Pride Week at this annual fundraiser for the GLCCB, which serves more than 800 individuals per month with its various programs. Gather with other supporters to sip wines, snack on hors d’oeuvres, and bid on silent auction items at Flavor in Mt. Vernon. 15 E. Centre St. 6-10 p.m. $40. 443-569-2279

6/13: Laugh Out Loud

If you’re in need of some mid-week laughs, head to The Motor House for this upbeat comedy show featuring sets by local entertainers Michael Furr, Ruby Darling, Violet Gray, and Jezabelle Von Jane. The evening will be hosted by Baltimore “boylesque” icon Tommy Gunn. The Motor House, 120 W. North Ave. 7-9 p.m. $20. 410-637-8300

6/15: Twilight on the Terrace
For more than a decade, this candlelit fundraiser at Gertrude’s inside the Baltimore Museum of Art has provided an ideal jump-start to Pride weekend with eats, drinks, and dancing under the stars. Enjoy signature gin cocktails and bites by Gertrude’s while rubbing elbows with special guests like The Voice’s Fleming and Mayor Catherine Pugh. 10 Art Museum Drive. 7-11 p.m. $125. 410-889-3399

6/16: Parade Day Party at The Baltimore Eagle
Located in the epicenter of Saturday’s festivities, The Baltimore Eagle in Station North will be a headquarters for revelers on parade day. The bar is throwing a rainbow rager featuring food and drink deals, and live DJs spinning in multiple rooms all day and night. Experience the epic dance parties in style with The Eagle’s VIP package that gets you no-cover access and a free tank top. The Baltimore Eagle, 2022 N. Charles St. 11 a.m.- 2 a.m. Covers range from $5-15 throughout the day. 410-200-9858

6/23: Pride Double Feature at the Parkway
The SNF Parkway Theatre’s new family-friendly film series, Generation Parkway, continues with a special Pride installment later this month. The Pride outreach event starts with a showing of Beauty and the Beast at 1:30 p.m., and continues with Howard—a documentary about Baltimore-born theater musician Howard Ashman, who wrote some of Disney’s most iconic scores. 5 W. North Ave., 1:30 p.m. $8-14. 410-752-8083

6/23: Pride Art Exhibit and Drink Deals at Hotel Revival
In the heart of Mt. Vernon, celebrate Pride by taking in a live exhibit by local artist Jasjyot Singh Hans. Hans will be auctioning off three pieces, with 50 percent of the proceeds being donated to Hearts and Ears—a local organization that supports individuals in the LGBTQ community with behavioral health issues and concerns. Be sure to head upstairs to Topside to sip special Pride cocktails, including the $11 “So Fresh, So Green,” made with Absolut Pride, mint-tea syrup, lime shrub, soda, and a mint garnish. The bar will also feature DC Brau’s Pride Pils, and Bells Brewery’s Sparkleberry ale for $5. Hotel Revival, 101 W. Monument St., 5-7 p.m. 410-727-7101.

6/27: LGBT Pride Night at Camden Yards
There will be some rainbow flair mixed in to the usual sea of orange at Camden Yards on Wednesday, June 27. The Orioles are offering a Pride-inspired ticket package for the evening’s game against the Seattle Mariners, including a special O’s Pride cap with rainbow embroidery. A portion of the ticket sales will be donated to Moveable Feast, a local charity that provides meals to locals living with HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening illnesses. 333 W. Camden St., 7:05 p.m. $70.

6/29: Baltimore Bike Party Pride Ride
This monthly bike trek is celebrating accordingly with a rainbow ride throughout the city. Pump up your tires and throw on some colorful garb to pedal around before descending into Highlandtown for an official after party at Old Line Spirits—complete with cocktails and beers from neighboring Monument City Brewing Company. Route details TBD. 6:30-11:30 p.m. Free.

Visual Art

Profiles of Color III
Fredericksburg, Virginia, artist Ronald Jackson reimagines African-American portraiture in his solo show Profiles of Color III: Fabric, Face, and Form at Galerie Myrtis. The mixed-media pieces are collaged with bold shapes and patterns, reminiscent of Klimt but with a contemporary African accent. June 30 through July 28, with an opening reception from 5 to 7 p.m. June 30 at Gallery Myrtis, 2224 N. Charles St.

Landmarked
Ada Pinkston explores historical landmarks and monuments in Landmarked, a highly participatory show that invites visitors to respond to prompts and, in doing so, become part of the exhibit as it unfolds. A pedestal in the gallery will serve as a space for performance art pieces throughout the duration of the show, including a special night of guest performers on June 16. June 1 to 22 at Cardinal, 1758 Park Ave.

Music

BSO’s New Music Festival
Imagine the elegance of classical music performance against the backdrop of Graffiti Alley and you have the June 22 Chamber Jam with Mind on Fire, Shodekeh, and Ok Miss, part of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s four-day New Music Festival. In its second year, the fest brings contemporary classical music to venues across the city, highlighting living composers. This year, Kevin Puts’ oboe concerto Moonlight, a piece commissioned by the BSO, will premiere at a free show at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. June 20 to 23.

John Williams at Camden Yards
Celebrated American composer (and lifelong baseball fan) John Williams—who has written scores and served as music director for films that include E.T., Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, and Star Wars—will be at Camden Yards on June 11 to throw the first pitch. Before the Orioles game, the BSO will perform a selection of his well-known pieces, starting at 6:30 p.m. The game will be followed by the June 13 Evening with John Williams performance at Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.

Theater

Nights on the Fringe
Ballet, theater, puppetry, film, crankies, spoken word, dance, circus arts . . . the list goes on for Nights on the Fringe, a vaudeville-inspired cabaret weekend presented by Charm City Fringe—in case you are itching to see some Fringe-worthy shows before the main festival in November. The evenings will be hosted by Aaron Henkin (WYPR’s Out of the Blocks) and Umar Khan (Gin & Jokes, Super Comedy). 8 p.m. June 8 and 9 at the Baltimore Theatre Project.

Literary Arts

Books in Bloom
The daylong Books in Bloom festival brings a host of writers across all literary genres to Columbia for readings, discussions, children’s activities, and a pop-up bookstore. The lineup includes Amanda Lucidon, Edwidge Danticat, Elliot Ackerman, Ian Mackenzie, Jane Delury, Jeannie Valasco, Katia D. Ulysse, Nathan Bomey, Sujata Massey, Vikram Sunderam, and others. 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 10 at downtown Columbia Lakefront, 10221 Wincopin Circle, Columbia.

Miscellanea

CreateScape
Creative Labs’ CreateScape event celebrates the DIY arts culture of Baltimore through a free, three-day open house at the group’s headquarters. With a focus on health, creativity, sustainability and collaboration, the fest, hosted by Creative Labs, will cross yoga and dance battles with live music and street art. An array of artisan vendors will give this event a festival feel. June 8 to 10 at Creative Labs, 1786b Union Ave.

Healthy Baltimore: A Festival of Wellness
The free Healthy Baltimore festival at Port Covington will bring an array of music, food, and health and fitness vendors aimed to get you on track—plus the inspiration to move your soul and your body with a performance by Talib Kweli. Pre-registration is required. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. June 16 at The Field in Port Covington, 200 E. Cromwell St.

Baltimore will soon get a new train station that will serve as a southern gateway to the city, replacing a “temporary” facility that’s been in operation for more than 25 years.

Construction is scheduled to begin this fall on a $7.2 million terminal next to Oriole Park at Camden Yards, with completion expected by mid-2019. The station will replace a low-budget structure that was built quickly to serve rail passengers in time for the 1992 opening of Oriole Park—two prefab trailers covered by a space frame roof.

Designers offered a first look at their “preliminary concept” for the replacement station during a recent meeting of the Maryland Stadium Authority board of directors. Their renderings indicate that the building will not be a retro version of an old-fashioned depot, but it won’t look futuristic either.

Predominant materials will be brick and steel, as they are at Oriole Park. But painted surfaces likely will be gray, rather than the Camden green used on the ballpark. A 35-foot-tall pylon will help make it visible from blocks away.

“Contextual” is the best way to describe the design approach, said architect Paul Diez, of AECOM Technical Services, the firm working on the project. “One of the things we were told is that [the clients] want it to look like it’s been there. Not a ‘look at me’ building, a contextual building.”

In terms of the architecture, “our goal was to take some of the elements of the stadium complex” and use them to set the tone for the train station, Diez told the stadium authority board. Common elements include brick walls, steel supports, a standing seam metal roof, and a stone base. “That became our vocabulary,” he said.

The station will be constructed just east of the B&O Warehouse, on the same site as the current facility. It’s expected to provide a new entrance to downtown for rail passengers who take the Camden Line of the Maryland Area Rail Commuter (MARC) service, which connects Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

The station is a joint project of the Maryland Department of Transportation’s Mass Transit Administration, which operates the MARC line, and the stadium authority, which is serving as the project manager. It’s fully funded, with $6 million coming from the Federal Highway Administration and the rest coming from the State of Maryland.

“The MARC Camden Station serves as the entry point for commuters as well as visitors to Baltimore,” said Kevin Quinn, MTA administrator, in a statement. “We are thrilled that a new cutting-edge facility will soon be serving our customers at Camden Yards.”

The stadium authority looks forward to a “new station that complements the historic and iconic Camden Yards sports complex” said chairman Tom Kelso.

Philip Hutson, the stadium authority’s associate vice president for capital projects and planning and project director for the station, told board members that construction is scheduled to begin shortly after the 2018 baseball season ends, and be complete by May or June of 2019, shortly after the 2019 baseball season starts.
Hutson said rail service will continue at Camden Yards while construction is underway and pedestrian access will be provided to the trains just outside the fenced off construction site.

Diez said the station will be a one-structure, with clerestory windows to let in natural light. The roof will be standing seam metal, most likely with a zinc coating that will turn gray as it weathers, he said. The station will be able to accommodate about 90 passengers at one time, with seating for about 30, and it’s being designed to include a ticket purchase area with live agents, not just machines. The station will also have room for a police substation and vending machines for food.

Oriole Park gained attention as a new-fangled, old-fashioned urban ballpark that combined traits found in historic venues with amenities that fans have come to expect from contemporary stadiums.

Some early studies for a permanent MARC station, developed in the 1990s by HOK Sport and others, suggested that the state build an old-fashioned train depot as well. To have a station in place in time to meet the 1992 opening deadline for Oriole Park, the state ended up building a utilitarian structure that didn’t harken back to the past.

In AECOM’s presentation, one rendering depicted the replacement station as having bricks that were darker and grayer than the red-orange bricks on the B&O Warehouse, almost like the ironspot bricks on the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Diez said the actual color has not been chosen, but the goal is to come close to the color of the bricks on the warehouse and other Camden Yards buildings.

A 35-foot-tall pylon has been designed to rise beside the main building, serving as signage and a wayfinding device that can be illuminated after dark. “This becomes a beacon, a lantern at night,“ Diez said.

Hutson said the Baltimore Orioles have been advised about the plans and provided some feedback. He indicated they would like to see some refinement of the north façade, which presents a largely blank wall to the historic Camden Station a block away.

Funding for the new station includes $6 million from the Federal Highway Administration and $1.2 million from the state. The Maryland Transit Administration is taking the lead on planning and design, and the stadium authority is providing project management. Barton Malow is providing pre-construction management services.

While the footprint of the replacement station will be the same as the current building, at least one trait will be very different. The current station was always meant to be replaced eventually, but the designers of the replacement station are working to make sure it lasts for generations, Diez said. “It’s designed to have a 100-year life.”

While the Orioles on-the-field performance this season has elicited plenty of anxiety, regulars of Camden Yards are also wondering about another lackluster performer: mustard.

One of three condiments that competes in an animated video after the second inning of every Orioles home game, mustard has yet to cross the finish line before ketchup or relish in 2018.

“The fact that mustard has yet to win is mind-boggling,” says Orioles fan Richard Gorelick, who started a Facebook page dedicated to keeping track of  hot dog race stats. “It seems deliberate because surely the people operating know who’s going to win.”

In fact, while no one on the Orioles production staff has skin in the game, they do know which Esskay hot dog will take the crown before the videos are aired. An external production company produces the animation and they collaborate with the team on ideas for unique versions. (This year, there are three different race “types” with two more on the way.)

“We typically provide the video operator with the honor of choosing the winner, as long as they are fair and keep the competition alive,” says Mike Stashik, director of Orioles production. “We all remain surprised about just how engaged the fans are during the race, and it was that enthusiastic fan reaction which inspired us to keep track of the winners.”

Similarly, Gorelick keeps track of the winners every home game, with the help of friends who message him results when he can’t make it to Camden Yards. By his calculations, the three condiments split the races equally last year (27 wins a piece), but the Orioles decided to hold a tie-breaking race and had the staff in the control room vote on a winner, crowning mustard the 2017 champion.

“For me, it’s really a parody on how absurd baseball statistics can be,” says Gorelick, who pulls for relish for its color and underdog status. “You’ll have people measuring a team’s win-loss record during Thursday day games on artificial turf. This is just a play on that idea.”

That love of obscure statistics is what got Gorelick calculating a couple of seasons ago. Not only does he keep track of the condiment results, but he also correlates those with how the Orioles are performing. (So far, he hasn’t found any noticeable patterns.)

The hot dog race tradition actually dates back to Memorial Stadium, but got reinvigorated in the early 2000s and has decidedly become a fan favorite. A trio in condiment constumes was even seen running the Baltimore Marathon last fall. Also this past season, Gorelick posted a video of one young fan brought to tears when his beloved ketchup didn’t win—though his mom was quick to send a follow-up video of him elated after different results.

“Unlike, say, the crab shuffle, this animation gives people something to root for,” Gorelick says. “I really enjoy watching families and friends who have designated one of the condiments as one of their favorites and root for them just as passionately as their home team.”

But, yet, how to explain the six-game drought mustard has experienced so far this season? Stashik of the Orioles—who likes mustard on his hot dog, ketchup on his cheeseburger, and relish on both—has one idea.

“Coming off a championship season, you always have a big target on you back,” he says. “It’s never easy to repeat, but there are still plenty of races left.”