Congratulations Peter G. Angelos. From my vantage point, despite a castle of a ballpark, and a team with some legitimate talent, baseball is dead in Baltimore. And truly, despite what some might think, it brings me absolutely no joy to say that.
We all know that I used to have a partial plan to the O's and made it to at least 20 games a season when I lived within blocks of the beautiful monument to baseball that is Oriole Park at Camden Yards during my three years of law school, but that I am now primarily a Nats fan for better or worse, and still follow the O's closely as they are my favorite American League team. However, we all also know that Peter G. Angelos is one of the primary reasons I threw my hands up and walked away from the O's when baseball came back to D.C., disgusted at how he purged managerial talent, on-air radio talent, and player talent in the biggest non-firesale that has ever occurred in Major League Baseball. He insisted on meddling in player personnel decisions and foiled trades that the GMs were about to pull the gun on, and insisted on stupid trades.
Well, last evening, the Orioles drew their second-smallest crowd ever in the 15-year history of Camden Yards. 13,288 people filled the 48,000+ seat stadium to watch the O's host the defending American League Champions. It wasn't a game against the Devil Rays or the Royals... it was a game against the Tigers, with a potential Cy Young winner on the mound for Detroit.
So who outdrew the Orioles last night? In descending order of attendance, New York Mets, Boston, L.A. Dodgers, Texas, San Diego, Minnesota, Arizona, Oakland, Cleveland (PLAYING A HOME GAME IN A DIFFERENT CITY), Atlanta, Toronto.
Who did the Orioles outdraw? Florida. Pittsburgh.
I don't want to hear a weather argument. The weather was drizzly in Atlanta and they drew more people to Turner Field for a game against my crappy Nationals. The weather was 80 degrees and clear in Florida, and they couldn't get people to the ballpark. Weather only goes but so far in these arguments.
I remember vividly going to the Camden Yards box office with my dad in the mid to late 90s in February and ranking about 20 home games that we'd like to go to. And only being able to get seats to #13 or #14 on that list because #1-12 were all sold out. That was the enthusiasm that the city felt. Yes, the ballpark was newer, but this was just before the Orioles were putting the powerhouse teams on the field of 1996, 1997, and 1998. This was still during the years of Mike Devereaux and Rick Sutcliffe. And yes, this was before the Ravens returned. And yes, this was before the Red Sox and Yankees decided to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on payroll and the AL East was slightly competitive.
But now the question I'll throw back at all of you who have given me crap about D.C. not being a baseball town. Is Baltimore still a baseball town anymore?
April 12, 2007
And baseball dies in Baltimore...
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I was going to argue that the Nats made a serious dent in the O's attendance, but I looked up the numbers. From 2004 to 2005, the Orioles lost 100,000 fans. In 2005 the O's drew within a couple thousands of what the Nats drew in their inaugural season.
In 2006, both teams drew exactly the same number of people, and both lost fans. I have a feeling this year will be close to even as well.
I think the big difference between Baltimore and Washington is that Baltimore drew a large number of fans to Camden Yards from 1992 to 2003 or so. Then the numbers dropped off. The Nats drew a moderate number of fans in the inaugural 2005 season (when the team did not outright suck). Then the numbers dropped off.
Even the last two years at Memorial Stadium saw 2.4 to 2.5M fans. In the O's worst year, 1988, when Camden Yards was but a blip on the horizon, the O's drew 1.6M. Last year they drew 2.1M.
So I guess the answer to your question is that Baltimore is as much of a baseball town as it ever was before, and that has worked out just fine. Unfortunately for you, Washington is just as much of a baseball town as it ever was before too, and I don't suspect their stadium is going to provide over a decade of record crowds. It was better to be a destination ballpark when you were the only destination ballpark, as Camden Yards once was.
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