Touring Camden Yards

Last week I had the opportunity to tour Camden Yards while on an assignment for Hagerstown Magazine.  Tours are $9.00 each and are scheduled to last for 90 minutes although ours was some 10 minutes longer than that.  It was very informative and the following are some of the more fun facts that I learned:

1. Home run balls that land on Eutaw Street are marked by round bronze plaques embedded in the concrete where they landed.  Each plaque is engraved with the name of the player, the team he played for, and the date the homer was hit.  Four have landed on Eutaw Street this season, bringing the total to 52 plaques.
2. It is 435' from home plate to the warehouse and in over 1,400 games, no one has ever hit it.  Ken Griffey, Jr., of course, hit it during the 1993 Home Run Derby at the All-Star game.
3. The tarp used to cover the infield weighs 2,700 pounds.  The record for covering the infield is 90 seconds.  (Does that seem unbelievable to anyone else?)
4. The warehouse, so prominent at Camden Yards, was originally scheduled to be razed.  All 983 windows had been broken out and rats had overrun the place.
5. The grass at Camden Yards is grown in only 1/2" of soil.  A 15" base of sand and gravel lies underneath the soil.
6. The largest luxury suite contains 25 people and can be leased for a season for "only" $115,000.
7. There are 286 miles of wiring in the press area.
8. The only non-baseball event to take place at Camden Yards occurred in 1995 when the Pope said mass there.
9. The statue of Babe Ruth that stands just beyond the gate near the scoreboard is inaccurate in one detail.  It depicts the left-handed Ruth with a right-hander's glove.
10. The press box is open, and only 50' up and 90' back from home plate.  Four laptops have been destroyed by foul balls since the park opened.
    

Perhaps the best aspect of Camden Yards is its name, which officially is Oriole Park at Camden Yards.  No non-descript corporate handle that is liable to change depending on the health of the corporation.  (See the Orioles' neighbor, the Ravens, who play at M & T Bank Stadium, which used to be PSINet Stadium.)

If you're a baseball fan, I recommend taking the tour of Camden Yards!

Comments

[Becky]

As someone who has pulled her fair share of tarps, 90 seconds seems ridiculous and I am glad I was not on that crew.