Oriole Park at Camden Yards is a Major League Baseball stadium
located in Baltimore, Maryland, which was constructed to replace the aging
Memorial Stadium.
It is home to the Baltimore Orioles baseball team.
Left
Field - 333 ft
Left-Center - 364 ft
Left-Center (deep) - 410 ft
Center Field - 400 ft
Right-Center - 373 ft
Right Field - 318 ft
Backstop - 57 ft
Fences: 25 ft in Right Field, 7 ft
elsewhere
Historically, Oriole Park at Camden Yards is one of several stadiums
that has carried the Oriole Park name, for various Baltimore franchises
over the years.
History
In 1989, construction began on an all-new, baseball-only ballpark for
the Baltimore Orioles. Construction lasted 33 months on the ballpark,
which finally opened on April 6, 1992 against the Cleveland Indians. After
considerable debate on whether to name the new ballpark Oriole Park or
Camden Yards—former Orioles owner Eli Jacobs favored "Oriole
Park" while former Maryland Governor William Donald Schaefer favored
"Camden Yards"—a compromise was reached to use both names.
The retro-style ballpark began a trend among other cities to construct
more traditional, fan-friendly ballparks, including Jacobs
Field in Cleveland, Ameriquest
Field in Arlington, Texas and Comerica
Park in Detroit.
Fly
to Oriole Park at Camden Yards!
If you have Google
Earth installed, click here
to be "flown" to the site of Camden Yards. (If you do not
have it installed, get
it from Google. It allows you to view virtually anywhere on
Earth in 3D using satellite imagery.)
In 1993, Camden Yards played host to the Major League Baseball All-Star
Game. In June 1994, nearly 50 fans were injured in an escalator accident;
one of the stadium's multiple-story escalators, overcrowded with exiting
fans, jerked forward, throwing people to the bottom landing. On September
6, 1995, Camden Yards witnessed Cal Ripken, Jr.'s record-setting 2,131st
consecutive game. (The layout of the playing field was, in fact, somewhat
designed to match Ripken's hitting style). Exactly one year later, Eddie
Murray blasted his 500th home run there.
Camden Yards is built at the former location of a major rail station;
its name derives from the rail yards that were formerly on the site. The
view from much of the park is dominated by the former B&O warehouse
behind the right-field wall. Immediately adjacent to the current stadium
is a rail station served by both the MTA light rail and MARC commuter
rail. The latter rail line provides direct service to Washington, D.C.,
the former to BWI Airport.
The stadium is located in downtown Baltimore, near the Inner Harbor.
The ballpark, along with M&T Bank Stadium (formerly Ravens Stadium and
PSINet Stadium), home of the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football
League, make up the Camden Yards Sports Complex (the football stadium
wasn't built until 1998). Camden Yards is just a short walk from the
birthplace of Babe Ruth, which is now a museum. Ironically, his father's
pub is where center field is located on the playing field.
In May 2005, a Maryland sports museum opened just beyond the stadium's
centerfield gate.
Camden Yards!
Oriole Park at
Camden Yards, with MARC/Light Rail station
in the foreground.
Primary
research by Jim Herdman & David Vincent
Courtesy of Retrosheet.
Trivia
Major
League II, a movie about the Cleveland Indians, was actually
filmed at Camden Yards while Jacobs Field was under construction. The
recognizable B&O warehouse can be seen in many scenes in the
movie, and immediately gives away the real filming location.
The movie Dave
features a scene with the President of the United States, played by
Kevin Kline, throwing out the first pitch at Camden Yards. That scene
was filmed in front of an actual capacity crowd at the ballpark, prior
to a regular-season game.
During the planning of Camden Yards, Hall of Fame outfielder Frank
Robinson (now manager of the Washington Nationals), who was then an
Orioles executive and their manager from 1988-1991, attempted to
convince the Orioles to install a terraced outfield similar to the
infamous left field incline at Crosley
Field, ballpark of the Cincinnati Reds until 1970. Robinson, a
member of the Reds from 1956-1965, liked the terrace. The Orioles
declined to build the terrace. However, the Houston Astros' park,
Minute Maid Park (formerly Enron Field),
features an incline in center field area called Tal's Hill. However,
at 30 degrees, it is twice as steep as Crosley Field's 15-degree
incline.
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--Patrick Mondout
ORIOLE PARK
The first of the retro parks, Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
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