Joseph B. Codd, who memorized the names of the Baltimore Orioles season ticket holders and their seat locations during his five decades in the club ticket office, died of pneumonia Tuesday at his Oak Crest Village retirement home in Parkville. He was 93.
Born in Baltimore, he was raised above a bar his father owned at Hoffman and Ensor streets. He attended St. Paul's Parochial School and Loyola High School.
After serving in the Army in Germany during World War II, he worked in real estate with his sister, Marie Codd, who had a flourishing sales and rental business in the Mount Vernon section of downtown Baltimore in the 1940s and early 1950s.
According to an article about Mr. Codd in an Orioles publication, he heard from a duckpin bowling companion about the team's purchase and transfer from St. Louis during the winter of 1953 .
"I went to see [Orioles business manager] Herb Armstrong and said, 'What can I tell you?' and he said, 'You don't have to tell me anything, if you know this fellow, he's a friend of mine. You're hired,'" Mr. Codd said in the article.
He began work selling general admission tickets April 1, 1954, days before the Orioles played their first home game at Memorial Stadium. He was initially hired on a part-time basis, but soon joined the organization full time and remained with the club until retiring Jan. 1, 2008. He was the Orioles' longest-tenured employee.
The Orioles observed a moment of silence for Mr. Codd at Wednesday's afternoon game.
In the 1950s, Mr. Codd worked from a small office at the old Southern Hotel on Light Street in downtown Baltimore, where the team stayed.
"He had a little cubbyhole there," said his daughter, Janet C. Williams of Upperco. "Offseason, he would travel around with the ballplayers and make appearances to sell ticket plans."
He recalled making sales pitches with Gus Triandos and Milt Pappas, among other players.
For most of his time in Orioles ticket sales, there were no computers. Tickets were printed elsewhere and delivered to the club.
"Tickets would come in boxes, and we had rows and rows of cabinets with compartments where tickets for each day were organized," he said in the Orioles publication. "Within each day, they were arranged according to price and location. It was a huge job. When I started, the most expensive seat was $12 and the cheapest was $2."
