Alec Cunningham attended his first Orioles game when he was about 5 years old. Something about it all — the smells and sounds of Camden Yards, the shared fan experience with his father — imprinted on his brain.
Seventeen years later, the Orioles remain a habit he just can't break. "I just cannot turn my back on the O's," said Cunningham, 22, of Gaithersburg.
The behavior of fans like Cunningham offers a partial clue to an early-summer baseball puzzle:
Why are the Orioles, with the worst record in the major leagues, enjoying an increase in TV ratings and home attendance over a corresponding period a year ago?
At first blush, the growing numbers appear to be a gift from Baltimore's fan base — the equivalent of an unearned run for a franchise that has not had a winning season since 1997 and has seen crowds decline almost uninterruptedly since then.
Attendance has faded from a league-leading 45,490 per game in 1998 to last year's 23,542.
Then there is this season. Even with the Orioles' ineptitude, attendance is up 9.5 percent, from 21,653 to 23,720, through 32 home games compared with the same number of games last year, according to Major League Baseball.
In recent Nielsen data, Orioles games on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) have earned a 3.8 household rating, compared with a 3.4 rating from Opening Day to June 3 of last year. The 3.8 rating translates to about 41,538 area households in the Baltimore TV market — an increase of 12 percent over last season.
By comparison, the Washington Nationals averaged a 1.1 rating during that time, which was before the June 8 debut of pitching prodigy Stephen Strasburg that earned record MASN ratings. Even the New York Yankees — with the top ratings on their YES Network regional sports outlet — averaged just a 4.6 rating this spring. A ratings point equals 1 percent of all TV homes in the market.
On radio, the ratings are running even with last season, according to Bob Philips, senior vice president at CBS Radio Baltimore, which owns 105.7 The Fan.
"The Orioles certainly bring a large listenership to the station," Philips said. "All you have to do is listen to the callers to know there is still lots of passion. The fans care, and they're engaged with the Orioles."
There is no disputing that the Orioles — who return from a West Coast road trip Tuesday to face the Florida Marlins — have benefited from a schedule front-loaded with attractive opponents. Although the season is not yet at the midway point, Baltimore has already hosted the Boston Red Sox in two weekend series, the Yankees in two midweek series and the New York Mets on a weekend.
The Yankees and Red Sox typically attract lots of interest, not only from Orioles backers but also from their own fans making road trips. The O's must wait until Aug. 31 for the next visit by either club.
At this time last year, the Orioles had hosted two Yankees series — one on the weekend and one during the week — and no Red Sox games.
There may be something else at play. After so many years of declining attendance, it's possible that the Orioles may be starting to approach bottom.
The remaining fans include loyalists who are as much a part of Camden Yards as the green seats and the warehouse wall.
"I think the people who are watching now are the core fan base," said John McGuinness, the senior vice president and general sales manager for MASN, who previously helped build the Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies TV networks. "The nice thing about Baltimore, and I liken it to Philadelphia, is that the fan base is extremely passionate and extremely knowledgeable. … And I think as you've seen in Philadelphia, their ratings and attendance have doubled [as they started winning]. So, it's only up from here."
Some fans — like Cunningham, whose dad gave him his first glove at his initial Orioles game and who follows many games online — seem drawn partly out of family tradition.
"If your father grew up as a big Orioles fan, you probably adopt the same thing," said Orioles fan Russ Lease, 54, of Columbia.
Generational ties, fond childhood memories connected with broadcasts and the pleasure that comes from engaging in certain kinds of familiar fan behaviors are some of the explanations analysts offer as to why fans will turn out and tune in even when the losing becomes as habitual as it has for the beleaguered Orioles this year.
