Ballpark

So the First Lady was at Camden Yards, in partnership with Major League Baseball, to fight childhood obesity. Who thought that one up? There are controversies: about whether obesity per se should be the focus, or health and healthy living; about how much the war on obesity is really a war on the obese, reflecting all kinds of cultural bias, prejudice, and oppressions; about how - once there is consensus on what the problems and solutions actually...

Reinvestment and redevelopment of the distressed Park Heights neighborhood will continue under a funding agreement Baltimore's financial oversight panel approved Wednesday with the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation. The foundation, named for the late Orioles manager, will contribute $600,000 to develop a youth ballpark near Pimlico Race Course , one of multiple planned fields it's helping to create for at-risk children and teens in Maryland and across the country. The Board of Estimates agreed — over the protest of Arnold M. Jolivet, managing director of the Maryland Minority Contractors Association — to approve the agreement without opening the project up to competitive bids.

Thousands of fans spent Friday's Opening Day cheering the Orioles at Camden Yards, but Russell M. Woolford is still reliving painful memories from last year's home opener. Accusations of a punch thrown over a seat dispute and a disagreement over who said what to whom landed this week in Baltimore Circuit Court, pitting Woolford, a waiter from Canton, against Kevin W. Havens, a real estate agent from Hunt Valley. Woolford's lawsuit seeks $12 million in damages. At first glance, it appears nothing more than a run-of-the-mill ballpark scuffle.

If you're heading to Camden Yards for today's opener and you want to smoke during the game, you're going to have to leave the stadium to light up. Orioles fans will be able to smoke only in a designated area just outside of Gate E1 on the third base side of the ballpark. On March 4, the Maryland Stadium Authority's smoking ban went into effect at the Camden Yards sports complex, which includes Oriole Park and M&T Bank Stadium. The new code “prohibits smoking or carrying lit tobacco products (cigarettes, cigars and pipes)

As a serious fan of the last place Red Sox, I have been appalled to see the size of the crowds at Orioles' games (16,000 or fewer during their recent series with the Sox). It's downright disrespectful to provide a good, young and first place team who are playing attractive baseball with so little local support. And so many of the sparse crowd are Red Sox fans that the Boston TV commentators actually referred to Camden Yards as "Fenway South. " It's not enough to make me root for the Orioles, but they really do deserve better.

Orioles center fielder Adam Jones, whose eighth-inning solo homer was the deciding run in the Orioles' 5-2 win over the Blue Jays on Thursday, said he's not paying attention to the American League East standings. Thursday night's win, which completed Baltimore's first three-game sweep of Toronto since Sept. 13-15, 2010, kept the Orioles in first place in the division, tied with the Tampa Bay Rays at 12-7. But to Jones, who is off to a sizzling start to the season, filling Camden Yards will be a truer indicator of the team's success.

When Oriole Park opens Monday for its 20th season at Camden Yards, fans will have more ways than ever to watch the action on the field. Five areas, called club suites, have the feel of an urban loft, complete with kitchenettes, flat-screen TVs and lounge furniture. An outdoor concourse overlooking right field has a sports bar atmosphere. Certain sections down the left-field line now offer "drink rail seating," while others have bistro-style tables shaped like home plate and swiveling chairs.

As we Orioles fans contemplate our good fortune at Memoria Stadium tomorrow, we should be grateful for the lucky bounce that will also guarantee our continued baseball pleasure at Camden Yards next year.Not everyone is so fortunate.In their first shaky season in the big leagues, Houston baseball fans poured into the first domed stadium in April, 1965 to watch President Lyndon Johnson throw out the first pitch. But a structure which Houston parvenu Judge Roy Mark Hofheinz promised would create a perfectly controlled environment and "grandeur . . . for the bleacher fan and the country club member" had skylights which nearly blinded its outfielders.

It was impulsive. It was irresponsible. It was a lark. It was lunch at the ballpark.One minute I was standing in the office behaving like a responsible adult, saying I was much too busy to go to a baseball game. Half an hour later, I was sitting behind home plate wolfing my last Memorial Stadium hot dog.The truth is that until the other day I had rarely had anything decent to eat at the stadium, which will close down after this Sunday as the Orioles move to their new downtown park.My dominant memory of Memorial Stadium hot dogs is the eerie, orange glow they exuded as they "warmed" under the concession stand heating lamps.

Cal Ripken Jr.announced today that he'll be auctioning off the 1994 Chevy Suburban that he drove for several years during his Hall of Fame career with the Orioles.  Ripken drove the truck to Camden Yards the nights he tied and broke Lou Gehrig's consecutive games played record, Sept. 5 and 6, 1995. Ripken also drove the Suburban to Orioles postseason games in 1996 and 1997, according to a news release put out by his public relations firm. The winning bidder will receive first-class airfare and lodging for two in Baltimore, and he or she will be invited to attend the Sports Legends Museum Gala honoring Ripken and fellow Hall of Famer Eddie Murray on Sept.

Cal Ripken Jr. is among Rachael Ray's guests on Wednesday's "Ballpark Bites" edition of the "Rachael Ray Show. " In the pre-taped segment, Ripken and Ray chat about Ripken's cooking specialties, their favorite parts of the game and his children's book series. Also on the show, which is dedicated to ballpark food, Ripken tries Ray's banh mi hot dog recipe, and Ray will also be making a brunch dog and BLT dog. The "Rachel Ray Show" with Ripken airs Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. on WMAR channel 2. #sigshell { padding: 10px; float: left; width: 320px; height: 52px; margin: 20px 0px; display: block; }

This comment is in response to Peter Schmuck 's column and this ongoing scheduling dilemma involving the Ravens and the Orioles ("Don't blame Orioles for scheduling conflict with Ravens season opener," March 20). I truly feel the Orioles organization is missing something when they are expressing concern that a midweek day game would affect revenues. It is the first day of the Jewish holiday, Rosh Hashana. All of the schools are closed in the observance of the holiday. The ballpark has the potential to be packed with families who have kids off school for the day. Jewish families who are observant are not going to go, nor in some cases watch, whether it is a day or night game, so the possibility of filling the ballpark with families and children off from school could be very positive for them.

Not South Florida's fault David Selig Baltimore Sun Why would baseball give up on South Florida? South Florida taxpayers paid $360 million to build a new ballpark and to improve the Marlins' chances of sustaining a competitive team. South Florida didn't hire a risky manager. South Florida didn't gut the roster. Jeffrey Loria did. If baseball could give up on Loria, that would be one thing. But it appears the owner didn't violate any rules with this fire sale, so there's not much that can be done.

- Left-hander Joe Saunders was not the popular choice to get the Orioles' first postseason start in 15 years and to try and guide the club back to Baltimore for its first home playoff contest since Game 6 of the 1997 American League Championship Series. Saunders has been with the Orioles for barely a month. The 31-year-old veteran had never won a playoff game in four previous attempts. And he's been on the ugly side of awful for most of his career against the Texas Rangers, including a dismal 0-6 record and a 9.38 ERA in his starts at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

Apparently, there is no pleasing you people. The Orioles have been on a roll the past few weeks. They have climbed to the top of the American League wild-card standings and have inched surprisingly close to the first-place Yankees in the tough AL East. They have done it in ways so creative and counterintuitive that the rest of the baseball world considers their place among the top teams in the major leagues something of a mystery. Of course, there is only one real mystery around here and that is the whereabouts of all the supposed Orioles fans who have been holding out for a winning team before returning to Camden Yards.

Cal Ripken Jr.announced today that he'll be auctioning off the 1994 Chevy Suburban that he drove for several years during his Hall of Fame career with the Orioles.  Ripken drove the truck to Camden Yards the nights he tied and broke Lou Gehrig's consecutive games played record, Sept. 5 and 6, 1995. Ripken also drove the Suburban to Orioles postseason games in 1996 and 1997, according to a news release put out by his public relations firm. The winning bidder will receive first-class airfare and lodging for two in Baltimore, and he or she will be invited to attend the Sports Legends Museum Gala honoring Ripken and fellow Hall of Famer Eddie Murray on Sept.

Welcome back to Stadium Update, the monthly feature that aims to tell Baltimore Orioles fans all there is to be told about the new Camden Yards ballpark, and one other thing.Here are this month's highlights:* The ballpark's steel skeleton has been erected, a major step. Now work starts on installing a couple of other steel items, the ballpark's sun screen and 15 lighting towers.* They've started digging up the field. The playing surface will be 13 feet below street level, which means a lot of dirt (55,000 cubic yards)

The concessionaire for Oriole Park at Camden Yards wants to hire more than 400 people to sell food and drinks at the new downtown ballpark and will start taking applications at Memorial Stadium from 3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. today.ARA Leisure Services Inc. will also hold "open houses" at Memorial Stadium's Hit & Run Club from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. tomorrow and Sunday."This is new for us. We don't know how many people to expect," said ARA personnel manager Debbie Wyda. "We'll be here until midnight if we need to to accommodate the people who come in."

ATLANTA - Chris Davis couldn't pinpoint the last time he made a start in right field - a statement in itself how long and infrequent it's been. But with the Orioles losing the designated hitter Friday in Atlanta, manager Buck Showalter 's lineup creativity was tested. Showalter gave Davis his first big league start in right field. Primarily a first baseman and third baseman, Davis played 54 minor-league games in the outfield, including 14 in left last season with Texas' Triple-A team, but he hadn't played right since his first pro season with short-season Class A Spokane.

As a serious fan of the last place Red Sox, I have been appalled to see the size of the crowds at Orioles' games (16,000 or fewer during their recent series with the Sox). It's downright disrespectful to provide a good, young and first place team who are playing attractive baseball with so little local support. And so many of the sparse crowd are Red Sox fans that the Boston TV commentators actually referred to Camden Yards as "Fenway South. " It's not enough to make me root for the Orioles, but they really do deserve better.