Ballpark

We have a good guy in the White House, a smart man of judicious temperament and profound ideals, a man with a sweet private life, a man of dignity and good humor, whose enemies, waving their hairy arms and legs, woofing, yelling absurdities, only make him look taller. Washington, being a company town, feasts on gossip, but I think the Democratic Party, skittish as it is, full of happy blather, somehow has brought forth a champion. This should please anyone who loves this country, and as for the others, let them chew on carpets and get what nourishment they can. End of sermonette.

A Marylander who helped shape Oriole Park at Camden Yards and later guided the preservation and expansion of Boston's Fenway Park is looking for a new challenge. Roland Park resident Janet Marie Smith stepped down this summer as senior vice president in charge of planning and development for the Boston Red Sox, a position she has held for the past eight years. Smith said she left the Red Sox last month because her work in Boston was winding down and, after commuting between Baltimore and New England on a weekly basis for years, she is looking for planning opportunities closer to home.

A foundation run by Cal Ripken Jr. and his family plans an estimated $6 million project to build five state-of-the-art youth ballparks in distressed Baltimore neighborhoods - including one at the old Memorial Stadium site that would resemble the former ballpark's field. The Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation's Swing for the Future campaign envisions turning the little-used field at the redeveloped Stadium Place on 33rd Street into a multipurpose, artificial turf sports complex with a running track and exercise stations.

When Chad Vandegrift was a teenager living in Anne Arundel County, he used to make hurried trips to Orioles games. He would show up minutes before game time, buy bleacher seats at Memorial Stadium and eat hot dogs. Now some two decades later, he routinely goes to Camden Yards. He arrives early in the morning, sometimes before dawn. He doesn't see much baseball, but he eats a lot better. Vandegrift, 36, is the new executive chef of Camden Yards, overseeing a staff of some 40 cooks who prepare ballpark fare: everything from the Guinness-flavored flank steak to the Maryland crab soup.

Baltimore, you did yourself proud Monday. You took your ballpark back. You squeezed the New York contingent out, then you drowned it out. You made Camden Yards look and sound and feel like the old days, when this was the destination not only for a nice vacation, but also for quality baseball. Heck, you even kept the rain away. You drove your Orioles to victory over the Yankees on an Opening Day that will be remembered for a long time, no matter what direction the team takes. In fact, you might have stolen that win for your team.

Stress kills. It's a well-known fact, particularly given that cardiovascular disease is the nation's top killer. With the recession, the rise in unemployment, continued uncertainties in the Middle East and other global hot spots, and all the other anxiety-producing events unfolding around us, the last thing Baltimore needs is to get overwrought about Major League Baseball. Today, as Orioles Nation experiences yet another Opening Day, let us take comfort in the fact that we, as fans, need not trouble ourselves with stress-inducing thoughts of pennants or playoffs.

The atmosphere was electric. Bundled-up fans got a chance to extend their New Year's Eve parties and watch hockey in a venerable stadium where baseball usually fills the seats. If the setting was different, the results were the same yesterday. The Detroit Red Wings beat the Chicago Blackhawks again, this time out in the cold at Wrigley Field in the Winter Classic. Players from both sides agreed on two things after Detroit's 6-4 comeback victory: The weather and the condition of the ice had little or no bearing on the result, and the overall experience was a blast.

Jeremy Guthrie has played on two major league teams. Nobody except him rode a bicycle to the ballpark when he pitched for the Cleveland Indians. It seems as if half the Orioles team gets around on two wheels and a handlebar. Guthrie definitely has come to the right place. Fans are accustomed to the players' lot being filled with expensive rides - sports cars, HUVs, private jets. But you should check out the clubhouse sometime, or the weight room. There are enough bikes parked there to hold the Tour de France.

Baseball and I never hit it off. I'm a pro-football guy, but with the Orioles playing pretty well, maybe it's time someone makes the first move. So, take me out to the ballpark and leave me for an afternoon with a stubby pencil - and fresh scorecard. Let me join the diminishing but faithful club of fans who keep score. No other sport pays such close attention to itself. No other major sport has such a unique, idiosyncratic artifact known as the scorecard, where myriad details are enshrined, not shunned.

This hurts to admit, but their ballpark food is better than ours. The concession-stand eats I sampled at the new Washington Nationals Park are superior to those I ate at Camden Yards. This represents a shift in culinary climate. Three years ago when I compared the fare at Camden Yards with that served at RFK Stadium, then the home of the Nationals, Camden Yards food was the clear winner. "Things are better in Baltimore," I wrote then. "Isn't that music to our ears? I never claimed to be neutral."