Baseball Fans

"Baseball Superstars 2012" Developer: Gamevil Platofrm: iOS/Android (free) Score: 7/10 There's a saying that baseball is a simple game until you try and explain it to someone who has never played it. With major league teams gearing up for the 2012 campaign, I would like to amend that statement to "baseball is a simple game until you try and explain it to someone through a Korean role-playing game. " That is was Gamevil has done with “Baseball Superstars 2012,” the latest iteration in the popular mobile series.

There's the Hall of Fame plaque, the World Series ring and the hardware he won for Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player (twice) and countless other accomplishments. Sometimes, Cal Ripken Jr. looks at that stuff and wonders: Is it really mine? "The farther removed [from playing] that I get, the more it all seems like another lifetime. But I'm pretty sure it all happened to me," said Ripken, 51, who spent 21 seasons with the Orioles before retiring in 2001. "When you're not playing baseball, day to day, in many ways your career is like looking back on a dream.

Making history is becoming a habit during the 2012 baseball season. We're little more than a month into it, and we've seen both a perfect game and one so imperfect that it ended with two position players as the pitchers of record Sunday in Boston. So why should anyone be surprised that Texas Rangers center fielder Josh Hamilton slammed four home runs Tuesday night at Oriole Park to etch his name into the record books? Hamilton, whose story of drug addiction and redemption is the stuff of sermons and script writers, hit two home runs off Orioles starter Jake Arrieta, one off newly arrived reliever Zach Phillips and one off sidearmer Darren O'Day to become the 16th player in major league history to go deep four times in a game and only the second to do it against the Orioles.

Making history is becoming a habit during the 2012 baseball season. We're little more than a month into it, and we've seen both a perfect game and one so imperfect that it ended with two position players as the pitchers of record Sunday in Boston. So why should anyone be surprised that Texas Rangers center fielder Josh Hamilton slammed four home runs Tuesday night at Oriole Park to etch his name into the record books? Hamilton, whose story of drug addiction and redemption is the stuff of sermons and script writers, hit two home runs off Orioles starter Jake Arrieta, one off newly arrived reliever Zach Phillips and one off sidearmer Darren O'Day to become the 16th player in major league history to go deep four times in a game and only the second to do it against the Orioles.

Talk baseball with Washington native David Paulson for a few minutes, and his obsessive lifelong fandom pours out in facts, figures and lore. He recalls how he loved the most obscure of Washington Senators players, like outfielder Stan Spence. How he admired third baseman Cecil Travis less for his career average (.314) than his combat service in World War II. And how he got to see Frank Howard, a soft-hearted, 300-pound slugger from Ohio, hit 34 homers a year for the hometown team even as they cemented their reputation as one of baseball's perennial doormats.

Through thin and thin Phil Rogers Chicago Tribune Every night you'll hear a local broadcaster praise his audience for being "the best fans in baseball. " From New York to both sides of Chicago, in Los Angeles, St. Louis and even places like Detroit and Houston, the distinction is thrown around cheaply. But the fans who truly deserve the distinction are the ones who still show up at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. The Pirates are on pace to finish 54-108, their 18th consecutive losing season and second-worst in franchise history, yet they still average 20,070, more than the Marlins, Athletics and Indians.

Here in Baltimore, you can hardly tell what's really happening in baseball.At Camden Yards, the crowds once again are at or near capacity. With Bobby Bonilla now in harness, Orioles fans have wild card fever.But even here there are telltale signs of trouble."We went to the game the other night," a friend was telling me yesterday, "and it's no problem getting tickets now from scalpers. Good tickets. Sometimes for less than face value."A year ago we'd go down there and pay $20 or $30 for a $15 ticket.

The Orioles and the state's Department of Economic and Employment Development are inviting fans to a day of baseball on June 6. Actually, a day and a night.Yesterday, team and DEED officials formally announced "Maryland Marathon Baseball Day," an unusual statewide tour that will take fans to three professional baseball games throughout the state in a frenzied, tightly scheduled 24 hours.On the baseball tour, fans will see two Orioles' minor-league teams in action before winding up at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

After baseball fans spend Sunday afternoon saying goodbye to Memorial Stadium, they can spend Sunday evening with another of Baltimore's contributions to our national pastime -- Babe Ruth.NBC is saying goodbye to baseball's regular season -- and to male viewers for a while, to cater to non-baseball fans for the rest of the month while post-season play dominates CBS' prime time -- with "Babe Ruth," which will air Sunday night at 9 o'clock on Channel 2 (WMAR).This is a movie for baseball fans, not for movie fans.

Because of the long strike, many baseball fans could have trouble communicating because their special language skills have grown rusty.A fan can't just plunk himself down on a bar stool and say something like: "Tell me, do you think that the Cubs are capable of winning enough baseball games this season to be considered worthy competitors or be awarded a divisional title?"There would be snickering or suspicious stares because that is not the proper way to talk baseball.Those fans who want to brush up on their baseball talk are advised to tune in to "Sports Yak Yak," the most popular round-the-clock sports radio call-in show.

Here are a couple thoughts on Josh Hamilton's four-home run night against the Orioles - only the 16 th in major league baseball history, the first at Camden Yards and only the second in Baltimore. The other was at Memorial Stadium on June 10, 1959, when Rocky Colavito of the Cleveland Indians did it. After Hamilton reached the milestone - a blast to center on a 0-2 pitch from Darren O'Day - the Orioles fans reacted appropriately. I know he is on the opposing team, but it was fantastic to see the fans - there were only 11,263 of you, so I don't want to see 20,000 stories next year about how all of you were there - jump to their feet and applaud this guy. And when Hamilton went out to the outfield after the eighth, he received another ovation - that apparently was especially cool for the Raleigh, N.C., native, who says he gets “worn out” by heckling Orioles fans, presumably about his well-publicized battle against addictions.

Barbara B. O'Brien, a retired Baltimore County Public Library cataloger and an avid baseball fan, died Sunday of complications from Parkinson's disease at Gilchrist Hospice in Towson. She was 88. Barbara Burnham was born and raised in Hartford, Conn., where she graduated in 1941 from South Windsor High School. She was a 1945 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Vermont, where she earned a bachelor's degree in economics. She was working in Washington as a secretary when she met and married Edward J. O'Brien Jr., a salesman, in 1947.

John Lanahan Jr. was spending Sunday afternoon at St. Agnes Hospital with his father, who was recovering from an allergic reaction. The two Orioles fans planned to watch the game against perennial favorite Boston Red Sox. Then disaster struck. As the game went into extra innings - ultimately, 17 in all - WJZ interrupted the broadcast at 7 p.m. to show "60 Minutes. " The hospital did not offer the cable station MASN, which carried the remainder of the game. The father and son missed out on the culmination of what is arguably the most memorable game of the O's season so far - in which designated hitter Chris Davis pitched two scoreless innings and the Orioles won, 9-6. "We were both pretty disappointed that we couldn't watch the end of the game," the 36-year-old accountant said.

Baseball fans (and non-fans alike) can expect sunny skies Friday with highs in the mid-50s and some strong wind gusts for the Orioles' Opening Day, according to the National Weather Service. Steady 10 to 20 mph north winds are expected, with gusts up to 30 mph. The day is expected to get off to a cold start, with a freeze warning in effect through 9 a.m. in Carroll, Harford and northern Baltimore counties. An overnight freeze could come Friday into Saturday as well, with lows in the mid-30s.

Give the Orioles credit: They sure do stadium renovations well. Way better than they play ball. I say that after getting a sneak peek Wednesday at all the changes to Camden Yards we've been hearing so much about. Bottom line? You're going to love what they've done to the place, even if you're a hard-core fan who's not big on a lot of architectural frou-frou at the ballpark. Assuming, that is, there are any hard-core baseball fans left. "I think we still have hard-core fans," said Janet Marie Smith, Orioles vice president of planning and development.

Opening Day is a week away, and little has changed in AccuWeather's long-range forecast -- the Orioles could be meeting the Minnesota Twins under drizzly skies. But the outlook isn't unanimous. Next Friday is still a few days outside the National Weather Service's forecasts, but AccuWeather is calling for a high of 61 with "a few showers" in the area. That's slightly less wet than the forecast looked 10 days out. Weather Underground predicts a zero percent chance of precipitation and a high of 59. The Weather Channel, meanwhile, is also calling for clear skies, but it is predicting a high of 69 degrees.

Time was when the number of good baseball movies numbered in the, oh, ones: "Pride of the Yankees," maybe another. These days they tumble out of Hollywood and #i elsewhere in pairs and threes, a fact attested to by an American Movie Classics tribute entitled "Diamonds on the Silver Screen," scheduled for showing on the eve of the World Series, Oct. 15.From the opening scene, wherein Tracy says to Hepburn, "I'd like to take you to a baseball game," in...

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Pitcher Dave Stewart had every excuse to make himself scarce yesterday. He had just signed a contract with the Oakland Athletics and was preparing to leave the Major League Baseball Players Association free-agent camp when he noticed 5-year-old Justin Loughrey, watching the workout from a wheelchair.Stewart stopped for an autograph, then handed the boy his glove. His game glove."Try that on," Stewart said.The child sheepishly tried it on and then tried to hand it back, but Stewart already was moving toward the clubhouse.

"Baseball Superstars 2012" Developer: Gamevil Platofrm: iOS/Android (free) Score: 7/10 There's a saying that baseball is a simple game until you try and explain it to someone who has never played it. With major league teams gearing up for the 2012 campaign, I would like to amend that statement to "baseball is a simple game until you try and explain it to someone through a Korean role-playing game. " That is was Gamevil has done with “Baseball Superstars 2012,” the latest iteration in the popular mobile series.

Saturday was Dan Duquette's official welcome to Baltimore baseball fans. Amid the hoopla and carnival atmosphere that filled the Baltimore Convention Center for the team's annual FanFest event, it was the executive vice president of baseball operation's introduction to Orioles fans. Orange balloons were everywhere. Fans brought backpacks of memorabilia, posters, bats and jerseys for their favorite players to sign. Approximately 9,000 fans — about 1,000 fewer than last year — braved the aftereffects of the season's first snowstorm to attend the team's official season-kickoff event.