Baseball Fans

Whenever things are going too well and I need a dose of misery to level off, I walk down to Camden Yards and stare at the big new hotel next door that is supposed to save this city. Sometimes I have to check the urge to bang on the lobby glass and scream: "You heartless thugs, look what you did to my ballpark!" But it's too late for that now. The thing is up and running - the ribbon-cutting was Friday, the swells are checking in - and all they'd do is call security and run me off. Or they'd have me arrested, and then you have the whole issue of calling home for bail money, which never goes over well.

Baltimore baseball fans have an internal clock that normally tells them to shut it down by this time of the summer and turn their rooting interest to the Ravens and the NFL. A decade of losing seasons at Camden Yards has had its effect, though the 2008 Orioles have done a better job of holding fans' attention. But there's certainly no postseason in the offing. However, before you pack away the diamond dreams for the season, you might want to check in on the Maryland representatives in the Little League World Series.

First, a confession: There was a time when I thought the All-Star Home Run Derby was a great idea. The thought of bringing the best power hitters together for a batting practice slugfest summoned memories of the old black-and-white Home Run Derby television show (even though I'm really not old enough to remember 1959) and unquestionably captured the imagination of baseball fans when the All-Star version debuted in 1985 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. It made perfect sense. Fans - and not just the chicks - loved the long ball, and home runs still were coming in reasonable numbers in the mid-1980s.

Most of us don't have the time to sit in front of the TV to enjoy each inning our favorite baseball team plays. That doesn't mean you can't keep up with the score. These days, updated scores are as close as your mobile phone, but what if you could get a score while eating dinner with the family? Or while putting a puzzle together with the kids? All you need to do is glance at the nearby desk or bookshelf where you put Liveboard, a gadget that does one thing: keep score. If you've ever gotten the evil eye from the wife when you say, "Hold on for a sec while I check the score," then Liveboard is for you. (Apologies to the wives who get such glares from their husbands; some of my most treasured memories are shivering with Mom on Opening Day.)

Baseball is no stranger to scandal and unsavory history. One of its earliest superstars, Cap Anson, perpetuated a culture of fierce segregation that scarred the game for decades. Another early great, "Shoeless Joe" Jackson, was one of eight Chicago White Sox who agreed with gamblers to take a dive in the 1919 World Series. All-time hit leader Pete Rose can't enter the Hall of Fame because he bet on the sport. Some of the biggest stars of the 1980s became embroiled in cocaine trials. The 1994 World Series was lost to labor strife.

WALDORF -- Now that the World Series is over, most baseball fans will resign themselves to other pursuits until spring training. But not Murray Cook of Ellicott City. For him, there's always another baseball diamond to contemplate. And right now, that field is in China. Cook, a consultant to Major League Baseball, is helping with the construction of the Wukesong Olympic Baseball Fields in Beijing. "The groundskeeper is the 10th man on a team," says Cook, who routinely travels to such distant sites as China, Japan, Taiwan, Spain, Nicaragua and Colombia to construct and design fields.

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.-- --The steel and glass building located off an innocuous side street in this bustling Southern California beach town is, in many ways, like the man who owns it. Observe the sloping architecture, see the emblazoned B on the windowless, tomb-like door and know this place is different - it's a combination of baseball museum and sleek modern office. There are the life-sized banners of major league stars hanging from the rafters and baseballs, some autographed, stacked 10 feet high in the middle of the lobby.

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. -- The record-setting crowd shouted out its love of Cal Ripken Jr. at yesterday's Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony. But it was when Ripken was expressing love for his family that the usually stoic Orioles great lost his composure. Speaking of his son and daughter, Ripken became visibly moved, wiped tears from his eye and momentarily stopped his speech. Moments later, he again had to compose himself after mentioning his wife. From among the estimated 75,000 spilling out beyond the Clark Sports Center field and onto weed-covered hills nearly 300 yards from the podium came cries of "We love you, Cal!"

Buster Olney, ESPN baseball reporter and former Orioles beat writer for The Sun "Cal collapsed into a batting slump immediately after he broke Lou Gehrig's consecutive-game record, hardly a surprise given the extraordinary energy that he had expended on those remarkable days and the days leading up to them. His batting average slid downward in mid-September - not that anyone really cared. "They had a day game in Detroit, and he struggled at the plate again. The fans filed out, and the writers went into the shoebox clubhouse at old Tiger Stadium and talked to Cal and the other Orioles, and returned to the press box to write our stories.

Good morning -- Baseball fans -- If you had planned to attend a game in the East yesterday, remember, the fields need the rain.