Manfra

The Hyatt Regency Baltimore mezzanine was filled with folks preparing for an evening trip. That's certainly not unusual when you're in a hotel. But this was a journey that wouldn't leave the hotel ballroom. And the "traveling clothes" were black-tie optional. "We're going to take a little walk down Motown Memory Lane," said Christine Snyder. She and husband Larry Snyder were the co-chairs of this, the National Kidney Foundation of Maryland's "23rd Annual Gift of Life Gala," in which several 1960s-era musicians would be performing: The Platters, Charlie Thomas and The Drifters, A Tribute to the Delfonics and Ali Ollie Woodson of The Temptations.

I WAS AFRAID it might come to this. The broadcasters are starting to fight back. The other night I was watching the Orioles' television broadcast and Jim Hunter - right between a wistful paean to Jay Gibbons and an attempt to convince Buck Martinez that Miguel Tejada should be immediately eligible for sainthood - leveled an unexpected broadside in the direction of The Sun's highly respected Page 2 columnist. OK, I figured what goes around comes around. Hunter has been sacked a few times on this page, so he's entitled to defend himself.

While working at a radio station in Southern California a few years ago, Fred Manfra finally got to meet Ernie Harwell, the man who talked him to sleep as a child growing up in Baltimore."

Don't touch that dial. The Orioles are staying put on the radio for the next three years.A deal has been reached to keep Orioles games on WBAL (1090 AM), where they've been for six seasons, through 1996, the club and station announced yesterday.WBAL has been the Orioles' flagship station in 28 of the team's 40 major-league seasons.The amount of the three-year contract was not announced."There is an increase in the rights fee, but both parties have agreed not to disclose figures," said Jeff Beauchamp, WBAL vice president and station manager.

There may have been thousands of serious baseball fans attending the Orioles opener against the Texas Rangers, but most of them were there to see and be seen.The star attraction was, of course, President Bill Clinton, who arrived via train from Union Station. He was right in style, wearing an O's baseball hat and jacket.The president watched the game from O's owner Eli Jacobs' box, which was filled with guests who took turns sitting for three innings with the president. They included Mayor Kurt Schmoke and wife, Pat; state Senate President Mike Miller; House Speaker Clay Mitchell; state Sen. Clarence Blount; and state Sen. American Joe Miedusiewski, who even managed to call his wife, Pat, from the box and have the president to say "hi" to her.*It's true: President Clinton never forgets a face.

IT LOOKED LIKE the alumni association of our youth. Two by two the old buffaloes marched out Tuesday night, listening to the cheers on Memorial Stadium Night in a suburban country club dining room the way they'd once heard them at an old, vanished ballpark on 33rd Street. "Mike Flanagan and Scott McGregor," said Fred Manfra, the Orioles radio announcer, his voice instantly drowned out by several hundred folks who'd ducked in out of the evening's rain and gathered to benefit the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum.

WHEN IT WAS Chuck Thompson's time to say a few words, Fred Manfra led him to the microphone and then Chuck's wife, Betty, and his son, Craig, were there to guide him away. Chuck doesn't see too well now. It is one of the cruel ironies of our time. For so many years, his eyes supplied the vision for a whole community. More than a thousand people gathered Tuesday night, at Martin's West, to pay tribute to Thompson, the retired sportscaster, and to raise money for the Wilmer Macular Degeneration Center and the International Rett Syndrome Association.

Jim Hunter's first moments in the Orioles' radio booth yesterday were, to say the least, memorable.After Fred Manfra's generous introduction, welcoming the new lead voice to the area, Hunter sheepishly admitted that he hadn't turned his microphone on.If that's the extent of Hunter's problems in Baltimore -- and except for one blown call in the eighth, things went smoothly yesterday -- he'll have a long and healthy run behind the mikes of WBAL (1090 AM).Next...

For Chris Berman, the waiting has been the hardest part.Moments after the American League schedule was released in the spring, Berman, the signature voice of ESPN, checked it to see which day Cal Ripken was due to set the consecutive-games-played mark of 2,131.When he saw the date, Sept. 6, and the day it fell on, a Wednesday, an ESPN telecast night, Berman knew he would be a witness to history."We never thought we'd be in a position to show something like this, for those of us who have been there from the start," said Berman, who will call tonight's game with Buck Martinez.

Jim Hunter didn't sleep a wink last night. Opening Day is what passes for Christmas morning in Jimmyville, so he was tossing and turning all night and wondering if jolly old St. Angelos would finally be bringing Baltimore a winning baseball team. Apparently, we've all been bad boys and girls the past eight years, because the Orioles have finished below .500 in every season since 1997, but Jimmy refuses to give up hope. He got so excited last year - while the Orioles were spending 62 straight days in first place - they had to turn down his microphone because he kept drowning out Fred Manfra's wardrobe.