Memorial Stadium

Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke says that under one possible scenario, the city might tear down Memorial Stadium before its NFL expansion status is clarified. Bidders for a franchise have been counting on having Memorial Stadium available for at least one or two years if the city gets a pro team, serving as the new team's home while a second stadium is built.The Evening Sun would like to know what you think. Should Baltimore tear down Memorial Stadium, regardless of whether the NFL has awarded the city a new franchise?

Before the Texas Rangers' Josh Hamilton did it Tuesday night, the Cleveland Indians' Rocky Colavito was the only player to hit four home runs in a game against the Orioles. Colavito went deep four times at Memorial Stadium on June 10, 1959. Here's a story The Sun ran 30 years later, reflecting on the slugger's feat.   June 18, 1989 ROCKY IV 30 years ago, Rocky Colavito ended a slump by becoming only the third player to hit four homers in four consecutive at-bats in a nine-inning game Rocky Colavito clicked his way down the tunnel from the visitors clubhouse and emerged in the Cleveland Indians dugout carrying his K-55 bats -- 33-ounce models that most hitters would consider light when compared with the weight of a 3-for-28 batting skid.

MONTHS AFTER demolition began, many in Baltimore are still debating means for preserving a part of Memorial Stadium. While some may think that people are debating the fate of bricks and mortar, much more is at stake: the commitment of a community to honor its war heroes. As many know, the PSINet Corp. filed for bankruptcy and began selling off assets. In light of its demise, PSINet's naming rights likely will be sold or forfeited and its namesake stadium renamed. That's an opportunity to preserve the essence of Memorial Stadium, and the Ravens organization should see to it that any new name for their PSINet facility includes the word "memorial."

In 59 seasons in Baltimore, the Orioles have started with 19 wins or more in their first 28 games only six times -- 1969, 1970, 1992, 1997, 2005 and, now, 2012. The Orioles ran their current winning streak to five games following Sunday's 17-inning victory over the Boston Red Sox. Now, they face a tough nine-game homestand with the two-time defending American League champion Texas Rangers, Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees coming to Camden Yards. Twice in history -- in back-to-back years in 1969 and 1970, in fact -- the Orioles were 20-8 through 28 games.

* DON SHULA, COLTS HEAD COACH, 1963-69: "I had a lot of great moments in Memorial Stadium and I shared a lot of victories with so many great players. I was privileged to coach people like Unitas, Berry, Moore and so many others, but what set the Colts apart from other teams was the unique relationship we had with our fans."It was a special feeling to play in Memorial Stadium. There was no greater thrill for me than coming out on the field right before kickoff and hearing those cheers, and it left me with memories I will never forget.

IT'S a shame that there isn't more nostalgia associated with public places like Memorial Stadium, which is slated to be torn down by 2001.I guess nostalgia is dead. That "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" mentality that used to infest Americans with so much hope and optimism has been replaced by a jaded fatalism. It is a dichotomy we must learn to live with, that our yearning toward the future must always do battle with our natural desire to preserve the past.The stadiums of ancient times have been handed down to us intact.

For 37 years, Baltimore's most dramatic sports moments have happened at Memorial Stadium. Rabid football fans transformed it into "the world's largest outdoor insane asylum" for their beloved Colts, giving the home team a keen advantage over opponents. Baseball fans have known it as the major-league Orioles' only home, a neighborhood ball field that both players and spectators found endearing.Today, the park hosts its last baseball opener. Next year, the Orioles will inaugurate their spanking-new playpen at Camden Yards.

When the Orioles open their season Friday, it's a safe bet that while many in attendance will be rooting for the home team (and some for the visitors, alas), all will appreciate the venue. Oriole Park at Camden Yards has remained one of the great showplaces of Major League Baseball even 20 years after its first opening day game. Yet even today, some naysayers still question whether the public investment in Camden Yards was worthwhile. Economists point out that the direct financial return on stadiums is not particularly good - a criticism heard two decades ago, as well, by the way - and that some alternative public investment of $110 million might have served downtown better.

Scott Evans remembers the soft glow of the small television set, and the way his stepfather tried to calm him and his sister for the benefit of the neighbors in the apartment below. But who, on this night, was not celebrating? It was 1983 and the Baltimore Orioles had won the World Series. Evans, now 34 and a plumber living in Essex, has "always been an Orioles fan. " "I cried the day Cal Ripken retired," he said. "I remember the smell of Memorial Stadium. " But two years ago, Evans grew so frustrated with his favorite team that he logged onto Facebook to start a group he called "O's fans Peter Angelos has to GO. " The Orioles will begin a new season Friday, taking the field at Camden Yards to inaugurate what would become - barring some diversion from a streak that has persisted throughout the 21st century - a 15th straight losing season.

Robert A. Roesner, a former Baltimore County public school educator and coach who went on to become a replacement Major League Baseball umpire during two strikes in 1978 and 1979 strike, died Monday of heart failure at Imperial Gardens nursing home in Naples, Fla. The longtime Joppatowne resident was 85. Mr. Roesner made his major league umpiring debut at Memorial Stadium on Aug. 25, 1978, before a crowd of 10,538 who had gathered to watch...

Your new Orioles beat writer has been connected to this franchise a long time -- almost since birth. Had the Yankees not beaten the Orioles for the AL East title in 1976, I would have been named after Orioles rookie outfielder Andres Mora. Instead, I was named after right-hander Ed Figueroa, who won 19 games that year for New York. The bet that my parents made literally made me who I am. So baseball's always been in my blood. So here I am 35 years later, Eduardo Andres Encina, your new Baltimore Orioles beat writer.

He lives a continent away, and serves aboard an aircraft carrier soon to be deployed to the Arabian Sea. But a 3,000-mile stretch won't stop Lieutenant Commander Scott Brown, USN, from rooting on Loyola, his alma mater, in Thursday's Turkey Bowl football game against archrival Calvert Hall. "If we win, no matter where I am - Iraq, Japan or Norfolk - I give a little fist pump," said Brown, one-time star running back for the Dons. "If we lose, well . . . a loss is uncalled for, it's ridiculous.

A cold, steady rain mixed with snow had caused Game One of the 1979 World Series to be postponed. The following day, morning snow and afternoon rain had given way to a cold and damp evening, with the game time temperature 41 degrees. More than three hours later, it was considerably colder as Orioles pitcher Mike Flanagan and Pirates slugging first basemen Willie Stargell stared each other down with two outs in the ninth inning, their breath apparent in the chilled night air. The effect of the biting cold had been plainly evident in the combined six errors committed that night by two normally excellent defensive teams.

The death of Mike Flanagan has had a profound effect on me, more than I can rationalize. Like many of us, I am at a loss to understand what happened in his life that led to this terrible tragedy. I am a lifelong, big-time Oriole fan and, with my dad, attended the first game at Memorial Stadium in 1954 when I was nine years old. I kept a daily scrapbook with the Sun box scores and game stories and listened to most games on a boxy radio I kept near my bed. I was also at the last game at Memorial Stadium when Mike, then a reliever, fittingly threw the last pitch by an Oriole at the stadium.

Don Gerding of Rodgers Forge couldn't believe it when he heard the news that former Orioles pitcher Mike Flanagan had died. "It was upsetting," he said. Gerding worked with the former Oriole pitcher the 1970s and 80s, when Flanagan did some rep work in the printing and engraving business for Dempsey & Carroll while he was still pitching at Memorial Stadium. "He was a 33rd Street phenomenon," Gerding said. Flanagan, a Cy Young Award winner who became a television announcer and top executive with the club, died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound Wednesday afternoon on his property in Sparks, according to sources with knowledge of the investigation into his death.