Memorial Stadium

It was 19 years ago — and about 30 degrees warmer — when Cal and Billy Ripken played in the last game at Memorial Stadium. But on Tuesday, when they replanted home plate in its old spot off East 33rd Street, the past returned as if on a welcome summer breeze. "It does make you think of all the memories you have of playing here," Cal Ripken Jr. , said after a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new youth baseball diamond opening in the old home of Baltimore's Orioles and Colts.

Former Orioles Cal Ripken Jr. and Bill Ripken along with Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Hall of Fame Orioles third baseman Brooks Robinson and Hall of Fame Colts defensive tackle Art Donovan, broke ground today for a youth development park at the former site of Memorial Stadium. The park, which is being built by the foundation in partnership with the Y of Central Maryland, will be the first to be constructed as part of the foundation's Swing for the Future campaign. The foundation said its goal is to develop ballparks in Baltimore and take that model across the country.

Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation Ground to be broken for park at Memorial Stadium site Former Orioles Cal Ripken Jr. and Bill Ripken — co-founders of the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation — along with Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake , Hall of Fame Orioles third baseman Brooks Robinson and Hall of Fame Colts defensive tackle Art Donovan , will take part in a ceremony Wednesday to break ground for a youth development park...

Forty years ago, the Orioles were everything that the current team is not. Poised. Stylish. Champions. In 1970, the Orioles won 108 games, more than twice what this year's club is projected to win. This afternoon, fans will have a chance to relive that memorable summer as the Birds trot out 19 members of the world championship team before a game against the Washington Nationals at Camden Yards. "Seeing us out there might be good for the current players," said Dick Hall, 79, a former long reliever.

Gary Joseph Gemski, a WMAR technician who worked at the final game at Memorial Stadium and the first one at Camden Yards, died of cancer Dec. 20 at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. The Ellicott City resident was 53. Born in Derby, Conn., he earned a degree in radio, television and film from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1978. There he met his future wife, Barbara Dougherty. "We both lived on the seventh floor of the Hagerstown dorm," she said. He joined the television station as a summer relief employee in spring 1979 and was later hired.

Fifty years ago, the Baltimore Colts rallied to win a world championship over the New York Giants before 57,545 jubilant fans at Memorial Stadium. Go on, scratch your head. The 1958 title game is burned into our brains: 23-17, sudden-death, Ameche's plunge, the stampede at the airport. But the sequel, on Dec. 27, 1959? Half a century later, who can recall the cast, the Colts' comeback, or the score? Not even the players, it seems. "Don't remember it at all," said Hall of Famer Lenny Moore, who caught a 60-yard touchdown pass in the 31-16 victory that day. "Man, oh man. Can you believe that?

Ralph Vincent Chase Sr., a former Baltimore City Recreation and Parks official who had been manager of the old Memorial Stadium, died Sunday of heart failure at Sinai Hospital. He was 71. Mr. Chase, the son of a federal worker and homemaker, was born and raised in Washington. After graduating from Spingarn High School in 1956, he attended what is now Morgan State University on a football scholarship. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1961 in physical education. After serving in the Army as a military policeman, Mr. Chase was honorably discharged in 1963 and then began his 28-year career with the city's Recreation and Parks Department.