Oriole Park

When Camden Yards hosted its first home opener 15 years ago, many already regarded it as a triumph for Baltimore and the Orioles. "Field of Dreams Comes True in Baltimore," gushed the headline in The New York Times. Less obvious was that the park - with its brick exterior, exposed metalwork, city backdrop and incorporation of existing architecture - would become the template for a generation of baseball stadiums. Today, with a more modern park featuring concrete and glass rising up along the Anacostia waterfront in Washington, that wave might be over.

Could top-flight soccer make a stop in Baltimore? That's one of the visions of Paul A. Tiburzi, chairman of the Camden Yards Sports and Entertainment Commission, which last week led officials from D.C. United and Major League Soccer on tours of M&T Bank Stadium and Oriole Park. "From Day One, we've always been interested in bringing a top-notch soccer event here, but only if the Ravens or Orioles are interested in having it, they're our partners," Tiburzi said. "D.C. United has expressed an interest in playing in Camden Yards."

The Orioles announced yesterday locations for their open tryouts this summer for boys ages 16-22. All players must have their own equipment, and be registered, dressed and ready to play at the starting time of camp.There are no rain dates for the camps. Registration cards can be obtained the same day of the camp no later than 8: 30 a.m. American Legion players must have written permission from their coach or post commander to participate in the camps, which will be under the supervision of Orioles scout Jim Gilbert.

Two years after football stadium construction displaced thousands of parking spaces for baseball fans and strained relations between the Orioles and the Maryland Stadium Authority, Oriole Park now features more parking spots than ever.But many of them aren't as close or as convenient as they were before PSINet Stadium was built.When the ballpark opens on Monday, there will be 4,200 spaces available on site. That is up from 3,940 last year but still below the 5,600 available before the Ravens' stadium went up on what had been an Orioles parking lot.Is it enough?

With most of the bills now settled, the final price tag for the Ravens' new stadium appears to be $229 million -- well in excess of the $200 million pre-design projections and even the $223 million estimates made last summer.Bruce Hoffman, executive director of the Maryland Stadium Authority, attributed the higher costs to a robust economy, which drove up construction costs. Testifying yesterday before the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee in Annapolis, he said no additional state appropriations will be required despite the overrun.

Vote-counting glitch wasn't the fault of election boardI was at the city election board Tuesday night when the computer file server crashed and disrupted what, up to that point, had been pretty much a flawlessly executed Election Day.It was and is clear that the vote reporting problems were caused by mechanical failure and not human error.The responsibility was the computer vendor's; the staff of the election board was blameless.The Sun's account of the episode needlessly sensationalized the story by including gratuitously nasty and self-serving remarks by the former elections board chief, Gene Raynor ("Computer failure, unhappy return," Nov. 3)

THE philosophy of build it and they will come, a philosophy made popular by the baseball movie "Field of Dreams," no longer carries much weight. Governments don't want to erect costly stadiums and indoor arenas without a guarantee that professional sports teams will occupy them.It's a matter of basic economics. It was the guiding principle when state leaders authorized a new Baltimore football stadium more than a decade ago: Lawmakers rightly insisted that no facility would be built until after a National Football League team had signed an ironclad agreement to make Camden Yards its home.

Good morning. Today is the eighth Opening Day at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. But this spring ritual is much more than a stat.Meet Josh Barmer, a 12-year-old from Aberdeen, who breaks in a new glove every season. Larry Schulmeister, a hospital chaplain, lives close enough to Camden Yards to hear the crack of the bat. A bell captain at Harbor Court Hotel, Joe Kennick can literally smell Opening Day. And there's Vince Poist at Pickles Pub, where today is a national holiday. Camden Yards is their livelihood, their love, their passion and their pastime.

It's not exactly the same as finding buried treasure, but some of the city's early football past has been discovered in a Baltimore basement. The correspondence describes how efforts were made to start a rival to the National Football League in 1935.The most surprising twist to the episode is that a man writing a scripted outline from Cincinnati, intended for a Baltimore recipient, somehow sent the letter to the upstart league's foremost rival, George Halas, owner, general manager and coach of the Chicago Bears.

Strike one.If you are a Cuban baseball player contemplating defection this weekend, the first pitch you see is the one to hit. It's the golden opportunity: a big fat lob, right down the middle, served up by the United States of America and its Spanish-speaking team of eight Immigration and Naturalization inspectors, dressed in the home white uniforms.The pitch will come at you before you can size up the B&O Warehouse, take batting practice at Camden Yards, feel the cool of the outfield grass or hear the cheers of an American sellout crowd.

A man in his 30s died after he was shot several times early Thursday two blocks from Oriole Park at Camden Yards, police said, one of two fatal overnight shootings in the city as violence continues to surge in Baltimore after a recent lull. Police also made two homicide arrests in separate cases, including a 15-year-old who turned himself in, as detectives continue to close cases at a higher clip than last year. The victim of the downtown shooting, Milton Stepney Sr., 32, was shot about 2:40 a.m. at Eutaw and Lombard streets after he got into an argument with a man at a carryout restaurant and came at the man with a tire iron, said Agent Donny Moses, a police spokesman.

The new Hilton Baltimore Convention Center Hotel has been described as the city's first true "convention hotel," in part because it's the first one connected by enclosed sky bridges to Baltimore's 29-year-old convention center. But that's not the only feature that sets it apart from other downtown hotels. The $301 million, 19-story hotel also stands one block from Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the cherished ballpark built in 1992 whose success triggered the nationwide back-to-the-city stadium-building movement.

Midwest cutting air service Milwaukee-based Midwest Airlines, scrambling to avoid bankruptcy, will drop service to Baltimore and 10 other cities in September as it cuts more than a quarter of its daily schedule. The reductions follow the airline's recent decision to lay off 40 percent of its work force and ground its entire fleet of older, gas-guzzling Boeing MD-80 planes. 3,000 customers to test meters More than 3,000 utility customers in Baltimore and Westminster will participate in a test of advanced electric meters that could save them money and reduce energy usage during times of peak demand, Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. said.

The workers who clean Oriole Park at Camden Yards - and who fought a successful campaign last year for higher wages - have voted to unionize, AFSCME Maryland said yesterday. The union, the state affiliate of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said the cleaners voted 64 to 13 to join. About 130 were eligible to vote. AFSCME hailed the results, tallied early yesterday morning, as a victory for "contingent workers" with no set schedule. They are employed by Chimes DC, which is an arm of Baltimore nonprofit Chimes International and has a contract with the Maryland Stadium Authority.

The field is as lush and green as ever. The ushers look sharp in their bright orange jackets. Fans are once again strolling along Eutaw Street, enjoying Boog's barbecue and hoping for a good season. But something's drastically different at Oriole Park this year, and not just on the playing field. The sweeping view of downtown Baltimore that fans have enjoyed for the past 16 seasons has changed considerably, as a result of two large construction projects beyond the outfield. Now missing from many vantage points is the quirky Bromo Seltzer Tower that could be seen beyond center field, with its crenellated top, round clock faces and warm blue glow at night.

WHERE -- Oriole Park WHEN -- Tomorrow. General admission starts at 10:30 a.m. at Gate C. Fan forums begin at 10:45 a.m. and last throughout the day. A two-hour autograph session with current and former Orioles begins at 11 a.m., followed by a team workout at 1:15. Fans can pose for photos with the 1983 World Series trophy in Championship Cafe from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Other activities -- The main concourse will have a speed pitch, moon bounce and other activities. Photos with the Oriole Bird and free giveaways will take place on the club level.

It's close to downtown and open to the sky, and features sweeping views of the city beyond. There's an asymmetrical field with enough nooks and crannies to keep the game interesting - plus a state-of-the-art scoreboard, luxury skyboxes and all the creature comforts fans could want. Oriole Park at Camden Yards in 1992? Yes, but also Nationals Park on the Anacostia riverfront in 2008. Sixteen years after Baltimore broke the mold with its "newfangled, old-fashioned" ballpark, Washington has joined the list of cities that can boast they have a new, baseball-only stadium in a prime urban setting.

The paint was wet on the studio walls in the old Emerson Drug Co.'s Bromo Seltzer tower this week when I dropped by on a tour of a rapidly changing part of Baltimore's downtown. In the final days of the summer of 2007, I experienced the tremendous energy in the general neighborhood of the Hippodrome, the University of Maryland and Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The Bromo Tower, a Baltimore landmark at Lombard and Eutaw, was just one of the several addresses I've known all my life that are now in the process of transformation.

The Polish community opens this year's Showcase of Nations Ethnic Festivals. John Stevens and the Double Shot band will play polkas at the Polish Festival from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. tomorrow in Patterson Park, at Linwood and Eastern avenues. Polish country musicians, the T.K.O. band, which will play rock 'n' rolls classics, and others will perform from noon until 10 p.m. Saturday at the Pulaski Monument in the park. A Mass will be held at 10:30 a.m. Sunday at the monument. The children's dance group Krakowiaki, named for the Polish city of Krakow, performs there at noon.

Could top-flight soccer make a stop in Baltimore? That's one of the visions of Paul A. Tiburzi, chairman of the Camden Yards Sports and Entertainment Commission, which last week led officials from D.C. United and Major League Soccer on tours of M&T Bank Stadium and Oriole Park. "From Day One, we've always been interested in bringing a top-notch soccer event here, but only if the Ravens or Orioles are interested in having it, they're our partners," Tiburzi said. "D.C. United has expressed an interest in playing in Camden Yards."