Upper Deck

For all the conveniences it will offer fans, the new Ravens stadium downtown will lack something even ancient Memorial Stadium had: escalators serving the upper deck.Team and state officials say the costly devices are dangerous and unreliable at the heights that would be required at the stadium.Several of the new football stadiums opened in recent years have left them out, both because of cost and questions about their safety and reliability. Also, the prominence of premium club levels being built between the upper and lower decks make pass-through escalators difficult to design into the building.

What's an unrepentant Gordie Howe fan to do?The NHL's all-time leading scorer is Upper Deck's third hockey hero, meaning there are 10 insert cards chronicling Howe's career in the high series. But a random box of high series cards, which includes cards from the 440-card low series as well, yields just three Howes, and one of those is the silly "cover card."The good news about the high series cards is that Upper Deck finally Notebookhas those tear strips right. The original ones were about as reliable and neat as faulty tear strips on plastic bandages.

You know it's football season because the NFL teams are sweating through training camp and exhibitions and hobby shops have boxes full of the latest football cards.While the NFL is taking its time expanding to two more cities, it was quick to grant new licenses to Upper Deck and Pacific Trading Cards for the 1991 season.Upper Deck cards have a strong family resemblance to other Upper Deck products. Statistics fans will be interested to note that Upper Deck is not using the NFL's quarterback ratings, but it has included rushing numbers for quarterbacks, an innovation.

There have been many exciting moments throughout Memorial Stadium's 42-year history, but perhaps none more bizarre than the Dec. 19, 1976, aerial exploits by Donald N. Kroner, who crashed a light plane into the stadium's upper deck 10 minutes after a Colts-Steelers playoff game.More than 60,000 spectators were emptying the stadium after the Steelers' 40-14 victory in the AFC playoff game and fewer than 3,000 fans remained in the stands when the plane hit.Earlier in the day, Kroner, who had recently been fired from his job as an MTA bus driver for "unsatisfactory work performance," had circled the blue-and-white Piper Cherokee low over the stadium during the game.

Your new upper-deck seats at the Ravens' stadium don't just seem close to the stratosphere. They really are.Although stadium designers boast that the park will have sightlines as good as any in football, a number of compromises had to be made to accommodate all the elements the team wanted. The result is an upper deck that is among the highest in sports and tilted at an angle some patrons may find a bit steep.The reason is chiefly luxury seating. The team wanted to have 108 skyboxes and 7,900 club seats.

The Orioles have blown open the game, scoring five runs in the fifth inning against the Kansas City Royals, when the sound of dreadfully catchy strings in Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" creeps out of the Camden Yards P.A. Energized by the team's performance, an upper deck packed with high school and college students shrieks with excitement as fans sing along to the tune. Exams are over, pools are open and summer is underway. And while many college students have bidden friends and college campuses adieu for a few months, a weekend night in Baltimore still offers activities for late teens and 20-somethings from around the state.

Highlights of 1992 are the subject of Upper Deck's 20-card insert set. The set will be randomly packed in marked cases available only at Upper Deck's Heroes of Baseball shows and through select hobby dealers. Shows are scheduled for Cincinnati (June 5-6), New York (June 12-13), Denver (June 19-20), Seattle (Aug. 13-15) and Detroit (Aug. 20-22).

POLICE LOG* Lisbon: 17800 block of Old Frederick Road: A rear window of a home was broken and its interior ransacked Wednesday. Police said nothing was taken.* Watersville: 700 block of West Watersville Road: Jewelry was stolen from a home Wednesday after someone used a picnic table to climb to an upper deck and then enter through an unlocked door.

COLLEGE PARK -- The view doesn't include the Washington Monument, and the players looked a lot smaller. But with Maryland's victory over North Carolina, the new upper-deck seating started warming over the crowd."

What: Sports and entertainment celebrities will go to bat for the charity of their choice in the first Upper Deck Celebrity Home Run Challenge for Charity. Players will be competing in uniforms of their favorite major-league team.Who: Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Jim Belushi, Tom Selleck, Ahmad Rashad, Bill Murray and Florence Griffith Joyner.When: Today, 1:24 p.m.Rules: The Upper Deck Company will donate $2,000 to each celebrity's favorite charity. Players can earn additional money for their charity by hitting the ball past markers on the field, ranging from $100 to $400.