Baltimore Urban Affairs Report

By Laura E. Lee

In the midst of a severe recession, when people are worried about mortgages and paychecks, does the poor performance of the O’s really matter? As city employees face layoffs and unemployment escalates, does America’s pastime make a difference beyond the walls of Camden Yards?

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By Ilana Yergin

A timeline of the Baltimore Orioles, from 1954 to the present.

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By Andy Marso

This is the Baltimore sports fan’s summer of discontent. It’s been oppressively hot. Unemployment remains stubbornly above 10 percent. There were more than 800 foreclosures filed in May, June and July. The homicide rate jumped.

And the ballpark is no emotional refuge.

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By Steve Kilar

Eighteen years after Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened to universal praise — and seasons of sold-out games — in downtown Baltimore, baseball fans continue to visit the brick-and-steel park that is often credited with rejuvenating ballpark design.

So is it a success? That depends on who’s defining success.

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By Alexander Pyles

A few fans stop at the tables filled with hats, shirts and small wooden bats. But most don’t break stride, moving past the Baltimore Orioles merchandise stand Sara Walters keeps across the street from Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

Business isn’t what it used to be for discouraged vendors outside Oriole Park. Many of them depend on this income, but they have watched their profits shrink in concert with the number of games the Orioles lose each year.

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By Ilana Yergin

Today’s youth league players aren’t old enough to remember the last time the Orioles had a winning year.

That’s one reason some Dundalk residents say they are struggling to get kids to play ball.

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By Ilana Yergin

A video about what the Orioles mean to the city of Baltimore.

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By Andy Marso

On the streets outside Camden Yards, everything is hot except the Orioles tickets several men are trying to sell to the few people walking by.

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By Alexander Pyles

Light rail, which includes a stop at Camden Yards, is falling short of a weekday ridership goal set 16 years ago. And the Orioles, experiencing their worst-attended season in Oriole Park history, aren’t helping.

It seems that neither Oriole Park at Camden Yards nor Baltimore’s central light rail line are selling as many tickets as planned when the two opened days apart from each other in 1992.

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By Steve Kilar

Janet Marie Smith, vice president of planning and development for the Baltimore Orioles, is not accustomed to being in one place too long.

Smith travels at least two days a week to Sarasota, Florida, where she is overseeing the renovation of Ed Smith Stadium, the Orioles’ new nest when the team migrates south for winter.

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By Steve Kilar

Hear and see what people are saying about the Orioles before games at Camden Yards.

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By Laura E. Lee

Ray Daugherty moves through the turnstiles at Camden Yards with high-fives for the ticket takers Mr. Al and Mr. Stu. He shakes hands and offers hugs to almost every usher on his way to his front-row seats in section 20. Ray embraces “Grandpa Berry,” an usher and Orioles dugout guard, perched behind the media photographers.

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