Camden Yards Remains A Perfect Place To Watch A Baseball Game
That's not intended to be a knock on other great ballparks. I haven't been to Oracle Park in San Francisco. I've been to PNC Park in Pittsburgh and it is awesome. I can completely understand why it would be someone's favorite. For me though, Camden Yards has been the best place to watch a baseball game. I've gone to about ten games there over the past 20 years and I've never not been impressed.
The thing that I appreciate the most about the park is the care that went into every element. There is so much history (both obvious and unique) in every nook and cranny of this park.
Camden Yards was obviously built as a throwback but when you consider the park itself is over 30 years old, it's become what it was trying to emulate. With Camden Yards having an old-fashioned feel, any spots where the park is starting to show its age make sense. The stadium is in terrific shape but where the concourse floor might have have some scuffs, those same scuff feel like they belong. Maybe like Grady at the Overlook Hotel, they've always been there.
No other stadium does a better job honoring its all-time great players. The Orioles have retired the numbers of only the people in the Hall Of Fame who went in as Orioles (except for Jackie Robinson of course): Frank Robinson, Brooks Robinson, Earl Weaver, Jim Palmer, Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken, Jr. That's it. Each player not only has a great looking statue that isn't weird or creepy but also has a giant number right out in front of Eutaw Street.
While I do like how the Phillies HOF is set up at Citizens Bank Ballpark more, this is a nice demonstration of the key players for the Orioles through the years. I just wish it wasn't so high up and hard to read the top row. I also like when they are plaques similar to those in Cooperstown. This is one of the rare team history things the Mets do well. They have great team HOF plaques.
My only knock on Camden Yards would be that the food isn't great. I've had Boogs BBQ and it's…fine. I've had it twice and found it pretty dry. There is nothing at Camden Yards even close to the Pat LaFrieda Steak Sandwich you can get at Citi Field. On the plus side, there are restaurants and bars all around the park so you can very easily get something good to eat before a game. This is huge edge over Citizens Bank Ballpark or Citi Field. There are also a ton of great hotels nearby too. The area around the park is another huge plus.
I would really recommend getting seats in the 200's section so you can check out the club level concourse. It's like walking through a museum. They have pictures and stats for every team in Orioles history along with some MVP awards, Cy Young awards and Gold Gloves. There is so much cool signage and memorabilia throughout. Next time I go to a game, I am going to try to get seats there again and go really early to better look around at everything. They even have a great All-Star Game area to honor the ASG's that Baltimore has hosted.
I love this place so much. I haven't even mentioned the great views of the Baltimore skyline when you are sitting on the third base side or the great sight lines throughout the park. How great is Camden Yards? I just watched my Mets get the baseball version of getting drawn and quartered by the Orioles. I was at all three games and the Mets lost by a combined score of 19-6. James McCann had 5 RBI's on Friday night. Walter Mondale had a better shot in 1984 than the Mets did this weekend.
Despite all of this, I still had a good time being at Camden Yards watching baseball. It's such a wonderful place and now you have a hungry and excited fan base that loves these young players. If they weren't ripping out the internal organs of my favorite team, I would have appreciated it even more. It's about time that such a great place had a team worthy to enough to call it home.