Day 12...Baltimore

With one game left in our trip, we were off to Baltimore. We met up with Eric's friend from Northwestern, Corey. Corey's family lived in Baltimore and graciously offered to host us the evening we were there. We picked up Corey and headed toward the stadium. 

Before we got to the ballpark, we took in some of the other sights. We had a nice visit to the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum, which housed artifacts not just about the Babe, but about the Orioles as well. We went on from there to the nearby inner harbor, and after grabbing a bite to eat, we headed to the ballpark.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards had just opened that season and was absolutely beautiful, marking a new era for baseball stadiums. I can hardly believe that it is now one of the ten oldest ballparks in MLB. The new Comiskey Park had opened in Chicago a year earlier (Eric and I attended the second game ever played there) and was fairly non-descript. Camden Yards, on the other hand, had a retro design that hearkened to the days of yesteryear when baseball truly was America's national pastime. It's widespread acclaim changed the way ballparks were designed, as most ballparks now have more of a retro feel to them.

Terry Cashman, who most famously wrote and sang Talkin' Baseball (Willie, Mickey and the Duke), recorded a song that attempts to communicate the charm and feel that we felt in the shadows of the B&O Warehouse, directly across Eutaw Street from the Oriole Park.

We got to the ballgame early for batting practice, and what with our seats being in the right field bleachers, I not only was wearing my new St. Louis Browns cap, this also was the one game on our trip to which I brought my glove. It turned out to be a good thing, because during BP, Mell Hall hit one directly to me. I stuck up my glove and (thump!) I had a souvenir! Coincidentally, Hall was the same player that hit the foul ball in Boston that I narrowly missed getting. Even more coincidentally, twenty years later (to the day!) I took my family to a Cardinals game in Detroit and bullpen catcher Jamie Pogue tossed my then eight-year-old daughter a ball.

The Orioles failed to score in the first, but tallied runs in the next five innings, including four in the second and two each in the third and fourth. They got home runs from Mike Devereaux, Randy Milligan, and (much to our joy) future Hall of Famer, Cal Ripken Jr. The Yankees managed to put up seven runs of their own, including five in the third, powered by a Danny Tartabull three-run dinger. Everybody in the Yankees lineup got at least one hit except for none other than (you guessed it) Mel Hall.

Forty-year-old Mike Flanagan, who won the 1979 Cy Young Award and was a member of a number of Earl Weaver's great Baltimore pitching staffs, retired the only batter he faced in the eighth before yielding to closer Gregg Olson. Olson retired all four batters he faced (including three on strikes) in securing his 19th save of the season.

With that, we had seen the final game of our trip. But the trip was still not over; there were adventures yet to be had in the next couple days...

Miles driven today: 257 miles
Total miles driven: 2,639 miles

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At the home of Eric's friend from Northwestern, Corey Perman.

Part of our pre-game prep was a trip to the Inner Harbor.

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The Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum

When the Babe was a babe: George Herman Ruth was born here

 

Memorial Stadium: Home of the O's from 1954-1991

The instantly iconic B&O Warehouse behind the right field stands

Believe it or not, I still use the same glove today!

The man who gave me a batting practice souvenir

Already a legend in 1992

The view from our seats

He's no Fredbird, but we got a kick out of the Oriole mascot!

OK now...Down in front!

Yankees 7 31-34 Lost 1 5th, 8 GB

1  2  3   4  5  6   7  8  9    R  H  E                 -  -  -   -  -  -   -  -  -    -  -  - Yankees         1  0  5   0  0  1   0  0  0    7 11  1 Orioles         0  4  2   2  1  1   0  0  X   10 14  2 W: A Mills (4-1), L: S Hillegas (0-3), S: G Olson (19)

Orioles 10 39-26 Won 1 1st

BATTING

New York Yankees             AB   R   H RBI   BB  SO    BA   OPS  Pit   PO   A  Details

A Stankiewicz SS              4   1   1   0    1   0  .306  .813   21    2   4   3B

M Hall LF                     5   1   0   0    0   0  .247  .695   17    1   0  

R Kelly CF                    5   2   1   1    0   2  .298  .781   18    4   1   2B

D Mattingly 1B                5   1   2   2    0   1  .253  .708   14    9   0  

D Tartabull RF                4   1   1   3    1   1  .261  .813   22    4   0   HR

K Maas DH                     5   0   1   0    0   1  .284  .851   19    0   0   2B

M Nokes C                     4   0   2   0    0   2  .220  .664   12    1   1  

C Hayes 3B                    4   0   1   0    0   1  .262  .694   11    2   2  

M Gallego 2B                  4   1   2   0    0   0  .277  .770    9    1   2  

J Johnson P                                                              0   0

  S Hillegas P                                                           0   2

  T Burke P                                                              0   0

Totals                       40   7  11   6    2   8              143   24  12

BATTING

2B: R Kelly (14, off B Milacki); K Maas (7, off B Milacki).

3B: A Stankiewicz (1, off B Milacki).

HR: D Tartabull (5, off B Milacki; 3rd inn, 2 on, 1 out to Deep RF Line).

TB: D Tartabull 4; A Stankiewicz 3; D Mattingly 2; M Nokes 2; R Kelly 2; K Maas 2; M Gallego 2; C Hayes.

RBI: D Tartabull 3 (27); D Mattingly 2 (33); R Kelly (35).

2-out RBI: D Mattingly.

Team LOB: 8.

With RISP: 3 for 13.

FIELDING

DP: 2. R Kelly-M Nokes-C Hayes; A Stankiewicz-M Gallego-D Mattingly.

E: A Stankiewicz (6).

Baltimore Orioles            AB   R   H RBI   BB  SO    BA   OPS  Pit   PO   A  Details

B Anderson LF                 4   1   2   1    1   0  .283  .874   17    4   0  

M Devereaux CF                5   1   3   4    0   1  .286  .851   19    3   1   HR

C Ripken SS                   5   1   3   1    0   0  .276  .787   12    1   1   HR

G Davis DH                    5   0   1   0    0   0  .225  .685   19    0   0  

  M McLemore PR               0   0   0   0    0   0  .245  .603         0   0  

R Milligan 1B                 4   2   1   1    1   0  .277  .854   27    5   0   HR

  J Orsulak RF                0   0   0   0    0   0  .256  .641         0   0  

L Gomez 3B                    3   3   1   0    2   0  .292  .802   21    1   1  

C Hoiles C                    2   1   1   0    2   0  .284  .952   21   10   0  

D Segui RF-1B                 4   0   1   2    0   0  .248  .643   15    0   0   GDP

B Ripken 2B                   3   1   1   1    0   0  .200  .539   12    3   2   HBP

B Milacki P                                                              0   1

  A Mills P                                                              0   0

  M Flanagan P                                                           0   0

  G Olson P                                                              0   0

Totals                       35  10  14  10    6   1              163   27   6

BATTING

HR: R Milligan (7, off S Hillegas; 6th inn, 0 on, 0 outs to Deep LF-CF); C Ripken (8, off S Hillegas; 5th inn, 0 on, 2 outs to Deep LF); M Devereaux (10, off J Johnson; 2nd inn, 3 on, 2 outs to Deep LF).

HBP: B Ripken (3, by J Johnson).

TB: M Devereaux 6; C Ripken 6; R Milligan 4; B Anderson 2; C Hoiles; L Gomez; B Ripken; D Segui; G Davis.

GIDP: D Segui (2).

RBI: M Devereaux 4 (40); D Segui 2 (11); B Anderson (43); C Ripken (34); R Milligan (28); B Ripken (15).

2-out RBI: M Devereaux 4; D Segui 2; B Ripken; C Ripken; B Anderson.

Team LOB: 8.

With RISP: 4 for 12.

FIELDING

DP: 1. M Devereaux-B Ripken-R Milligan.

E: M Devereaux (2); L Gomez (3).

BASERUNNING

PO: B Anderson (1st base by S Hillegas).

PITCHING

New York Yankees           IP     H   R  ER   BB  SO  HR    ERA   BF  Pit-Str   GB-FB  GmSc  IR-IS

J Johnson                   2.2   8   6   6    3   0   1   6.40   19   77-40     4-3     15    -

S Hillegas, L (0-3)         4.1   5   4   4    3   1   2   5.48   20   76-42     3-7          2-0

T Burke                     1     1   0   0    0   0   0   4.66    3   10-8      0-2          0-0

Totals                      8    14  10  10    6   1   3          42  163-90     7-12         2-0

Baltimore Orioles          IP     H   R  ER   BB  SO  HR    ERA   BF  Pit-Str   GB-FB  GmSc  IR-IS

B Milacki                   4.1   7   6   4    1   3   1   5.40   24   84-50     2-8     31    -

A Mills, H (3), W (4-1)     3     4   1   1    1   2   0   1.32   13   36-24     2-4          2-0

M Flanagan, H (9)           0.1   0   0   0    0   0   0   8.83    1    4-3      0-1          1-0

G Olson, S (19)             1.1   0   0   0    0   3   0   1.16    4   19-11     0-1          1-0

Totals                      9    11   7   5    2   8   1          42  143-88     4-14         4-0

Balks: None.

WP: None.

IBB: None.

PO: S Hillegas (1; B Anderson, 1st base).

HBP: J Johnson (2; B Ripken).

OTHER

Umpires: HP - Ed Hickox, 1B - Jim Joyce, 2B - Terry Craft, 3B - Dave Phillips.

Time of Game: 3:20.

Attendance: 45,579.

Field Condition: Unknown.

Weather: 81° F, Wind 5mph out to Leftfield, Overcast, No Precipitation.

Day 7...Cooperstown

Outside the Hall

Sunday morning we woke up, had a hearty breakfast of Hostess powdered sugar donuts and Sunny Delight, I put on my Headfirst Hudler t-shirt honoring one of my favorite players, and we made the seven mile trek down the road to the Hall of Fame.

Cooperstown was once reputed to be the birthplace of baseball with Abner Doubleday having created the game in 1839 in what was Elihu Finney's cow pasture (and what is now Doubleday Field). Historians have since debunked both of these claims, but as the home of the Hall, the village remains central to the game. It is an idyllic little town that revolves around baseball. Card and memorabilia shops line Main Street, and other businesses play off the fact that they know the vast majority of people who come to Cooperstown come to visit the Hall. In many senses it has the feel of a bygone era, which makes it perhaps the perfect location for a museum that celebrates history.

Just inside the front door, we were greeted by a life-size replica of Babe Ruth, adorned in his Yankee pinstripes, bat in hand, ready no doubt to hit one of his 714 career home runs. The Babe has always been a larger than life figure, and he was no different for us as he definitely drew our attention throughout the museum. 

There were of course other players in whom we were interested as well. Cardinals legends like Stan Musial, Bob Gibson, and (my personal favorite) Lou Brock were among those who we wanted to see how the Hall had honored. And among contemporary heroes of that day, Nolan Ryan loomed as large as any in our minds, even as he played his penultimate season at the age of 45. Though he of course wasn't yet inducted to the Hall, there was no shortage of artifacts from his amazing career.

This was my second trip to Cooperstown, having visited with my family six or seven years earlier. On that occasion, we met up with Scott Bloomer, a friend of mine who was on his annual summer trip to visit his grandparents in Cooperstown. He directed us to Sal's Pizzeria, just a block down Main Street from the Hall. I enjoyed it enough on that occasion that I made sure to make a return visit this time with Eric for lunch. 

After lunch we visited a couple shops, including the gift shop at the Hall. I hadn't worn a ballcap that day because I knew I would want to buy one there. After looking around and considering a number of different options, I settled on a white St. Louis Browns cap (1946-49) with a brown bill and orange letters. The Browns left St. Louis for Baltimore after the 1953 season, and I looked forward to wearing the hat to the game in Baltimore the next week when we visited Camden Yards.

Cooperstown is the type of place where baseball fanatics like us, who love the history of the game, could truly spend days. Unfortunately we only had one day to spend there, so after looking through the museum for the rest of the afternoon, we had to call it quits, and be satisfied with what we'd seen.

Before heading back to our campsite for the night, we stopped off at a local bar & grill in town for dinner. While there we watched the Bulls finish off the Blazers in the NBA Finals. Trailing 79-64 headed to the 4th quarter, Chicago outscored Portland 33-14 to secure their second of the three straight NBA titles. Little did we know at the time that in less than 16 months, Michael Jordan would retire from basketball (for the first time), and switch his attention and efforts to baseball. In the summer of 1994, I actually made a trip to Birmingham to see him play...but that's a story for another day.

There was one other thing I should mention about our time in Cooperstown. I remember being awed at the beauty of Doubleday Field where the Hall of Fame Game was annually played. It seems odd now, even as I look at my photo of the field and notice nothing all that special about it. I'm not sure that it's any nicer than many of the fields my son's high school team now plays on. But back then, almost all of the baseball I had seen in person had either been on the Astroturf of Busch Stadium or the dirt fields of my youth. Even when I played in high school, almost all of the fields we played on were dirt infields. Here was a crisp, clean, nicely manicured ballfield, perfect in its simplicity, and natural as God intended when he created baseball. The further we got into our trip, the more I loved this game.

Miles Driven Today: 15

Total Miles Driven: 1,446

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Greeted by the Babe, just inside the door

Eric and the Babe

The Babe calls his shot

Stan Musial, Rex Hudler & me. One of us is still in the Hall.

Eric and me with one of our favorites, Nolan Ryan

Doubleday Field