Baltimore Sports History: Camden Yards

March 27th, 2025 by Andrew Ciofalo

by Andrew Ciofalo ’25, host of After The Whistle

Baseball season is here! I know Baltimore is ready for another year of going out to the ballpark, bring your friends, family, or meet the other thousands of baseball fans alike at the park. The term “baseball park” really has meaning to me. Whether you associate it with your local baseball diamond, maybe high school or college fields or an MLB stadium, baseball parks give off a certain vibe. I think its important for the right vibe to be given off, and I think (from some good and bad experiences at MLB Stadiums) some parks do better jobs than others. Being a Baltimore Orioles fan, I’m blessed to call Oriole Park at Camden Yards somewhat of a second home.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards started construction in 1989 and finished in time for the 1992 season. This came after the Baltimore Colts left for Indianapolis because of the lack of support from Maryland Government in upgrading or even replacing Old Memorial Stadium. Soon after the Colts departure, city and state officials started to plan on ways to create new stadiums for the Orioles as well as potential for a new football stadium (once a team came back to the city.) The choice of location was very important, the inner harbor ultimately was the a great decision. The goal of an inner harbor stadium was to build up the location and foot traffic of the area and that goal was very much achieved. The harbor area has seen much success due to the location of Oriole Park alone.

The big center piece (right field piece) is the giant, brick warehouse that stands over the right field wall. The B&O Warehouse has long stood in Baltimore’s Camden Yards, which was an old railyard that was a major piece in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Building around the warehouse has made it one of the iconic pieces of Baseball stadium designs. This is just one of the iconic as well as revolutionary design elements that we now see in modern MLB Parks.

Eutaw Street is among notable design elements, it is a walkway that spans the length of the park. On Eutaw Street, you will find food vendors, merchandise stores and more. If you catch a game, stay alert for batted balls because although far from home plate, homeruns to reach the street from time to time. You will find evidence of these ‘Eutaw Street Blasts’ by looking at the plaques in the ground that feature the player, distance and date of these Eutaw Street Blasts.

Some other notable features include the stacked bullpens which were a first for a baseball stadium, the giant wall for the batters eye which is to emulate the ‘Green Monster’ of Fenway Park. On the left side of the center field bleachers, you will see the ivory on the wall, much like the outfield wall of Wrigley Field. Camden Yards pays attribute to its elders, but also paved the way for the ‘retro-classic’ style of baseball stadium.

The retro-classic baseball stadium is the design style of most modern built parks. It a combination of classic stadium exteriors as well as modern amenities. A few stadiums that were inspired by Oriole Park at Camden Yards are PNC Park, Citizens Bank Park, and many others. Nearly every stadium since Camden Yards’ opening has taken inspiration of the design language.

Oriole Park will host the Baltimore Orioles for their home opener on Monday March 31^st, 2025 against the Boston Red Sox. Baseball is back so get out to the ballpark because you never know what you’ll get to see during the course of the year.