Raining in Baltimore

We’re planning on heading out to the ballgame tonight, to watch the Orioles beat the Rays. You might say that’s a lot of optimism in one statement. Both that the O’s will beat a talented AL East opponent, and that the rain will hold off long enough to allow for the game to be played. But I can’t help it – after years of Orioles fandom, I’m still an optimist.

If the game does happen, it will be cold, and wet, and kind of miserable. But, inexplicably, there will be 5,000, or 7,000, or maybe 10,000 people at Camden Yards tonight. Those idiots will decide that the cold, and the rain, and the “boring” opponent (the Rays never draw well) aren’t enough to keep them away. That, my friends, is the Orioles faithful in a nutshell. Sure, it doesn’t say much about our judgement, but I think attending a game like this can bring to light certain beauty in baseball.

Photo Credit: Baltimore Sun

I have some fond memories of the empty stadium. In one, I got a surprise visit from a friend who was also attending a game. He found me because I appeared on the big screen, and there were few enough people that he could pinpoint my location based on the image on the screen. In another, I sat in the left-field box seats, with the next person several sections away. When a (opponent’s) home run was hit between us, we looked at eachother, without moving, as if to say “well, are you going to get it, or should I?” I also remember waiting through a 71-minute rain delay to watch the last-place Orioles beat the first-place Red Sox back in 2010.

If it happens, tonight’s game will serve as a reminder of the pre-2012 era, when only the faithful would show up to watch a terrible team try to beat the odds on any given night. But there was some charm to that environment. You got all the elbow room you could possibly want. I love that the crowds have returned to Orioles games, but part of me misses being able to stretch my legs on the row in front of me, and being able to set my bag on an empty seat instead of the ground, and being able to have a private conversation in a space intended to hold 46,000 bodies.

So we’ll be there, along with the other idiots/optimists who didn’t have anything better tonight. But I’m not too worried about the weather. My love of Orioles baseball will keep me warm.