House of Cards Pitches In at Camden Yards

Read with ease – there are no spoilers in this post, if you haven’t binged on Season 2 yet..

I love House of Cards. The Netflix original series is a political drama set in/around Washington D.C., but is largely filmed in the Baltimore area. For us locals, that provides a more full experience with the show – for instance, as a Harford County resident, I am bemused by the portrayal of Joppa, MD. Orioles fans got a treat in Episode 6 of Season 2, when Kevin Spacey’s character, Francis Underwood, throws out the ceremonial first pitch at an Orioles game.

The scene was a little uneven – there was plenty for O’s fans to love, it wasn’t perfect. Here’s a rundown

The Good

• I love that the show featured Camden Yards, rather than Nationals Park. It would have made plenty of sense for them to try to get into the DC stadium, but OPACY looks a lot better on film.
• The scene included a snippet of the National Anthem, with the fans yelling “O.” A nice touch, thanks for getting that in, House of Cards.
• Spacey’s Orioles jacket is pretty sweet. Not only does he wear it at the ballpark, but also in later scenes at the Oval Office. I like to think that our government would function much better if the people making decisions were decked out in O’s gear.

The Bad

• The only real players to appear in the scene were Jim Johnson and Nate McLouth. I’m pretty sure that these two appeared to provide a sense of realism. All it did was break my heart all over again. Le sigh.
• The way the scenes were shot, it’s pretty evident that they filled the section behind home plate with extras, and used CGI for the rest of the park – is this a nitpick? Maybe.

 The Ugly

• Have you seen this guy throw a baseball? I can’t tell if Spacey was trying to make his character look like he can’t throw, but it was terrible. Seriously, a throwing motion like that should be reserved for Volkswagen commercials.