Baltimore Orioles: Bad Looking Team in a Good Looking Park, Camden Yards

My family and I traveled from Connecticut to Baltimore to watch the Orioles take on the Oakland Athletics. Camden Yards was everything I heard it would be. It's a beautiful park. Sitting along the left field wall, just a few rows in, provided an intimate setting.

Coming from a state with no professional baseball team, I wondered how the attendance could be so sparse. On a summer evening, the attendance was said to be 11,000, but that number seemed inflated. Everywhere I turned, there were rows of empty sets, even large sections void of fans.

The Baltimore Orioles are having a horrendous year. They are on their second manager of the season, and no one has stepped up to lead this team. There are some bright spots on the roster, but it's hard to see through so much bleakness. Nick Markakis, Luke Scott, Corey Patterson, Ty Wigginton, and Miguel Tejada have found moderate degrees of success this year, but none has emerged as a leader.

While the great #8, Cal Ripken Jr. was playing, he was the face of the Orioles franchise. Now absent a star, Baltimore needs to find someone to build some excitement around. Maybe Markakis will emerge as the guy, or Scott, or maybe it'll be a prospect, like Josh Bell.

The Orioles play in the competitive AL East, which is dominated by three teams. Baltimore has to find a way to not only compete on the field against these teams, they have to do it in a way that brings fans to the yard. They built it, a beautiful ball park, Camden Yards, and then they, the fans stopped coming. While the current state of the economy has most people limiting their discretionary income, there are more expensive things to do in Baltimore, then attend an Orioles game, and I couldn't believe parking next to the stadium was only $10, which is a bargain compared to some parks.

As a first time visitor to Camden Yards, I was impressed with the stadium, the builders did a wonderful job. As for the home team inside the stadium, at times they looked sloppy, and played like a last place team. Then, they fought back, and you thought for a moment they might have a chance to pull it out, but there was no heroic ending, because this season, there have been no heroes in Baltimore. There's always next year, and Camden Yards will be there waiting, for the fans, and good baseball to return.