Ballpark Experience: Oriole Park at Camden Yards
Oriole Park at Camden Yards, open for the first time in 1992, set the mold for the way ballparks are constructed. Miles away from Baltimore’s beautiful Inner Harbor district, Camden Yards, featuring the iconic warehouse in right field, just along Eutaw Street, was a sight to behold when Cal Ripken broke Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games streak, and has remained one of the best parks to visit in all of major league baseball, recently ranked by Comcast Sportsnet in Washingon as the third-best ballpark in the majors.
Other ballparks in the mold of Camden Yards have been designed, including the Mets’ Citi Field, the Astros’ Minute Maid Ballpark, the Reds’ Great American Ball Park, the Mariners’ Safeco Field, the Twins’ Target Field, and the Pirates’ PNC Field, providing a tremendous, cozy experience, but the stadium that set the trend, the Baltimore Orioles’ home field, is truly the best ballpark experience, offering cheap, thorough, and intimate ball park tours (for less than ten dollars) and delicious food from Boog Powell’s barbecue pit, a few hundred yards away from the Babe Ruth Museum.
It certainly helps that the Orioles remain competitive, allowing droves of fans to enjoy the splendor that is Camden Yards.
