Procrastination is indeed a slippery slope. For many months I plugged along writing regularly about the game I love, but then finals come along, and then moving my mom out, and the new job, and all of sudden its July and I haven’t written in months, what happened? Well today I’m starting to fight the urge to be lazy and do nothing after I get back from work (something that I forgot how awesome it was and enjoyed completely) and start sharing some of my experiences as a New York baseball transplant by the beltway in D.C. To be sure, living in the Greatest City in the World and feeling like the center of the universe makes it easy to forget that the rest of the country doesn’t care all that much about what goes on in New York. Indeed, each city has its own unique culture and interests and in turn its own sports teams and while it may seem like everyone cares what the Yankees or Mets are doing, a lot more couldn’t give a damn. Clearly, New York is a great baseball town and has been so for decades, but other places simply don’t have the great tradition of winning or loyalty of their fan base, whether that be because baseball is new there like in the case of Washington (at least in terms of the Nationals) or because their team just blows (the Orioles) and because of that you have two very different types of baseball fans. I’ve had the good fortune of being able to visit both stadiums this summer, unintentionally both games were against the Mets, and was struck by how different each town was from New York in their feelings toward baseball and in turn got a better portrait of baseball fandom in America.
The first game I attended down in the DC area was last month I went to the Mets-Orioles game last month and suffice to say I was a little underwhelmed. I had seen countless games on television at Camden Yards and was struck by its beauty and charm. The first of the new wave of retro stadiums in 1995, Camden Yards immediately became the stadium by which all other new parks were measured against, balancing the classic style of the old ballparks with modern amenities perfectly. Unfortunately for Baltimore, from what I could tell the bloom is off the rose at Camden Yards because the charm has seemingly worn off and the fans have stopped showing up. Despite being an interleague game, the kind that Commissioner Bud Selig promised would boost attendance and revitalize the game (my feelings on this is for another column) the stadium was virtually empty, save for a few rather vocal sections of Mets fans. Of course, there were some Baltimore fans in attendance, but from the very beginning a sinking feeling of hopelessness could be felt throughout the park. And in truth who could blame these fans, fans who had endured losing seasons every year since 1996, with an owner who was constantly meddling and making bad deals and trades that turned a once proud winning franchise into the AL East’s punching bag. As someone who’s never had to endure this sort of sports misery I cannot imagine what it must be like to have to put up with such depths of ineptitude and remain loyal to your team, but I have to imagine it must be gut wrenching. And sure enough, the sinking feeling of impending doom came to fruition rather quickly, as the erstwhile “ace” of the Orioles, Kevin Millwood, got smacked around like an old shoe, making bums like the incomparable Jeff Francoeur look like Roberto Clemente, and an overall light hitting Mets team into the 1927 Yankees for eight runs in the first two innings. I could give you the gruesome details, but I’ll spare you that pain and leave the sensation of this as simply excruciating.
While the feeling of excruciation was certainly visible in Camden Yards that day was certainly very present, what truly struck me about the majority of the Orioles fans in the game and indeed all fans I encountered was the indifference. For sure, while many fans ache with each painful loss, it seems that losing has become so customary, so accepted in the town of Baltimore that any semblance of hope had vanished from even the most ardent fan’s thoughts. I felt that this apathy was most apparent when I stopped at a friend of a friend’s house walking to the game that afternoon. The guy who we visited is a lifetime Baltimore resident and a fan of baseball and the Orioles his whole life, but when we asked if he wanted to make the five minute walk from his house to the stadium he only replied “why would I go sit in the sun on a day like this and watch my team lose again?” In his defense, it was hot as hell that day, but I couldn’t fathom how a fan could see Camden Yards from his house, pay five bucks to get into a game to see a pretty decent Mets team play on a Sunday and not even consider going. If I were in his situation and I lived near Yankee Stadium I would be there every day if I had the time and this guy, a baseball fan, could care less. This is the sort of level of losing has clearly worn on the Baltimore psyche and obliterated even the most modest desire to see their team.
In the end, I left Camden Yards feeling rather disappointed and sorry for Baltimore fans. The park that I had seen on TV for so many years was seemingly gone, and it’s place a stadium with shitty cold food (I swear that pretzel was sitting there for months before I bought it) and fans who tired of waiting for next year. Of course, it’s very possible that my experience was an aberration and Baltimore fans can still conjure up hope on a good day, but it seemed that all hope had left with Cal Ripken Junior. As a Yankee fan I love having the Orioles there as our way to pad our record and players individual stats, but as a baseball fan I see nothing good from such a dire situation. Baseball can be a great game that many love, but when fans are deprived of even a glint of hope of being moderately successful its hard to blame them for saying “fuck it” and waiting for the Ravens to start. And while there is hope on the horizon with the coming of talented young players like Matt Weiters, Adam Jones and Brian Matsuz, it seems like the Orioles are going to need a lot more than some promising prospects to get fans to come out and care about a once great baseball franchise.
My experiences of Washington will be up shortly, promise.
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