I have been an Oriole fan for most of my childhood. Although I am a Northern Virginian, when I was growing up, Washington D.C. had no professional baseball team and the immaculate Camden Yards was only an hour's ride away on a Sunday afternoon.
With players such as Cal Ripken, Jr. Brady Anderson (you all remember the sideburns) and Rafael Palmeiro, they were an easy team to support.
In the late 1990s after Cal Ripken's Iron Man streak and the '96 pennant race, Orioles tickets were the hottest in town, yet Baltimore owner Peter Angelos was quickly destroying the storied franchise, signing big-time bums (Albert Belle) and firing top-quality managers (Davey Johnson) and general managers (Pat Gillick).
For me, Angelos crossed the line when he protested Major League Baseball's attempts to bring a team to the District this past decade. Despite being wealthy beyond imagination, Angelos was worried about the financial losses for his Baltimore franchise with a baseball squad in Washington, and he campaigned against the capital's bid. (Maybe if he hadn't ruined the Orioles, he wouldn't have had to worry about his profit margin.)
Nevertheless, after 34 years MLB finally returned a team to D.C. with the arrival of the Washington Nationals a year and half ago. And so despite my dedicated hometown loyalty to sports teams, I quickly embraced our new team, and the Orioles took a backseat.
Even though my hatred of Baltimore's AL East Division rival New York Yankees and their psycho owner George Steinbrenner never ceased, I haven't followed the Orioles this season like I had in the past. Hence, it totally caught me by surprise when I saw a story on Sportscenter Friday morning about 1,000 O's fans who walked out of the Thursday afternoon ballgame one hour into the contest to protest Angelos and his managerial style.
Many wore black T-shirts with "Free the Birds" in white lettering and chanted "Sell the team" and "Pete must go." The demonstrators left the afternoon game at 5:08 p.m. in a tribute to Orioles legends Brooks Robinson and Ripken, who wore jerseys No. 5 and No. 8, respectively.
This episode illuminated just how far this franchise has fallen since the hey days of the mid-90s when the O's competed against the Yanks for AL East bragging rights.
It's one thing when you're complaining for a quarterback switch or a coaching or GM change. But what can you do as a fan when it's the owner who is destroying your beloved team and about to cross the tipping point?
You make a statement like the Orioles faithful did Thursday afternoon. And apparently their point was heard loud and clear.
"Whoever joins that protest has no comprehension of what it costs to run a baseball team," Angelos told the Associated Press Friday. "When you get down to facts, putting together a team that can compete in the AL East means having a payroll between $100 million and $110 million. That money comes from the consumer, and I have chosen to keep ticket prices to a minimum.
"Our payroll is $75 million, and our ticket prices average $22. Some of the teams we compete against charge an average of $45. We're going to have to match the competition. How to do that is a decision I will make in the future."
Did this guy graduate from college?
Do you think the fans want to save a couple bucks on ticket prices so they can watch a collection of ho-hum players take the field at Camden Yards?
(FYI: The Orioles ticket prices rank 12th in MLB with an average ticket price of $22.53, while the Yankees are eighth with a average price of $25.38.)
Orioles fans want to see a team where games after the All-Star break mean something. The fans are not asking for a one-year turnaround where the Orioles are in the World Series in 2007.
They want hope. It's one thing to live through a rebuilding season. But in Baltimore there doesn't seem to be any reason why next season will be any different from the previous ones: The Yankees and Red Sox will battle for the division crown and the Orioles and Devil Rays will duke it out for bragging rights of the AL East's basement.
Unless Angelos starts dishing out some money for top free agents and finally leaves the baseball decisions to the front office, nothing will change in Baltimore.
It's a sad state of affairs in Maryland. I empathize with the fans and salute their intentions with the demonstration. You can't fire an owner, but you certainly can use your right to free speech.
In the meanwhile, I won't be fighting rush-hour traffic up I-95 to Baltimore to see the Orioles. I'll be taking the subway into D.C. to watch my Nats.
With former U.Va. athlete and budding MLB star Ryan Zimmerman manning the hot corner and a new downtown stadium in the works for 2008, they have something to be excited about.
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