Ask The Orioles

[TonySoprano]

It is evident that the Orioles "buy the bats" theory was flawed and it appears that the "grow the arms" postulate failed as well.

They never bought the "bats' unless you include Guerrero or Derek Lee off the bargain aisle.

[weams]

Well, I totally disagree with the above and am not sure why it is pertinent to my question for the Os. (A separate discussion would be interesting, but I believe, while there are multiple ways to build a winner, good pitching usually beats good hitting. That is a generality of course, but I believe there is significantly better value to be found in free agent bats than free agent pitchers - especially at the top of the food chain - talking busted contracts like Pavano, DiceK, and more recently the Red Sox FA pitching bust from Anaheim. IMO, there are few better ways to compete than pre-arb, homegrown all-star starting pitching - as SF, Arizona, Tampa, etc have shown recently.)

It was not relevant to your post. My regrets. Edited.

[mcinww0]

Orioles- Thanks for agreeing to do this thread. Its nice to know the team still cares about us fans.

First off, I'd like to say how much I appreciate the new 20th anniversary natty boh cans. I don't generally buy $8 beers, but I bought one of those. That, student nights and Tshirt Tuesday are most of my friends' and mine favorite things about going to games.

I'm a college student in North Carolina but I go home to Baltimore over the summers. Winston Salem, NC is considered part of the Orioles' TV market, yet I have never seen an O's game on TV here unless its nationally televised on ESPN. I tried to buy the MLB TV subscription for the time I was away from home, but, as part of the Orioles' TV market, all the games were subject to blackouts. I can still get the games on MLB radio for a few dollars a month, but it isn't the same. I'm perfectly willing to spend $20 or however much it is to watch games online, but the games aren't available.

There are pirate site where I can watch for free, but they're unreliable and of extremely poor quality. I generally wind up just listening on the MLB radio. As someone who actually wants to pay a substantial fee to watch games legally, I'm extremely frustrated. Is there anything that I can do which I havn't mentioned, or are the Orioles working on some sort of solution to this issue?

Thank you

[Dipper9]

Orioles- Thanks for agreeing to do this thread. Its nice to know the team still cares about us fans.

First off, I'd like to say how much I appreciate the new 20th anniversary natty boh cans. I don't generally buy $8 beers, but I bought one of those. That, student nights and Tshirt Tuesday are most of my friends' and mine favorite things about going to games.

I'm a college student in North Carolina but I go home to Baltimore over the summers. Winston Salem, NC is considered part of the Orioles' TV market, yet I have never seen an O's game on TV here unless its nationally televised on ESPN. I tried to buy the MLB TV subscription for the time I was away from home, but, as part of the Orioles' TV market, all the games were subject to blackouts. I can still get the games on MLB radio for a few dollars a month, but it isn't the same. I'm perfectly willing to spend $20 or however much it is to watch games online, but the games aren't available.

There are pirate site where I can watch for free, but they're unreliable and of extremely poor quality. I generally wind up just listening on the MLB radio. As someone who actually wants to pay a substantial fee to watch games legally, I'm extremely frustrated. Is there anything that I can do which I havn't mentioned, or are the Orioles working on some sort of solution to this issue?

Thank you

I bought a case of the Natty Boh special cans, 16 ouncers, at my local liquor store on Saturday. They are cool, but I think National Bohemian should get the credit here, not the O's. Maybe I'm wrong on that????

[Can_of_corn]

I bought a case of the Natty Boh special cans, 16 ouncers, at my local liquor store on Saturday. They are cool, but I think National Bohemian should get the credit here, not the O's. Maybe I'm wrong on that????

Pretty sure they would need the O's permission to do something like that so the O's deserve some credit.

[mcinww0]

Pretty sure they would need the O's permission to do something like that so the O's deserve some credit.

Yea, and they got it to coincide with the 20th anniversary, which is something the orioles have been promoting the heck out of. The fact that the got natty boh back into the ballpark last year was a step in the right direction.

[Official Orioles]

Home Caps Design:
One of you recently asked why there are black stitches on the white panel home caps. We had the same question for Major League Baseball when we received the sample back from New Era. The explanation given was that all of their white panel caps have the same color stitching on the back of the cap, be it black or blue. We looked back at other examples of New Era caps and all appear to have the dark stitching as far as we could tell. At this point, there is no option for us to use the white stitching for the white portion and black on the black portion. If this option does become available, we will look at possibly making that switch.

Restrooms:
We apologize for any inconvenience you experienced with a lack of supplies and lack of hot water at your recent visit to the ballpark. We have policies in place to keep restrooms fully stocked and you should let us know any time you experience a problem. You can visit a Fan Assistance Center while at the ballpark or email us at birdmail@orioles.com following your visit. Please let us know the restroom where you had the bad experience so that we can properly follow up with our employees.

"Bark in the Park":
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on a "Bark in the Park" day at Oriole Park. It sounds like some of you are very much in favor of the concept, while others don't think it is a good idea. We have explored the possibility and have spoken with other clubs that have held this type of event; however, we have no plans at this time to hold a "Bark in the Park" day. We will consider for future seasons.

Umpiring:
I hope you understand that we cannot make any sort of public comment that could be considered a criticism of MLB umpires. We are aware of your comments and feelings contained in this thread and certainly have found them interesting.

Orioles' TV Market:
For the fan in Winston-Salem, NC, we're glad you are keeping up with the O's even when you are away from home. DirecTV and Dish Network are both providers in your area that carry MASN and will allow you to watch Orioles games. You will just need to contact your provider to subscribe. Unfortunately there is no way to watch Orioles (or Nationals) games online from Winston-Salem, as they are blacked out on MLB.TV due to MLB broadcast restrictions.

Sculpture Unveiling:
Later this week, we will be announcing more detailed plans for the Frank Robinson sculpture unveiling on Saturday, but we do want to take this opportunity to remind you to arrive as early as possible. We are expecting a large turnout for the unveiling itself at 5:15 (Eutaw Street gates open at 5:00) so fans should have their tickets before arriving whenever possible. For those of you unable to be here that early, we will also have an on-field ceremony just before the game in which Frank will speak to the crowd and throw out the ceremonial first pitch. We hope to see everyone there for the first Orioles Legends Celebration Series game!

[Ori-Al]

Could the Orioles and the Stadium Authority please find a way to replace the rubberized warning track? I was always partial to Memorial Stadium cinders (it was a unique Baltimore look), but plain dirt would be fine. There must be a way to maintain drainage without the rubber. No other stadium seems to need it. It detracts from the stadium, in my opinion, to mention the effect on batted balls.

Thank you.

[Don Quixote]

Thanks for shedding some light on the cap design issue. Hopefully New Era improves their production methods, as the current home cap look is a bit shoddy with the contrasting thread and panel. A cap with an MSRP of $35 (which, incidentally, I would never pay) should look better than that. I'd add (for the home and road caps alike) that another helpful tweak would be to put the bird on the cap the bird is wearing, instead of having the bird wearing the "O's" cap. It would just be a nice visual touch. Many of us have never much cared for the "O's" cap, and I recall some of us (in some thread I'm not inclined to search for) were aghast at seeing a mini-"O's" cap on the bird on the primary caps.

I also have a question about the pricing and seating map on the team's website. When clicking on a section of seats, a (pre-Hilton monstrosity) photo of the view from that section appears. Does the photo represent the view from the front of the section, the middle of the section, or somewhere different?

Also, the view photos are helpful in a general way but don't tell the whole story. Has the organization considered updating the map to be more like the TicketMaster purchasing map, which allows for zooming to seat level, and to also offer more view-representative photos? Ideally, potential purchasers should be able to get an idea for what the view is like from any seat in the ballpark, especially if they end up having to consider limited-view seating. A map with increased functionality would be fantastic.

[DuffMan]

With the recent incidents of fans running on the field and being banned for life from OPACY. How do the Orioles plan on enforcing this? Does the team actually think they are going to be able to keep these guys from coming to another game or is this just the Orioles acting tough in the hopes of scaring other would be knuckleheads from running on the field.

[Dipper9]

Dear Orioles,

Thanks for all your responses, but this last one was exceptionally good. Thanks. I liked your answer to the umpire question!

Piggybacking off another thread, where is Amber, and why is she doing more stuff with the Nats and very limited with our Birds? If this was her decision to cut back, so be it. If this was an Orioles or MASN decision, we ask you to reconsider. She was/is one of the best on TV, she's from Baltimore, and, well, she's not hard on the eyes!

Bring Back Amber!

[Mr Snuffleupagus]

Excuse me if this has already been asked.

There's lots of speculation as to how Brady Anderson is allowed to be in the dugout during games. Could you shed some light on this?

[canonfaz]

I would like to echo the part about the rubber warning track. I especially don't like the rubber warning track during games when it is raining. To me it is a major safety issue, I would think that the rubber is incredibly slippery when it gets wet.

[PrivateO]

With the recent incidents of fans running on the field and being banned for life from OPACY. How do the Orioles plan on enforcing this? Does the team actually think they are going to be able to keep these guys from coming to another game or is this just the Orioles acting tough in the hopes of scaring other would be knuckleheads from running on the field.

Oh, this is awkward.... From Britt:

BALTIMORE -- A young man ran onto the field during the seventh-inning stretch of the Orioles-Athletics game on Friday, jogging to center field as Baltimore police officers converged. He escaped their pursuit before running through the infield, rounding third and sliding headfirst into home plate -- shirtless.

But his bare-chested slide into home was nothing compared to the pain he felt when home-plate umpire Jeff Kellogg chased him down from behind, wrapped him with both arms and took him to the warning track with an open-field tackle.

The unidentified fan was then led out of the playing field by two officers through the gate behind home plate.

[DuffMan]

Oh, this is awkward.... From Britt:

I was at the game last night and saw the ump tackle this clown. Good stuff, they need to start tazing these bozo's!!