An Eloquent, Truthful Editorial in The Sun

[66-70-83-??]

EBW owned the Orioles during a time when there was not a team in Washington DC - that is the difference. Peter Angelos owns the team now and there IS a team in DC and yet he still refuses to make a simple change that will appease so much criticsm.

Plus, EBW was a Washingtonian !

Some believe his ultimate goal was to move the team to DC.

[SilentJames]

Plus, EBW was a Washingtonian !

Some believe his ultimate goal was to move the team to DC.

He did want to move the team to the Washington suburbs, Linithicum I believe.

Willie-Don was instrumental in keeping the team in Baltimore

[rolliefingers]

No, no, and no, to answer your questions. It's just, to me, horrendously stupid to whine about not having your city's name on your road jersey, especially when there are without a doubt more Oriole fans outside of the city than in.

As a previous poster mentioned, if this were a winning team, nobody would complain. There are a lot of things wrong with this organization. The lack of "Baltimore" on the road jersey's is not one of them.

We're not just talking about the City, proper. We're talking about the entire Baltimore Metro area, which generally identifies itself with Baltimore (even people who haven't stepped inside the City limits for years).

There's no way that the number of O's fans in the City + Baltimore, Carroll, Harford, Anne Arundel, Cecil and parts of Howard Counties is less than the number outside that area. There's just no way.

[geschinger]

No, no, and no, to answer your questions. It's just, to me, horrendously stupid to whine about not having your city's name on your road jersey, especially when there are without a doubt more Oriole fans outside of the city than in.

It may be inconsequential in the grand scheme of things but I have no problem w/those who want Baltimore added back to the jersey. And I'm one of those O's fans outside the city.

All teams have more fans outside their city than in. Somehow I think their fans would be vociferous if for example Boston was replaced by Red Sox on their jersey or New York replaced by Yankees on their road jersey etc...

[FellsPointOsFan]

As for th Baltimore thing. No one cared in 96-97 about the jersies, and I have a bunch official MLB liscensed shirts/ pennants/ merchendise that has "Baltimore" on it.

I agree with you about the other stuff James, but it is ridiculous how the team has erased "Baltimore" from the logos, PA announcements, even business cards(!).

At OPACY the announcers use phrases like, "and young people throughout the Orioles region."

What in crap's name is the "Orioles region"? Is this it?

There are a lot of good reasons for putting the Baltimore back into the "O's"

[hoosiers]

The article seems to me to be an eloquent regurgitation by one fan representative of the disappointed fans such that visit this site.

When the auther says to get more involved in the community, he provides no real base of comparison to the Ravens or other major league teams or how the Orioles used to (if they in fact did) provide the type of community effort the author apparently craves. In fact, the author points out an example where a player on the team already DOES provide the type of community effort the author wants (?).

The author pleads with ownership to "spend" so that we can like teams such as the Tigers, Twins and As. Oddly, two of these teams have had lower payrolls for most of the past 10 years. This is the type of dubious point which separates out the frustrations of the average fan from the writings we see from the professional journalists.

There are quite a few things to fix in this organization. I think Flanagan has done a lot and is addressing many of these items. It is easy to incorporate a lot of secondary issues when complaining about a team that will soon finish its ninth straight losing season - such as the loss of the Rochester relationship and the spring training facilities. However, didn't the spring training issue exist during the team's glory years? And won't the organization be better off with the AAA franchise in Pennsylvania than in Rochester - so wouldn't this be an actual improvement to the organization?

I personally find these articles to be tiresome and lacking in reality.

[NewMarketSean]

• Get into the community. That means star players appearing regularly at community events (like the recent Brian Roberts fundraiser at ESPN Zone) and a presence in places such as the outstanding Ripken facility in Aberdeen. And you could learn a lot by watching the Ravens.

The ravens play 16 games, 8 of them at hom - once a week.

The Orioles blay 162 games, 81 of them at home usually 6 games a week - then a getaway day.

Its simple logisitcs people, MLB players simply do not have the free time that NFL players have to be around in the community. Could they do more, maybe - but comparing any MLB team to an NFL team is a tad unfair

• Invest heavily in a farm and scouting system that grows its own major-leaguers, put the AAA affiliate in a sensible mid-Atlantic location

All of this is happening.

As for th Baltimore thing. No one cared in 96-97 about the jersies, and I have a bunch official MLB liscensed shirts/ pennants/ merchendise that has "Baltimore" on it.

The man writes very well and very eloquetly but this is the same drone of crticism I have heard for awhile, and forgive me for being cynical - but I truly believe that is Baltimore was Detroit this year all of the critiques would magically vanish

I agree. The Orioles are perfect as they are and they shouldn't change one thing.

[mikezpen]

IT'S ABOUT TIME, SUNPAPERS!Quit making excuses for this pathetic organization!

And it's the BALTIMORE Orioles folks.

[SilentJames]

I agree. The Orioles are perfect as they are and they shouldn't change one thing.

Where did I say that?

All I said was that it is harder for an MLB team, ANY MLB team to be as prevalent as an NFL team in the community because their schedules are so different

glad to see you're back to your pompous arrogant self

[NewMarketSean]

Where did I say that?

All I said was that it is harder for an MLB team, ANY MLB team to be as prevalent as an NFL team in the community because their schedules are so different

glad to see you're back to your pompous arrogant self

Blah, blah, blah.

Also, I didn't know that Elrod's funeral took place during the season. Is that why only one player showed up?

[DrungoHazewood]

What in crap's name is the "Orioles region"? Is this it?

That's approximately the area of MLB's TV blackout restrictions for the O's.

[SilentJames]

Blah, blah, blah.

Also, I didn't know that Elrod's funeral took place during the season. Is that why only one player showed up?

Get into the community. That means star players appearing regularly at community events (like the recent Brian Roberts fundraiser at ESPN Zone) and a presence in places such as the outstanding Ripken facility in Aberdeen. And you could learn a lot by watching the Ravens.

He is obviously not talking about Elrod's funeral, which is a remarkable disgrace to the current players. he is talking about regular community events, like the ravens do.

I contend that it is much more difficult for the O's or any MLB team to do this because of the differences in their schedules.

[bgfield]

The O's do what they can, Brian had his baseball bash. Gibby had an autograph signing in Annapolis not to awful long ago. the players do a weekly thing at the ESPN Zone. The REACH program brings under-priviledged kids to the games every home game.

And also the Brooks Robinson blood drive this year, the golf tournament in which Brooks attended, along with BJ Surhoff and I believe Cal? And also the tenth anniversary of 2131 last year at the Yard - but I recall people saying that was a dumb idea and that the O's were simply clinging to past accomplishments.

The problems with the O's start and end on the field. I guess when you're working on your 9th straight losing season, it's a lot easier to find fault in everything else they do.

[Mark Carver]

IT'S ABOUT TIME, SUNPAPERS!Quit making excuses for this pathetic organization!

And it's the BALTIMORE Orioles folks.

Shouldn't that be...

BALTIMORE SUNPAPERS

[ScottieBaseball]

Where did I say that?

All I said was that it is harder for an MLB team, ANY MLB team to be as prevalent as an NFL team in the community because their schedules are so different

glad to see you're back to your pompous arrogant self

James, I like you, your passion, etc. You've done an admirable job at defending the Orioles with each individual gripe that seems to be common amongst the disgruntled. When you step back and take a look at the big picture, though, this machine is still broken. Is it under repair? Absolutely. Are the repairs so far (i.e. better minor league development) encouraging? Yes. I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw pictures of Steve McNair throwing out the first pitch. Hopefully it's a sign of things to come. Excusing the team for not taking a more active role in the community because of the vigorous schedule is, well, inexcusable. It wasn't a problem in the early and late-80's...players used to make appearances constantly during the winter, off-days during the season, and during the days before night games. I agree...there's not nearly as much free time when compared to the Ravens, but it's still not even close to proportional.

My perception is that the majority of these guys could care less about public relations, Melvin Mora excluded. With team-sponsored functions, it's like the team sends Melvin Mora and whoever the organization is cramming down our collective throats as (potentially) the next Mike Mussina, Cal Ripken, etc. It's easy to conclude that when the memo gets posted on the bulletin board, the established veterans look at it and say, "Pshhh. Can't they put some kids from Bowie in big league jerseys and ship them to this spaghetti dinner at Our Lady of the Worthless Miracle? I'm going to Arizona that weekend!"

As far as 'Baltimore' on the jerseys? You couldn't be more wrong. We did care, even back when this team was winning. It was an issue, albeit one of very few any reasonable fan could take with this organization.

Peter Angelos is a good person, a great lawyer, and a terrible owner. I find it both frustrating and pitiful the way he denies meddling in the affairs of this team, yet every off-season for the last 5 or 6 years, there's always the murmur published nationally from unnamed MLB GM's/sources that say the O's are difficult to deal with because PA has to dissect, analyze, scrutinize, criticize, etc. every deal that comes through the Warehouse and he takes his good ol' time in doing so. A responsible owner keeps himself abreast of the goings-on, questions decisions, but ultimately never stands in the way of the day-to-day operation of his business.