Post up your Memorial Stadium experiences.

[MemorialStadKid]

My grandmother's house was right there on the corner of 33rd and Westerwald. About 1 block west of the stadium parking lot.

I spent all my summers from 1982-88 running around that neighborhood with my friends and sneaking into the Stadium night after night. We learned that after the 3rd inning or so, the security along the left field line entrances (two spots to the left of the container entrance) would be extremely lax. I have no idea where those security people went but they often left the entrance unguarded for very long stretches.

We'd go sit in the LF bleachers and have a blast. When I got older, I started selling peanuts for the vendors and made some good money. Even though it was illegal for me to work there (I was only 13 at the time) we managed to convince the vendor guy that I was 15 and would eventually bring in the work permit from my school. HAH!

Those years flew by in a blur. There were literally thousands of amazing moments that I can't recall right now, but I have to say that place was shrine for my childhood. One of the saddest days of my life was learning that they were tearing down the facade. But damn, such incredible memories!

MSK

[HillbillyBird]

I remember around 1970 or '71, we were living in Glen Burnie & my Dad took me and my little brother to our first game. Being very small, I'd never been around such a large crowd of people...as we approached the entry from the concourse, I could hear a deafening noise..when I finally stood there and looked at all of the people in that stadium on that sunny day, it almost took my breath away. Great memory.

Next best..on leave before I shipped out for a year to Japan, around mid-April. My Dad, brother, and I took the trip to see the O's play the Mariners..it was very warm for April. My dream fulfilled, I got to see Palmer pitch in person. Later that year, I got to listen to Armed Forces radio on my walkman while I was in my bunk around 3am, as the O's closed out the Phillies for their 1983 Championship. I was one happy Jarhead.

[TradeAngelos]

Didn't really have much money back to go to a lot of games then but knew a guy who worked there who would let me in for free later in game and tell me where to sit. Security was quite lax back then when it came to that type of stuff. I lived about 5 blocks away so I was there quite a bit doing that.

Remember game I went to with my father, two uncles, and grandfather when I was about 7. Only time that ever happened with all of us together.

[Boy Howdy]

- July 4, 1977: the O's take a doubleheader from the Tigers. In the second game, the O's beat the near-invincible Mark Fidrych before a crowd of 45,339. I got interviewed by a WBAL-TV reporter about Fidrych between the two games. Unfortunately, that game marked the turning point of Fidrych's career and he was never effective again.

The doubleheader was actually the next day, but July 4 featured a long Revolutionary War reenactment on the field that made it feel like a doubleheader. The Fidrych game was my first ever trip to the ballpark, and researching all the articles about that game helped me piece something together about it. http://urbanshocker.wordpress.com/2009/04/15/remembering-mark-fidrych-the-birds-lone-baltimore-appearance-741977/

On Christmas Eve 1977, my Dad took me to the Raiders-Colts AFC playoff game. What a classic! I was 7, but still remember bits and pieces of the last ever Colts playoff game in Baltimore. Oakland won a seesaw game in double overtime on Dave Casper's Ghost to the Post TD.

So many memories. I ushered there in upper section 3 from 1989-1991, and got thousands of autographs from home and visiting players on lazy summer afternoons before I was old enough to work. A few highlights off the top of my head, Terry Crowley's pinch-hit walkoff grand slam to beat the Royals in 1982. A similar shot by Larry Sheets off Toronto rookie Luis Aquno a few years later.

The ED-DIE, ED-DIE chant, Wild Bill, "Give that Fan a Contract", songs like "Country Boy", "We Can Work It Out" during Orioles pitcher changes, "Another One Bites the Dust" when Tom Niedenfuer highlights played on the scoreboard, Earth Wind & Fire's "Shining Star" for Phil Bradley. A game against the Yankees in intense fog. The day Cal got tossed in the first inning. "Like throwing God out of Sunday school" said the ump. Earl's tantrums, Elrod's smile and daily autograph marathons. Many of the ushers, vendors and regular fans who made it what it was. Too much to name, but thanks for starting this thread. I still love that place.

[Big Al]

September 16, 1979. My first Memorial experience saw the Orioles beat Boston 13-3. Palmer pitched a gem. I believe he had a no no into about the 5th. John Tudor was the rookie starter for Sox and we tagged him for 6 earned runs in 1/3 of an inning. Got to see 5 HOFs: Palmer, Eddie, Earl, Rice and Yaz.

April 4, 1998 opening day. We lost to Milwaukee 12-0 in front of the largest crowd ever at Memorial Stadium (52,395). It was the first of what would be 21 consecutive losses to start the season, but it was still a festival atmosphere. We took a party bus from Shaeffer's pub.

August 24, 1998. In a season when we only won 54 games, I was witness to two in one day as we swept Seattle in a double header, both by a score of 4-3. We took the first game on a Larry Sheets walk off homer in the bottom of the 9th. The second game went 11 innings. When you throw in the rain delay, I pretty much spent the whole day at the ballpark. What a way to spend a day.

[Guest rochester]

Although I was able to see a few games in Memorial Stadium after moving to DC in the mid-80's, my first and most memorable moment, strange enough, was watching the 1969 series on TV. I was not old enough to enjoy '66 so it was the first WS for my favorite team. Ironically, and maybe because of, one of my teachers took us out of class to watch it on TV in the auditorium. I remember Buford's opening HR (and tried to mimic his stance for awhile) and the background from the camera behind home plate - kinda weird. Also, I wrote a "book" about the series with newspaper photos, baseball cards about the series.

[clapdiddy]

July 16, 1978

Attended this game with my little-league team (I was 11 at the time) and remember watching Terry Crowley win the game in the bottom of the 12th with a double. I remember sitting with my dad, uncle, and cousin (Dad and uncle coached the team) and feeling the elation of an extra-inning win.

August 24, 1983

I know over 100,000 people claim to be at this game, but I was DEFINITELY one of them. Tippy Martinez picks off three Blue Jays in same inning and emergency catcher Lenn Sakata slams a three-run homer in the 10th to win it for the future World Champs!

May 2, 1988

The most incredible thing ever. The team that started 0-21 came home to a packed house. Jay Tibbs pitched a nice game and this was probably the rowdiest crowd I ever remember seeing at Memorial. It was also announced that day about the building of the new ballpark.

October 5, 1991

The next-to-last game at Memorial Stadium. This sticks out because of it being the last weekend and what happened at the game. I was sitting in the nose-bleed seats, just to the left of the left-field foul pole. My cousin had tickets to the game and invited me to come along. During the game, Cecil Fielder hit a monstrous foul ball down the left field line and my cousin caught the ball. We waited around after the game to get him to sign it. While we were waiting, the Tigers came out and went into the team bus, but we didn't see Cecil. He wound up coming out about 30 minutes after the team left and was catching a cab. My cousin handed him the ball and told him that it was the ball the foul ball he crushed. He looked at us like "yeah...right" and proceeded to sign the ball. He also signed our programs as well. He seemed like a nice guy.

[srock]

Isn't there a really nice YMCA and park on the site of the stadium now?

[TradeAngelos]

Isn't there a really nice YMCA and park on the site of the stadium now?

It is a "senior living community" now and yes there is a YMCA on the premises.

[TouchemAll]

Man I was a Colts season ticket holder behind the goal post upper deck man did we have fun.

C_O_L_T_S

Many O's games watching my Fav Brooks at third steal base hits like candy from a

baby and a WHOLE pitching staff of 20 game winners now you want to talk

about SPOILED :rofl: I'll never see that again.

[Why Not?]

I grew up there.

My older brothers were at prime partying age in the mid-1970s. They befriended Wild Bill Hagy and his crew at various Dundalk parties. and were there for the very beginning of the Section 34 phenomenon. My brothers took me along because I was adorable and my folks would pay for their tickets. I sat up there with my brothers from about age 6 until the drunks outnumbered the baseball fans and it became the trendy thing to do.

[BamaOsFan]

Me too. I have the entire ceremony on video.Wish I could post it. Charles Steinberg was the brainchild of this event. He did the same thing for the

100th anniversary of the Red Sox.

I've seen bits and pieces over the years. I'd love to see the entire thing. Roy, I'd be transferring that to DVD to preserve.

[Birds7]

I lived on E. 35th Street in the early 70's. A friend and I used to go to the games regularly. We always wore our orange jerseys (given away by Crown Petroleum #5) and matching caps. We would always go early to try to get autographs. Anyway, we were standing near the Orioles dugout during one game and Scott McGregor was signing autographs. There was this female reporter for WJZ-13, Andrea Kirby, asking Scott for an interview. I remember him saying to her "Only if you come over here and goose me." Lol.

Also, we used to go down into the bottom of the stadium where the offices were. There, you could purchase color 3x5 photos of the players. While we were there this nicely dressed lady was walking with a little boy. He was wearing the real Orioles hat and jersey (which was big on him). Anyway, she came over to us and asked us if we were players sons. We looked at each other in disbelief and said "No ma'am." She asked us if we knew who Tippy Martinez was and we both said yes. She then said something like "Well this is his kid."

We used to sit with Wild Bill and his crew before the O's officially recognized him. I have a ticket stub from Sunday, May 8, 1977. The last game of the Seattle Mariners first ever 3 game series played against the Orioles in Memorial Stadium. Upper reserved seat ticket price was $3.00.

Those were some good childhood memories. I could never root for any other baseball team. :smile11:

[OregonBird]

I can't single out one memorable game that I attended, it seemed like all of them were memorable.

My family was poor when I was really young so anytime I could go it was the biggest thrill to me. During the summer my two uncles and their friends would take me to "$3 Buck" night. I remember my Uncle driving me in his "Volare" and we would always park on a lawn of a house across the street. During the game my uncles and their boys from Pasadena would be pretty plowed by the 6th inning. After an Orioles win the crew would be leading chants going down the stadium ramps to the parking lot. They would just go from one player to the next. My favorite Benny Ayala.... Their slurred, drunken voices would have everybody descending down the walk ramp singing "Ayy, Ayy, Ayyyy, Ayyyyyyyy..... it's Benny Ayala". As a 9 or 10 year old I just laughed. One of those nights someone jacked the stereo system out of his Volare but I guess he was too buzzed to care.

To this day I can't believe how incredibly lucky we were that he was never in an accident and hurt someone or never got a DUI coming home.

[Why Not?]

http://www.uni-watch.com/2010/06/03/there-used-to-be-a-ballpark-right-here/

This is a blog post from cousin, who grew up in the neighborhood around Memorial Stadium.