Post up your Memorial Stadium experiences.

[Number5]

School safety patrol day in September of 1964. O's vs. the KC A's. Both pitchers threw one-hitters. We're not talking Palmer and Koufax here: it was Frank Bertaina for the O's and Bob Meyer for the A's. Both hits were doubles by the catcher leading off an inning. Doc Edwards doubled leading off the 5th for KC, but Bertaina worked his way out of it. Johnny Orsino doubled to lead-off the 8th for the O's only hit. The pinch-runner (Bob Saverine) was bunted over to third by Bertaina, and Jackie Brandt hit a sac fly. O's won 1-0.

Christmas eve, 1977, Colts-Raiders playoff game. Raiders won in double-overtime. I remember a lot of half-drunk fans getting angry because the Colts had already contracted with a new vending company for the following season, and the existing company didn't have enough supplies for the game. They ran out of beer before halftime! It was a great game. One of the all-time great games in fact. I particularly remember a heart-breaking play in the first overtime when Raymond Chester was wide open twenty yards beyond the nearest Raider. Easy touchdown, but Bert Jones overthrew him. Bert had a great season as I recall, and a good game, but man, history would have changed if he had taken just a little off of that one throw.

[Birds7]

Why Not?

http://www.uni-watch.com/2010/06/03/...rk-right-here/

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

I also remember the Christmas tree sales in the parking lot and the ice skating rink they would set up every year. I attended kindergarten at Waverly School #51 in 1970. I also remember the small plane that crashed in the upper deck immediately after the Colts/Steelers game. Everyone walked over to the parking area behind the scoreboard to see it.

[BamaOsFan]

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.

Thanks for linking this. I can't imagine the fun exploring that place. Your cousins have some fantastic memories of the stadium. Loved the kite story. Priceless memories.

[OFFNY]

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.

OO.Growing up in Brewster, NY and seeing the Colts whenever they played the Jets and/or they were on national TV, I used to do the Bill Hagy "C-O-L-T-S, COLTS!" thing in our living room. My brother, my sister, and my mommy all used to laugh their asses off. :laughlol:

[tntoriole]

Ive heard a lot of stories about John Unitas being bitter or angry late in life. Not to me. He was a wonderful, kind, and surprisingly funny guy.

I loved him to death. And I wasnt even a Colt fan.

When I was a kid in the mid 1960s, we went out to Westminster every summer when Colts trained. A number of times after practice, Unitas would be out throwing dozens of balls to spots down the sidelines at 10 yard intervals. Kids could line up and run down to try to catch the ball or bring them back. There are many kids, now adults, who can say they caught a pass from the greatest QB ever.

Memorial Stadium...Junior Orioles tickets, bleachers...Safety Patrol Day when Tommy Phoebus pitched a no hitter,

Boog hitting balls into the CF hedges, Sam McDowell after getting thrown out threw a ball almost completely out of the upper deck....Earl weaver getting tossed, Earl's last game of 1982 when we lost to the Brewers for the division title but Earl and all the players came back out...lowenstein was a hoot to us bleacher fans between innings.

Colts games including Unitas last game, his last pass was a TD to Eddie Hinton. Unitas had been benched but a little plane started flying around the stadium that said Unitas We Stand...the noise was deafening. There were the frozen games with the little hot chocolate in cans..Orrsville, the Mike Curtis hit on the guy who ran out on the field

[Number5]

When I was a kid in the mid 1960s, we went out to Westminster every summer when Colts trained. A number of times after practice, Unitas would be out throwing dozens of balls to spots down the sidelines at 10 yard intervals. Kids could line up and run down to try to catch the ball or bring them back. There are many kids, now adults, who can say they caught a pass from the greatest QB ever.

Memorial Stadium...Junior Orioles tickets, bleachers...Safety Patrol Day when Tommy Phoebus pitched a no hitter,

Boog hitting balls into the CF hedges, Sam McDowell after getting thrown out threw a ball almost completely out of the upper deck....Earl weaver getting tossed, Earl's last game of 1982 when we lost to the Brewers for the division title but Earl and all the players came back out...lowenstein was a hoot to us bleacher fans between innings.

Colts games including Unitas last game, his last pass was a TD to Eddie Hinton. Unitas had been benched but a little plane started flying around the stadium that said Unitas We Stand...the noise was deafening. There were the frozen games with the little hot chocolate in cans..Orrsville, the Mike Curtis hit on the guy who ran out on the field

Hey, maybe we are on to something! Phoebus no-hitter, Bertaina 1-hitter. Maybe if the O's have school safety patrol day every home game, our pitching would be better! :laughlol:

[tntoriole]

And I was lucky enough to have gone to one game at Memorial in every World Series...1966, 1969- was at first game about three rows away from where Don Buford's hr off Seaver's second pitch landed, 1970, 1971- RF bleachers and remember the ridiculous jet of an arm by Clemente, 1979- I still can't hear that damn We Are Family song without throwing up, 1983- Boddicker pitched a great game and my now ex brother in law and I were in those high upper reserveds.

[LA2]

My memory of Memorial Stadium ironically, has NOTHING to do with the Orioles and its an honor

that few if any would experience in a lifetime.

In 1997, when I had a rare in depth interview for ESPN with John Unitas, I told him I never got to

see him play with the Colts at Memorial Stadium.

He simply said"Well, lets do something about that".

We got into his car and drove with me and my crew to the stadium. He got out, talked his way into

the overgrown and badly disheveled stadium and

for the next 90 minutes or so(it was all recorded on video) gave me a tour of the old locker room

and then walked the field with me. He showed me the exact spots where he threw to Raymond

Berry...where Lenny Moore dressed in the locker room, where John Mackey caught a TD vs the

Giants,

where Gino Marchetti smoked cigars in the stall before the game. 90 minutes of this! ESPN ran

about 2 minutes of it. No matter. It was still one of

great experiences of my broadcasting career, and John was gone about 4 years later, as was the

stadium.I'll never forget that experience, and the

kindness Unitas extended to me. He was a hell of a guy.It was an incredible experience.

Roy, this sounds great. If you have a copy or have access to one, is there any way you can get permission to post it on YouTube or Vimeo?

[FlaO'sFan]

I grew up in Bel Air and started going to Colts games in 72 when I was 8 with my Dad who had season tickets. The seats were in the upper deck, closed end of stadium, almost right in line with the left goal post. Most memorable game for me was in 75 when we were 8-4 and playing the Dolphins in December. Dolphins had gone ahead 7-0 in the third, we tied it at 7 with about a minute to go, and then Toni Linhart made that great FG in OT right in front of us to win it as a fog had started to settle on the stadium. Man I still remember how loud that stadium was that day.

Other memorable games were the Ghost to the Post playoff game against the Raiders, and the 76 playoff loss to the Steelers where the small plane crashed into the upper deck. My father always waited in our seats for awhile after games before leaving to avoid the crowd, and we were still in the inside upper deck walking out when I heard the plane buzz the field and then ran up one of the ramps and saw the plane just after it had crashed. It was about 2 sections away from where our seats were.

Always loved the C-O-L-T-S chants by Bill Hagy.

Went to many O's games as well, and was there in the first base mezzanine to see Brooks hit his last home run in his career in 77 against the Indians with his walk-off 3 run shot into the left field bleachers in the tenth. I don't remember what game it was, but I was in attendance once when Belanger hit one of his rare home runs.

My family moved to Florida in 78, but growing up an O's fan during that time means that I will always be an O's fan. In fact, I am not incarnating in my next life if I am not going to be an O's fan.

Memorial Stadium is nothing but great memories for me.

[Why Not?]

Thanks for linking this. I can't imagine the fun exploring that place. Your cousins have some fantastic memories of the stadium. Loved the kite story. Priceless memories.

I was always jealous and a little pissed that they moved away while I was an infant.

[Why Not?]

OO.Growing up in Brewster, NY and seeing the Colts whenever they played the Jets and/or they were on national TV, I used to do the Bill Hagy "C-O-L-T-S, COLTS!" thing in our living room. My brother, my sister, and my mommy all used to laugh their asses off. :laughlol:

That wasn't Bill, that was a different guy. Big Wheel. Hagy's body spelling was modeled after that guy.

I don't think Hagy would have gone to Colts games. They made you buy THEIR beer.

[mdbdotcom]

Like so many people, I have tons of memories from the late '50s to the final game. One set of memories that not so many have experienced comes from working as a runner for ABC during the '79 World Series.

Highlights included:

- Seeing Howard Cosell's toupee get blown up (and almost off his head) as he walked by the exhaust fans of a production trailer

- Trailing a Bowie Kuhn inspection of the field the day of rained out Game 1. The field had been rolled so tight, there was close to a half-inch of water sitting on top of it. You couldn't see it from a distance, but it was there.

- Tossing a ball that had gotten away back to Willie Stargell during the pre-series Pirates workout. He looked like a mountain in motion.

- Keeping my credential, even though I quit after Game 6, so I could watch all of Game 7 from the mezzanine level TV camera position between home and first base (though it sucked so much that we lost).

And a couple of lowlights:

- Watching as Orioles fans screamed at Howard Cosell and pounded on his car after the Game 7 loss, as if he had been responsible for the O's blowing a 3-1 lead in games. I was afraid for his life. He must have been as well.

- Just before 8:15 on the evening of the Game 1 that was rained out, I was handed a note by the unit manager and told to deliver it to Bowie Kuhn in the Orioles offices. As I walked into a large room in the offices, all the Orioles bigwigs were there, including soon to be owner Edward Bennett Williams. I gave the note to the Commissioner and left, but I had read the note on my way over (who wouldn't?). It was from ABC Sports, informing the commissioner of baseball that the game would be called at 8:30. A packed house for Game 1 of the World Series sat in a cold rain for 15+ minutes more than they had to. Why? Because ABC didn't want to lose the baseball audience that was watching an episode of Happy Days during the delay.

All in all, it was a great experience. But as an O's fan, I treasure even more a few other moments I got to witness: my first view of the field from the stands as a youngster, Game 3 of the '66 WS, Frank's HR that left the park, Hoyt Wilhelm warming up in the days before the bullpen was right next to the stands, flirting with the girl who swept the bases, Steve Barber and Stu Miller combining to lose a no-hitter to the Tigers, asking a complete stranger who'd gotten up to get a beer to bring me one (and her doing it), ragging on Carl Yastrzemski so relentlessly one night that after booting a ball he actually looked at me, and the Field of Dreams sequence after the last game - remembering Brooks in uniform jogging to 3B still brings a tear to my eye.

I'll stop now, because I don't think this list ends any time soon. Good times. Thanks for asking.

[lormat]

I have many memories, as my Dad worked in Baltimore and we got tickets from his boss/owner of the company. My greatest memory tho is in '77 when I talked to Brooks on the dugout steps. He talked to us kids just like we were in the neighborhood. He gave his autograph on my program. That day I also got Eddie's autograph on the same program, same page. Still have it.

[MudflapO]

Attended Ben McDonald's first ML start in 1990. CG shutout vs. White Sox. Also remember a game when Randy Milligan hit 3 HR's in a blow out over the Yankees.

[OFFNY]

Attended Ben McDonald's first ML start in 1990. CG shutout vs. White Sox. Also remember a game when Randy Milligan hit 3 HR's in a blow out over the Yankees.

Welcome.

Have a greenie.

Patrick (Oriole Fan From New York)