Orioles baseball is back, and so am I!

[DocJJ]

This is the best site that I visit.... period!

 

I'm thrilled to learn of your continued commitment...!

[olddogger]

OH was the very first (and for a long time the only) website I was willing to support financially.  I came for the Orioles but stayed for Tony and the other staff as well as sharing the orioles fan experience (the good, the bad and the very ugly).

Thank you Tony.  Orioles hangout has been a daily must for me for well over 20 years now.  Other websites come and go but OH is read  EVERY day, throughout the day.

This is a family here and I count myself lucky to be part of the shared experience.

And that's YOUR fault Tony - thanks for everything!

[Rbiggs2525]

It’s a shame what the Orioles did with you but new regimes have ways of going about things. Great post and I have enjoyed this website for over 10 years. The best place to find anything Orioles. Thank you for the hard work. Also thanks to all the other regular posters who keep us updated especially in the minors. This is the most excited I’ve been for orioles baseball ever since I missed the 70’s.

[lovetoaster]

Tony, I have never had the privilege of meeting you, but I am forever indebted to you. I have always loved the Orioles, but what you've built here has made me an even bigger fan than I ever was. You have built one of the most intelligent, informed communities in all of sports, and that is so incredibly appreciated. Like many of us, I have had a difficult year personally and professionally, and I have not had as much time to spend here as I would have liked. But every time I pop in, it's like I never left. Still great commentary and analysis, without a lot of BS. 

Like Elias said earlier, hopefully this is the start of some big things for the O's and for the Hangout. And, by god, I'm here for it. Thanks again, Tony, and I'm thrilled to see the new energy. Although I still think those bastards should give you a perpetual credential. And I owe you a handshake and a beer one of these days.  

[RZNJ]

The Orioles win and now it feels like we won again.  Great news!

[Osornot]

1 hour ago, Tony-OH said:

Going into this season, I wasn’t sure I had much more in me when it came to Orioles Hangout. A had lost my close friend, confidant, and managing editor Michael Williams to cancer last year and the Orioles were coming off another last place 100+ loss season.

Then, this spring, I put in for my full season credentials with the Orioles, something that I had done every year since 2002 pre COVID, only to be told I would no longer be given credentials to attend games or ask questions during online press conferences. After a conversation with Jennifer Grondahl, Senior Vice President, Community Development & Communications, it was made abundantly clear while they respected what I did, they felt I no longer fit into their definition of the press.

To say it was disheartening was probably an understatement. While I was never a daily member of the press, I tried to make at to at least one game a homestand in order keep up relationships with players and coaches that I had built over the 26 years I had run Orioleshangout.com. To be told I know longer counted by the organization, even though Orioles Hangout is the longest running known website (founded in 1996) to cover a major professional team in any sport in the United States, was what I considered a final blow.

Now even prior to this, ever since Mike Elias took over, it was hard to get information about minor league player injuries, something I was typically able to get done with a simple text in previous regimes. I used this information to keep the fans informed on the website and message board as well as on my regular spot on 105.7 the fan. Now, text inquiries were met with silence only to get emails from the PR department telling me to ask questions through them, not through Matt Blood.

Disappointingly, the truth was that I no longer could get the information fans wanted from me, the team pulled my credentials (one of the few perks I got for all my time and effort), and the regular fandom of the Orioles was probably at its lowest. Page views and visits to the site were at all-time lows. Taking it all in, I finally decided I was done.

In May of this year, I put up a post asking if anyone was interested in potentially being part of or buying the site outright from me. Several people reach out and I even entertained a few conversations where we talked what the Hangout would like if I sold the site and stepped away. The one thing consistent was no one wanted me to step away fully, but in the end, I was ready to step away from the Hangout for the first time in my life.

My goal at that point was to get into someone’s hands who would love the community as much as I do and would make good stewards. In the meantime though, I still enjoyed doing the minor league scouting portion so I was still watching video and giving people my thoughts on the minor league players as well as doing analysis of Baseball Savant information on the major league Orioles.

The response to my work on the message board along with several messages by people who said they understood why I would step away, but hoped I would reconsider, got me more and more interested in the daily grind.

Then, the Orioles started to win again and people started to show up to the Hangout who we hadn’t seen in years. New members we’re signing up and the quality and quantity of the posts were starting to really flow.

But I’ll be honest, I was still bitter about how the Orioles handled me, and I’m sure my posts showed it. I was starting to get too negative about things even as the Orioles were winning. Then one day I got particularly negative over something and basically said the Orioles sapped my fandom and I was just going to look at things objectively like a non-fan.

By doing that though, I stepped away for a few days and kinda let things run its course. I went on a mini-vacation with the family and barely looked at the Hangout other then to make sure everything was up and running. Taking that step back allowed me to think over some things.

The Orioles started their run of good baseball and I wasn’t even enjoying it. Why? I’ve been a fan of the team since 1975 (about five years old). I’ve run Orioles Hangout since 1996. Hell, I was certainly the only soldier in Afghanistan and Iraq that would find an internet connection and computer and log on to talk Orioles, and this was in the 2004-2007 timeframe when they weren’t that good. Being an Orioles fan is in my DNA.

Why should I let a PR department full of people, most of whom have no understanding of what I’ve done over the years, take away something I’ve always enjoyed? Why should I let them determine my worth to Orioles fans?

So as I look at the numbers from yesterday’s trading deadline, over 17,000 visits, 150,000 page views, 1,000 of posts by amazingly smart Orioles fans who call Orioles Hangout their internet home, it dawned on me. It doesn’t matter how the Orioles as an organization feels about me or Orioles Hangout, it only matters how the fans view me and the Hangout. And no, I’m not talking about the Twitter trolls.

So you know what? I’m not going anywhere. I’ll continue to have my platform here at the Hangout and as long as 105.7 keeps calling, I’ll continue to give my thoughts weekly over air waves.

I’m going to continue to call things as I see them. When something needs to be criticized, I’ll criticize, but when something needs to be celebrated, I’ll do that as well. I’ve always prided myself on being fair and that is what I intend to do, regardless of how the latest leadership/PR of the organization feels about me or the site.

I want to thank everyone at the Hangout from the longtime members (heart and soul of the community), to the returning members, to our new members. Thank you for those of you who feel my analysis helps you be a batter informed fan and thank you to those who make me work hard to back up my answers with stats and facts. That’s what we do here at the Hangout for each other and why this is the best community, bar none, to discuss Orioles baseball.

Orioles baseball is back baby, and so am I!

I shared many of your feelings but in a different way.  I could not find the motivation to support an organization the O's became - or a league that started becoming political.  Sports have always been my break from the insanity of everything else.

it is still rough listening to games on the radio. Maybe it is my age but listening on the car radio used to be a must.  The first time I turned on an O's game I truly believed I was listening to a York Revs game - it was not major league.

but... bottom line is that this team and the future has left me no alternative than to come back.  It isn't even the winning but the vibe.  Tony making a commitment is a sign that I can continue my journey in loving the game again.  Although I do not get on as much as I used to back in the mid 2000's (man, time flies) it is now time I put more of an effort by reconstituting my paid subscription which lapsed a while ago.   My little bit of support is the least I can do.

 

[MDK02]

This is beautiful to see. I don’t post as much as prior years but I still check multiple times daily. I love this place. 
 

Jeep winning baby!!

[billw76]

Glad you reconsidered and decided to stay. Thank you for all you do, this is an amazing community.

[forphase1]

Great news sir.  I've been coming here for a long, long time and was really afraid we weren't going to have the Hangout in the future.  

[$Greatness$]

Glad to have you back all in, Hammer. The streets need you. 

[terpfan101]

even though Orioles Hangout is the longest running known website (founded in 1996) to cover a major professional team in any sport in the United States

@Tony-OH WOW I was only 11 in 96 and while I’d attend games with my dad I had no idea about OH until mid 2000s . That fact is amazing! Congrats! 
 

Also when is the 105.7 segment you referred to?

[luismatos4prez]

You’re the man, Tony! Thank you for keeping this site going. 

[tntoriole]

This is just outstanding news, Tony!  This site and the opportunity to share our passion for the Os with each other has meant a great deal to me.  It has been a tremendous source of information and I have learned so much from you and many other great people here!  I want us all to share in the return of the Os to the Series and we will celebrate that by toasting our friend Michael and many others, like my Dad, who wanted to see it happen! 

Thank you and God bless you for all you do and for your service to us all and to the nation, 

[now]

Awesome, Tony, thanks so much for your unwavering honesty and integrity, through the years and right up to this post summing it all up. Spoken like the players always say: Control what you can control. And you do that here in such an exemplary way. 

I've been following OH from the beginning... including lapses here and there for other priorities or when the team was simply uninspiring. Now that the O's are back, so glad to have this forum with its quality and old familiars to discuss with and learn from. Go O's, go OH, and keep goin', Tony!

[Ridgway22]

You have no idea how happy this makes me, Tony. Godspeed, my Oriole Brother!