Union Park marker dedication

[DrungoHazewood]

I very much wish I could have been there for this event, but on April 19th the Society for American Baseball Research had a ceremony dedicating a marker to the old AA/NL Orioles' Union Park at the site in Baltimore. It's at East 25th Street near Guilford Avenue. Unfortunately that day I was traveling to Denver for a life celebration for a co-worker who passed.

Union Park had a short life, barely more than a decade from construction to demolition. But it was the home of the World Champion 1894-95-96 Orioles, and so many Hall of Famers and other stars of the day. Like John McGraw, Willie Keeler, Wilbert Robinson, Dan Brouthers, Joe Kelley, Joe McGinnity. More information in this SABR history piece. There aren't many bits of the park left, even some of the street names have changed. But if you look at the photo on the Wiki page, and the Sanborn fire insurance map you can place the park. And the rowhouse in the photo next to the entrance/ticket booth is still there.

Reading that Sun article, I see Burt Solomon was there for the dedication. He's the author of Where They Ain't: The Fabled Life and Ultimely Death of the Original Baltimore Orioles, the Team that Gave Birth to Modern Baseball. I'm sure he'd be a very interesting person to chat with.

[Just Regular]

Here's one of the better Wikipedia references I've come across - it sounds like in 1891 the park missed the first month of the season and had a mid-May grand opening.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rJFDAAAAIBAJ&sjid=grkMAAAAIBAJ&pg=7081%2C3981859

Like Memorial Stadium, that site also looks like it would have been an easy walk from City, Rubenstein's alma mater, which also was going by then.