My Oriole Park experience from April 11th, 2019
- AL East Report
- Apr 14, 2019
- 5 min read
By: Seth Stancil
I am pretty positive that a majority of O’s fans have made at least one trip to Camden Yards in their lifetime. We all know Oriole Park is one of the most beautiful places to catch a game in the entire MLB. I spent a good bit of time at the yard growing up; I have been going to games for roughly 17 years now and most seasons I attended a handful of games. I know every nook and cranny of OPACY and I have gotten the opportunity to watch games from almost every section. When I got tickets to see the Orioles play the A’s on April 11th, I planned on having an experience very similar to many other games I had attended over the years. What ended up happening at the game was something I never got to experience until that day and something I will surely never forget.
To properly describe my new experience, I have to start with a little background information. My father and I have been going to Orioles’ games together for as long as I can remember. We catch at least one game together every season and the tradition continued this season on the 11th. My dad invited one of his closest friends to come with us. My dad has known his buddy since high school. About 15 years ago his friend was severely injured in an accident; he has suffered from brain trauma since then. He is still able to do many things he was able to do before but some activities give him a hard time (he is genuinely the sweetest person in the world regardless). My dad’s buddy Teth lived in South Carolina for a while after the accident but he moved back to Maryland not too long ago which presented my pops the perfect opportunity to ask his old friend to go to the Yard with us. He told my dad yes in a heartbeat. My dad also invited another one of their mutual friends to surprise Teth the day of the game. It turns out when we mentioned him to Teth he told us that he “hasn’t seen him since high school!! I can’t wait to see him!” My dad had no idea that they hadn’t seen each other in ages but it made it even better; they were so excited they must’ve reminisced for hours! Being able to go to the game with 3 old school fans was pretty awesome.
My experience got even cooler about 10 minutes after walking in the gate. We came in from the RF side on Eutaw St. and walked down past Boog’s towards the bullpen area. OPACY was nearly empty so we had no trouble walking right up to the railing in CF and looking straight down into the bullpens to watch the starters warm up. Aaron Brooks (The A’s SP for the day) zipped his last fastball in his warmup and his bullpen catcher stood up, looked right at me, and tossed me a ball. I gave the ball to Teth because when I was little my cousin had the same thing happen to him at the bullpens and he gave me the ball. I remembered how hyped I was when I was little to have a ball handed to me so I wanted him to feel the same. To be honest with you after we got the ball we were too excited to care about the outcome of the game. We got Boog’s BBQ together and sat behind the standing room in RF munching our sandwiches and admiring Teth’s pearl.
After we finished our barbecue, we walked around the fairly empty stadium and looked at the O’s history that’s plastered all over the concourse walls. Around the 5th inning we decided to find a place to sit. We bought the cheapest seats in the house located in the upper deck but we never made our way up there. It was so empty we had an endless amount of areas we could choose to sit in. We went into the seating bowl and popped out above the 3B dugout so we just walked down and picked a row of empty seats that had a great view. Being able to take in a major league baseball game from up close can’t be beat, especially when you only pay $15 for your ticket! I was watching Trey Mancini bat when out of the corner of my eye I saw someone briskly walk down the steps and sit in the very first row next to the dugout. I looked down and squinted just to make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me, and they weren’t. Rick Dempsey, the 1983 World Series MVP, was sitting maybe 10 rows below us. I have been to dozens of O’s games in my life and not once have I ever seen Rick (who is on the job for MASN when he is at the games) just walking around the stadium. I got my dad and his friend’s attention and told them I was taking Teth down to say hi and to try and score an autograph for his new ball. I walked with Teth down and before I could finish saying “Mr. Dempsey”, I had an usher cutting me off and telling me “Not now, not now.” Disappointed, we walked back up to our seats. I figured Mr. Dempsey was doing something for MASN and didn’t have time to talk; after all, he is a very busy man who probably had to get back to the set ASAP. When Teth and I sat back down, I saw the usher who turned us away pointing up at us. Rick Dempsey must’ve asked him where we were sitting, because he walked right up to us and stood in the row in front of ours. With a gleaming smile Rick asked, “Were you all asking for me a minute ago?” In shock, I responded “yes sir!” Mr. Dempsey shook all of our hands and gladly signed Teth’s ball for him. While he was signing the ball I couldn’t help but admire his gorgeous gold World Series ring on his hand. Rick was so kind and he even thanked us for coming out to the Yard. The 4 of us showered him with praises and thanked him profusely for taking his time to make our gameday experience even better. For the rest of the game all we could talk about is how “Rick Freaking Dempsey” was standing there and how we still couldn’t believe it! We walked out of Camden Yards that day the happiest Oriole fans in the world; we may have lost the ball game but that’s not what we will remember from that day. None of us will ever forget the kindness Mr. Dempsey showed us that spring afternoon at OPACY.
Some things are bigger than baseball, and Rick Dempsey proved that to the 4 of us on Thursday. All 4 of us grew up admiring Rick in one way it another and for him to take the time to talk with us and make Teth’s day solidified my love for the O’s and for Mr. Dempsey. Rick is an all-time classic Oriole and I am still in awe that we got to meet him. I am so happy that my dad’s buddies were able to come with us and catch a game; our day would’ve been perfect if that was all that happened, but the fact that we got a ball tossed to us and got to meet one of our icons made the whole day a lifelong memory that the 4 of us will always cherish.
This is what makes baseball the game we all love: memories like this.
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