Anyone miss Memorial Stadium (Baltimore, Aberdeen: hotels, houses, neighborhoods)

[mikey jam]

It is hard to imagine that driving along 33rd st it was once packed with fans heading to & from sporting events. I believe the new sports complexes were needed and are at an ideal location. Memorial stadium was pratically smack in the center of Baltimore lacking access highways, parking and hotels. But, while it was there it was a fun house. Brooks, Boog, Frank and Earl for the Orioles. Then there was Tommy Shopay, Marcilino Lopez,Pete Reichert, Eddie Wise, and Merv Rettenmund. Colts were the real Baltimore thing. One concession stand I remember was the Leaning Tower of Pizza on the top deck. Not to mention there was a mezzanine level. I believe that the facade should of remained. I know true baltimoreans [bawlmerons] out there have memories to share.

[Lumerian Feast]

I loved Memorial and was opposed to them building Camden Yards... until the moment I set foot in Camden Yards. It's the best baseball stadium in the majors. Even with the O's sucking for the last decade, it's still great to go out there and see a game. And Ravens Stadium (I won't call it by its corporate name) is pretty sweet too.

Lots of great memories at Memorial. Lots of great new memories at the downtown stadiums. The crowds aren't nearly as nuts as they were on 33rd Street, but that's how it is all across baseball. It's a different era. (The crowds at Ravens games, on the other hand... still pretty off the hook!)

BTW, allowing that Hilton to block the view of the Bromo Seltzer tower from inside the seating bowl is one of the dumbest things the City Council has ever done.

[Billiam]

What's on the site now?

And to Lumerian Feast's last statment: you are way too correct. i think most agree

[rudy_d]

Originally Posted by rowh

What's on the site now?

A YMCA, senior housing, and a playground.

[janetvj]

I drove down 33rd St for the first time in years just yesterday, and although I knew Memorial Stadium was long gone, it was still a little bit of a shock and very sad to actually see it for myself. I have very fond memories of going to Orioles games there as a kid. My mom was a huge Orioles fan, and although my father wasn't that much into it, he would take the whole family because my mother so loved the games. I remember her keeping score on the scorecards that were in the programs.

Never went to a Colts game, but as an adult I saw quite a few football games there when the Baltimore Stallions of the CFL played there.

I wish they would have kept the facade, too. I thought that was the original plan. Does anyone know why that was scrapped?

[Seacrets]

I don't know what they scrapped the facade, but I'm pretty sure Cal used some of the letters on the new Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen.

[rudy_d]

Cal did get the "Memorial Stadium" letters. Other parts of the memorial were moved to the area between Camden Yards and the football stadium.

I think it was deemed too costly and impractical to try to stabilize a large wall that was meant to be part of a larger structure, although people put up a fight for it.

[quiet walker]

Great thread I miss the stadium very much. It went about the same time as my interest in attending pro baseball games. I went a couple of times to Camden Yards and it was OK I guess. But I loved sitting in the second deck above third base and seeing the row house neighborhoods over the Toyota scoreboard in the evening when it got dark during evening games. I miss the houses all along 33rd St all decorated up in orange and black when driving to the stadium, and parking in that big high school lot across the street. And there were all those vendors on the street. I was always amused by the bag of big fresh peanuts I would buy there. The bag was labeled "Old Virginia Peanut Co. Baltimore MD" During the last few years MARC ran special trains filled with O's fans from DC which were great fun.

Camden Yards just doesn't have the charm for me these days, much less the sport with its billionaire owners, taxpayer financed stadiums, and pampered millionaire players. Don't even get me started on the Lerners' "team" and publicly funded complex in DC