Baltimore Orioles Tickets

About Baltimore Orioles Baseball

Back in 1953, Major League Baseball owners unanimously decided bring a baseball franchise to Baltimore moving the Browns franchise, then located in St. Louis, to Maryland city. Named after the official bird of the state, the "Orioles" have seen plenty of success in the more than half a century in Baltimore. They also play in what is regarded as one of the premier ball parks in baseball, Oriole Park at Camden Yards. With the iconic warehouse beyond the right field wall, as well as great food like crab cakes and hot dogs available from the many vendors, attending an Orioles game is where memories are made.

After moving to Baltimore, the O's did not see immediate success finishing 54-100 in their inaugural season. Even though they had a losing season, fan support in the city did not waiver as over one million fans bought tickets for the baseball season. The Orioles became contenders in the American League by 1960, behind players like Brooks Robinson and Milt Pappas. But it wasn't until the team traded Milt Pappas, along with two other role players, to acquire Frank Robinson that the team became championship contenders. In 1966, behind some timely hitting and pitching, the they defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the World Series. The team followed that success with multiple trips to the fall classic including their second World Series title in 1970.

It was 1982 when the history of the franchise, and Major League Baseball, changed when shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. made his MLB debut. Ripken quickly made his mark on the birds, when in 1983 he helped lead them to their third World Series Championship. But it was just the beginning of what Cal Ripken would accomplish during his illustrious baseball career. Ten years after making his debut, he hadn't missed a game in an Orioles uniform. He was at 1,735 consecutive games, and reaching the iron man record of consecutive games played was in sight. Then in 1995, with all of America watching, he reached the milestone of 2,131 consecutive games played surpassing the original "Iron Man", Lou Gehrig. He announced in 2001 that it would be his last season playing baseball in Baltimore and in the majors. But Cal went out in style, winning the MLB All-Star MVP in his final appearance in the midsummer classic.

Since Ripken's retirement, the O's have been trying to recapture the glory of his best years. But bad breaks and lackluster rosters, they have yet to reach that goal. It has not been any help to them playing in the American League Eastern Division, the toughest division in Major League Baseball. Having to play nearly 80 baseball games every season versus the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays would be tough for anyone in baseball.

Baltimore Orioles - Resources

• Official Baltimore Orioles Web site

Baltimore Orioles - Trivia

• Cal Ripken ended his consecutive games played streak on September 20, 1998 with a record 2,632 games played, which is more then 500 more games then the previous record held by Lou Gehrig.
• On their way to their second World Series title, the Baltimore Orioles boasted three twenty game winners with Dave McNally (24-9) Mike Cuellar (24-8) and Jim Palmer (20-10) all accomplishing the feat.
• It has been a tradition to play John Denver's 'Thank God I'm a Country Boy' during the seventh inning stretch. A tradition that began when in 1975, the owner of the team wanted to play more pop music to reach out to the younger fans.

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