Oriole Park at Camden Yards, commonly known as Camden Yards, is a ballpark in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It is the home of Major League Baseball's (MLB) Baltimore Orioles, and the first of the "retro" major league ballparks constructed during the 1990s and early 2000s. It was completed in 1992 to replace Memorial Stadium. The stadium is in downtown Baltimore, a few blocks west of the Inner Harbor in the Camden Yards Sports Complex.
Since its opening, Oriole Park has been widely hailed as one of the best stadiums in baseball and is credited with starting a wave of neotraditional ballparks after the cookie-cutter stadiums of the mid to late 20th century.
Since construction on Oriole Park began in 1989, taxpayers have shouldered at least $1.3 billion of the stadium's costs. In 2023, the Orioles asked taxpayers to pay an additional $600 million for stadium renovations.
History
Planning and construction Prior to Camden Yards, the predominant design trend of big league ballparks was the symmetrical multi-purpose stadium. Memorial Stadium, the Orioles' home since they moved from St. Louis in 1954, was an early example of such a design.
In 1984, the Baltimore Colts moved to Indianapolis, in part because Baltimore and Maryland officials refused to commit money for a replacement for Memorial Stadium. Not wanting to risk losing the Orioles and Baltimore's status as a Major League Baseball city, city and state leaders immediately began planning a new park in order to keep them in town.
The master plan was designed by international design firm RTKL. The stadium design was completed by the architectural firm HOK Sport, which had pioneered retro ballparks at the minor league level four years earlier with Pilot Field in Buffalo, New York.
HOK Sport's original design was very similar to the new Comiskey Park. However, Orioles president and CEO Larry Lucchino turned it down preferring an old fashion ballpark with modern amenities. Lucchino hired Janet Marie Smith, an architect and city planner, to represent the team as Orioles senior vice president to execute his vision. Baltimore-based Ashton Design developed the signs, graphics, and logos for the stadium, as well as the 19th-century style clock above the scoreboard. Ashton's vintage designs, which echo the team's turn-of-the-century origins, proved influential, and the firm was called upon to complete similar retro redesigns of Fenway Park and Dodger Stadium.
Construction began in 1989 and lasted 33 months. Former Orioles owner Eli Jacobs favored naming the new field Oriole Park, while then-Maryland governor William Donald Schaefer favored Camden Yards. After considerable debate, a compromise was reached, and it was decided that both names were to be used, resulting in the stadium's long name.
1992–2008: Grand opening and early years
The first contest at Oriole Park at Camden Yards was a 5–3 preseason exhibition Orioles win over the New York Mets before 31,286 on April 3, 1992.Justice, Richard. "Orioles Inaugurate Camden Yards, Defeat Mets," The Washington Post, Saturday, April 4, 1992. Retrieved April 3, 2022. The ballpark officially opened three days later on April 6 with Rick Sutcliffe pitching a complete game shutout in a season-opening 2–0 victory over the Cleveland Indians before a sellout crowd of 44,568.Gildea, William. "It's a Grand Opening for Camden Yards," The Washington Post, Tuesday, April 7, 1992. Retrieved April 3, 2022. Chris Hoiles drove in the first run at Camden Yards with a ground-rule double that scored Sam Horn in the fifth inning.Kent, Milton. "Score 1 for the Books: History-making run starts Horn on big day," The Baltimore Sun, Tuesday, April 7, 1992. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
Camden Yards hosted the 1993 MLB All-Star Game.
On June 18, 1994, an escalator accident injured 43 people when one of the stadium's multiple-story escalators, overcrowded with fans heading to the upper deck, jerked backward, throwing passengers to the bottom landing. On September 6, 1995, Camden Yards witnessed Cal Ripken Jr.'s record-setting 2,131st consecutive game. Exactly one year later, Eddie Murray hit his 500th home run there.
One orange seat stands out from the park's dark green plastic chairs. Located at Section 96, Row 7, Seat 23 in the right-center field bleachers (officially known as the Eutaw Street Reserve sections), the seat commemorates the spot where Murray's 500th home run landed. A second orange seat, Section 86, Row FF, Seat 10 in the left field bleachers, was removed as part of renovations moving the outfield wall. That seat was the landing spot for Ripken's 278th home run as a shortstop, breaking Ernie Banks' record for the position. That home run was hit on July 15, 1993. Ripken finished his career with 345 home runs as a shortstop and 431 overall.
The success of Camden Yards sparked a trend in the construction of more traditional, fan-friendly ballparks in downtown locations across the U.S."Home of the Game: The Story of Camden Yards" by Thom Loverro (Taylor Publishing) , p 57.
Renovations After the 2008 season, a new HD video display and scoreboard were installed below the right field flag court, a standing-room area between the warehouse and the right field wall. A new, high fidelity sound reinforcement system was added around the ballpark in 2009. The Orioles made numerous improvements to their home ballpark and to their spring training facility, Ed Smith Stadium, before the start of the 2011 season. All seats in the lower seating bowl were replaced and drink rails were added in the club level. Several skyboxes were also eliminated and refurbished to make room for more casual party suites, including the Miller Light Flight Deck. The renovation reduced Oriole Park's capacity from 48,876 to 45,971, making it more comparable with newer ballparks.
During the 2011–12 off-season, the Orioles announced further upgrades to Camden Yards in preparation for the 20th anniversary of the park's opening. These improvements included the expansion of concession food choices, widening of the concourses in the upper deck, the installation of a replica of the B&O Railway Warehouse's original canopy, and the addition of a lounge atop the batter's eye in center field, which had previously been inaccessible to fans. All fans are permitted to access the standing area of the lounge and fans can purchase tickets for drink rail seats. The Orioles also opened Dempsey's Bar and Grill, named for beloved longtime Orioles catcher and TV broadcaster Rick Dempsey, on the ground level of the warehouse that is open before games and on non-game days. The team also erected cast-bronze statues of all the Oriole Baseball Hall of Famers in the picnic area beyond the bullpens in left-center field. Furthermore, the right field wall was lowered from to to improve the view of the field from Eutaw Street. In March 2024, The Orioles announced a multiyear partnership with Coors Light to rename the lounge on top of batter's eye/bullpen wall in center field. The lounge would be renamed, the "Coors Light Roof Deck." In July 2024, an LED T. Rowe Price Sign was added above the videoboard replacing where "The Sun" was formerly located.
Blocked skyline views In 2007–08, construction started on two large buildings beyond the stadium's outfield walls—a 757-room Hilton Baltimore hotel north of the stadium occupying a two-city-block area and a high-rise apartment building, both completed in 2009. The new buildings blocked views of the city's skyline from most sections of the grandstand. The Baltimore Sun said on April 21, 2008, "There's just a glimpse of the Bromo Seltzer Tower's crenellated top just to the right of the new Hilton Baltimore Convention Center hotel ... something's drastically different at Oriole Park this year ... the sweeping view of downtown Baltimore that fans have enjoyed for the past 16 seasons has changed considerably." Sportswriter Peter Schmuck complained, "the big, antiseptic convention hotel ... looms over Camden Yards ... [and] has blocked out the best part of the Baltimore skyline." A Washington Post columnist called it a "cruel cubist joke on a previously perfect ballpark," although others said they were pleased with new construction downtown as indicative of urban revitalization. Some hotel rooms have a clear view of the playing field.You probably can't watch the Orioles at Camden Yards this year. But what about from the Hilton Hotel balcony?
Changes in field dimensions In January 2022, Orioles general manager Mike Elias announced adjustments to Camden Yards' left field dimensions in an attempt to reduce the stadium's propensity for home runs. The changes, the first to the size of the iconic ballpark's playing area in two decades, raised the wall's height from to about and moved it back as much as , according to the Orioles. The 2022 configuration removed about 1,100 seats in the first 10 rows of outfield bleacher seats in sections 72–86. MLB approved the adjustments, which span from the left-field corner to the bullpens in left-center field.
As of 2020, Camden Yards' distance from home plate to the left-field corner was about average for the 30 major league stadiums, though its distance to left-center was the sixth-shortest in the league. In addition, Oriole Park was one of only eight ballparks with a wall shorter than 8 feet in left and had the shortest wall in left-center field of any venue. That left-field wall was tied for the sixth-tallest in the majors. The 2022–2024 dimensions to straight away left () and left-center () made Oriole Park's left field the most spacious in the American League. However, the protrusion created by the bullpens resulted in an unusual sight on a modern baseball field: a reduction in dimensions as one moved from left field toward center field. The left-center field dimension marked to the immediate left of the bullpens was 398 feet, while the left-center field dimension marked on the bullpens' wall was 376 feet. This created a hypothetical scenario in which a batter could hit a longer non-home run to left field than home run to left-center field, if the latter is hit into the bullpens. In 2024, Elias announced further adjustments to the left field wall, extending it from the bullpen and bringing it in to 363 (111 m) feet from home. A small connecting wall then stretches out to 374 feet, where an eight-foot segment leads to a corner located 373 (114 m) feet from home.
The orange seat commemorating Cal Ripken Jr.'s record 278th home run by a major league shortstop would be moved to an exhibit for the ballpark's 30th anniversary.
B&O Warehouse
The stadium planners incorporated the warehouse into the architecture of the ballpark experience rather than demolish or truncate it. The floors of the warehouse contain offices, service spaces, and a private club. The warehouse has never been hit by a legal home run during regulation play. However, several players have reportedly struck the wall during batting practice, and it was hit by Ken Griffey Jr. during the Home Run Derby before the 1993 MLB All-Star Game.
Eutaw Street