Accessibility Review: Orioles Park at Camden Yards

Parking at Orioles Park at Camden Yards was a little confusing, especially since we arrived very early in order to see the Sports Legends Museum, Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum, and Geppi Entertainment Museum before the park opened for the game. However, the man running the parking area by the Sports Legends Museum was very helpful about getting on his radio to find out what lot was already open for handicap parking before just sending us to a possibly closed lot. Once there we were surprised parking was only $10 and it is right next to the park near on of the Eutaw Street entrances to the park.

The gates for the Eutaw Street entrance opened two hours before the game. You then can hang out in the Eutaw Street area until the rest of the park opens about an hour and a half before the game. This was kind of boring for us since we had walked Eutaw Street earlier in the day before they closed it to prepare for the game. The only potentially interesting thing is to watch batting practice, but this is not exactly accessible. The main area to watch is behind a wall you have to be standing to see over or down in the outfield seating.

There are a few wheelchair spots in the outfield seating you can get to and then view the batting practice, so we did that. However, these seats are horrible. The view is blocked by a wall to the left of the section. The blockage is so bad you cannot even see 1st base along with a good chunk of right field being blocked. Worst part is that the seats are almost right up against the gate that separates the section from Eutaw Street. I am sure the foot traffic here would be quite a nuisance during the game, as it certainly was at the beginning. Not to mention the path is barely wide enough to even get the wheelchair to the seating section. Boy I am I glad this is not where we had our tickets to sit.

Our seats were in section 78. The seats were at the top of the lower seating section. They were nice and close to the field, especially for only $15 a ticket. However, the upper deck ones would have been better. The issue with these lower ones is that they are not raised up above the seats in front anymore than a normal row. This makes it really hard for you to see sitting down when the people in front stand up, which happened a lot during the game we were at. For a regular physically able person this would be fine, as you could just stand up to continue to try and see the action. However, it is unacceptable in my opinion for handicap rows to be at the back of a section and not raised up above the row in front because many people in wheelchairs cannot stand up when they want to be able to keep seeing the action. I did notice that the upper levels of handicap seating were raised above the row in front. They are not that much cheaper and are farther from the action, but it would be worth it in Mik’s opinion to not have people standing up and ruining the moments he does watch the games.

Overall the game was not a horrible accessible experience, but it was kind of disappointing. However, Orioles Park being the first of the modern era of ballparks I can forgive it for not having worked out the best accessibility. They obviously cared and made there be a lot of up close handicap seating that is not under an overhang and that is rather rare in many parks other than right up on the field, which can be quite expensive. Since we did not sit in the upper sections I have no idea how the elevator situation is here, which often is an issue parks fail at. As for the cup holder issue that Mik always pays attention to, there are no cup holders anywhere, so Mik did not feel left out, but he still does not like not having a cup holder.

Car Sticker Update: Baltimore Orioles

The American League side of the car is getting very full even, as only two more of the six remaining ballparks we need to see are American League ones. The one Dad got for the Baltimore Orioles says Orioles and has the Orioles bird above the team name.

Kj’s Baseball Collection: Camden Yards

I was able to find a pretty interesting Camden Yards ballpark baseball at the Orioles game. One strip has a brick background and says Camden Yards in big orange letters on it. The other strip is a view of the Orioles Park at Camden Yards outfield with the unique warehouse and Eutaw Street in the background. Actually it really is not a view of the outfield and really just of view of the park behind the outfield wall. Anyways it is a view that makes it quite clear that it is none other than Orioles Park at Camden Yards.

Mik’s Mini Bat Collection: Orioles Park at Camden Yards

Mik choose a mini bat of the ballpark as his Orioles mini bat. He actually got it at the Sports Legends Museum, but they ended up having them at the Orioles game as well. The mini bat is natural on the bottom and has an orange background on the top. There is an image of the ballpark as a sort of aerial view on the mini bat. It says Orioles Park at Camden Yards about the ballpark image.

Baseball Museum 14: Sports Legends Museum

The second museum we visited before the Orioles game on July 10, 2009, was the Sports Legends Museum. This museum is located in a building on the same block as Orioles Park at Camden Yards and is located the near Eutaw Street entrance to the park. The museum focuses mostly on the history of baseball and football in Baltimore, although it does have a little bit about other sports in the Baltimore. Mik and Dad have seen this museum before and since I am not into football, we skipped that half of the museum and just saw the baseball exhibits. By the way this museum is fully accessible and you still get to see some Babe Ruth history, so until the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum is remodeled to be accessible this is a decent only stop if accessibility is an issue.

On the first floor the baseball exhibit is mostly organized by inning. Basically the history of baseball in Baltimore is broke into nine innings, which is a great themed way to organize the exhibits. One of the most amazing items on display is an 1895 Championship Banner that honored the team being a championship team in 1895. Another interesting display was things salvaged from the rubble of Old Orioles Park, which was destroyed in the July 4, 1944 fire. Some of the other displays include the closing of Memorial Stadium, the current ballpark, and Cal Ripken Junior and Senior memorabilia.

The most amazing part of the first floor, though, is the Hall of Fame area. The Hall of Fame displays are presented in a unique way. The displays are square glass cases broken into three or two triangle displays depending on the amount of players per pillar. For each player there is some memorabilia and below is a trading card or two on display. A few of the Orioles honored are Cal Ripken Sr, Cal Ripken Jr, and Brooke Robinson.

The second level to explore is actually the lower level of the building. On this level there are displays about the old stadiums of Baltimore. In this area there are a few items from Memorial Stadium including benches. There is also a model of the current Orioles Park at Camden Yards. The other displays on the lower level are about Maryland baseball from sandlot to the show (includes high school and college ball) and the Negro League history of Baltimore.

Overall the Sports Legends Museum is a fun place to visit and certainly better than the Babe Ruth Museum since this place is fully accessible. It has some overlap with a similar display, although on a small scale, of Babe Ruth memorabilia. The organization of the history of baseball in Baltimore by innings is very well done. The Hall of Fame is more interesting than just plaques, as they are actually cases with memorabilia. Plus, there is some other sports things to see if you want to, especially related to football, but we were not interested and skipped that.

Game 24: Toronto Blue Jays 2 @ Baltimore Orioles 0

Today we did three museums before the game (2 baseball and one Mik's choice pop art/comics mostly one), but I will get to that in later posts. By the time we were done with those and took our souvenirs back to the car Orioles Park at Camden Yards was just opening. The first half hour we could only go on Eutaw Street and part of outfield. That was kind of boring since we already walked Eutaw Street going to the museums. At least they do have some of the better concessions out here and all the stands here were open including souvenirs stands and the Team Shop.

About an hour and a half before the game they opened access to the rest of the park. We walked around in search of the Noah's pretzels so I could have an 'O' one and then went back to our seats. The seats were decent as we could see the scoreboard and most of the field. Oddly it was part of centerfield that we could not see.

The game itself was not that action packed, but it was not entirely dull either. There was some good pitching mixed in with the bad (i.e. quite a few walks). There really was not much in the way of great hitting, as in the whole game there were only 2 extra base hits. Both the extra base hits were doubles by Blue Jays. For the most part it was scoreless innings of baseball, as both Blue Jays runs came in the 5th. I do not think there were even any hits after the 6th or 7th inning.

Overall a good park. The whole game experience other than the ballpark itself is a lot like going to the Nats. I still hate the stupid O chant they say during the National anthem, but it is not as dorky as when the Nats fans do it because they think it is a normal baseball thing since the Orioles used to be the closest team to D.C. They do not have racing Presidents or anything like that on the field, but some of the scoreboard things are similar such as the MASN guess the year thing. Also, some if the best local type food is the same (Noah's Pretzels in the shape of the team letter and Boardwalk fries).

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Update July 16, 2009: Finally got the photos uploaded from the game here and have added some to the post.

Game 7: Baltimore Orioles 1 @ Seattle Mariners 0

Tonight's game was quite quick with a game time of 2 hours and 15 minutes. Our seats were decent, although up high at the top of the bleachers in section 194. Not much to say about the game as not much action with only one run by the Orioles (Dad and I were rooting for the home team since we are not American League fans besides me liking the Angels).

The only kind of interesting thing was the Orioles #10 breaking his bat three times. He broke a bat in each of his first three at bats and only did not break one in his fourth and final at bat. I have never seen more than one broken bat in a game much less one guy break three separate bats in one game. What a waste if you ask me.

Might not sound like it was exciting, but it was still an enjoyable game. Mik was well behaved even though the sun made it impossible to play his MLB PSP game. He actually even watched some of the game and he was happy as he was the one rooting for the Orioles.

We are now on the way back to the campground. Tomorrow we plan to get up at 5am to pack up the tent and hit the road by 6am. Staying at campground in Bismark tomorrow.

P.S. Mik said I need to post he got new cargo pants yesterday (not sure if I mentioned in yesterday's shopping post or not) and he wanted Mom to know. He wore then today and they are comfy. He was having a pants problem because Dad only packed him jeans and they were both itchy uncomfy pairs. He has some sweats, but with the cold weather games and him being an Arizona boy he needed another pair of pants so we were not constantly doing laundry.

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