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Baltimore
Orioles opening day. I managed to talk my way into shooting this
extravaganza because it's usually a alot of fun. There's
lots of excitement about the O's this year with the addition of
Sammy Sosa and I wanted to be on the field for his introduction.
I picked what I thought would be the best spot to be when that
happened and it would have been had not the visiting team's line
of players creeped over to block my shot and everybody else's.
Later I slinked into the stands and got a great shot of Sammy's
sprint to right field for the first time. The crowd went nuts.
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Here's Sammy signing autographs before the game. Yeah...it was
nice and everything but it seemed so perfunctory. Sammy looked
like he was on autopilot, placating the throng. He signed for
5 minutes and abruptly sprinted away. I did get some nice video
though.
In batting practice Sammy hit a popup that carried out.
Camden Yards will be berry berry good to heem.
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It's nice to be out on the field this day. Everything seems so
fresh and alive again. And Camden Yards is truly a great
place to watch baseball. I was here on opening day of this ballpark
in 1992 as my station broadcast the game. Talk about a great seat...I
was in the photog pit about 50 feet from the plate for the first
pitch from Rick Sutcliffe. Earlier, to officially open the place,
they cut a giant ribbon in center field and I was the cameraman
at 2nd base shooting it. I looked in my viewfinder and then looked
up at the JumboTron to see my shot being shown. I thought..."that's
pretty damn cool." The whole city was looking at the shot
that I saw as a little 2" black and white image in my viewfinder.
I was in a still photo in the Baltimore Sun the next day. It was
a wide shot. I was about a half a millimeter big. But I still
kept it.
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The players just barely tolerate the media throng. What is it
about baseball players that so many of them seemed to be spoiled
brats?
These guys are pampered from the day they get a scout to notice
them and so many of them seem to think they are privileged. I
don't get the same vibe from football players though.
The #1 prick I encountered has got to be Mike Mussina. What a
pain in the ass he was. Good riddance.
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This is our live setup outside the stadium and as always seems
to happen, the game ended just as we go live when all the fans
start pouring out. Our little crime scene tape barrier was all
for show and only worked to defend us from the 2 guys from Harrisburg
TV next to us.
The drunks are the last ones out and the most obnoxious. Last
year our sports guy actually cloppered one with his mic.
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Just before the opening ceremony,. in walks Cal Ripken and family
to take their seats in the front row. In Baltimore, Cal is actually
given a little breathing room. Everyone here know's his life story,
the house he lives in...everything. So although he is a baseball
god, the people don't pummel him with requests because he's earned
a break from that life. But everyone is always glad to see him.
I'd like to meet the sportwriters who vote against him for the Hall
of Fame and listen to their reasoning. But some schmuck will do
it. No unanimous votes even for Cal. But c'mon...the guy rescued
baseball for chrissakes. |
More of the press contingent on the field waiting for something
else to do.There's only so much to shoot once you've got the essentials.
If you're going to be in an edit crunch, no use making it harder
on yourself wading thru too much tape. |
I usually get the basics and then start looking around for some
special shots that I know I'll use. This year that shot was a closeup
of an All-American little kid saying "Wow!" as he watched
a batting practice homer. Used it in both packages. |
The media horde was definitely smaller this year for one big reason.
Washington now had it's own team and didn't need to be slobbering
over the O's anymore. Take away 4 or 5 live setups on the field
and you've created a lot more elbow room. They'll be back only if
the Orioles surprise people and contend and the Nationals do nothing...which
is actually how I see it. Maybe. |
Camden Yards had more empty seats last year than ever before for
the season. And although this day's crowd was announced as the largest
crowd ever, I still saw empty seats. I'd like to find out how they
actually account for people. Always seems a tad inflated to me. |
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Honest to
God...on a beautiful blue sky afternoon I can't believe there
is a more picturesque place to watch a ballgame. One of Baltimore's
legendary sportwriters, John Steadman had lobbied very hard to
knock this warehouse down and not include it in the design. He
was flat wrong and before his death he admitted as much. The warehouse
IS Camden Yards. It's also the longest building standing
on the East Coast.
Before the ballpark was built I used to shoot the elephants from
Barnum and Bailey's circus get off the train on what is now the
home of Boog's Barbecue on Eutaw street.
By the way...I've never figured out why Eutaw is spelled E-U-T-A-W.
I'm thinking maybe Utah wasn't even a state when they named it.
Baltimore is an old city.
Maybe Utah should be spelled EUTAW.
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This is WMAR
photog Paul Jaffey. He shoots most of the sports for our station.
He and I were the only shooters this day so we conferred and made
sure we had all our bases covered. All in all the day went off
without a hitch. But we've been doing this too long to expect
any real praise. Tomorrow it will be something else and all this
work will be video vapor.
On....and...gone.
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