Memorial Stadium (Baltimore)

Memorial Stadium was a sports stadium in Baltimore, Maryland that formerly stood on 33rd Street. It stood on an oversized block also bounded by Ellerslie Avenue, 36th Street and Ednor Road (Template:Coor dms). Two different stadiums were located here, a 1922 version known as Baltimore Stadium, Municipal Stadium, and Venable Stadium and the stadium that, when finally completed in 1950, would become known as Memorial Stadium and, for a time, Babe Ruth Stadium in reference to the then-recently departed Baltimore native. The stadium was also known as "The Old Gray Lady of 33rd Street."

This pair of structures hosted the following professional teams over the years:

Baseball

• Baltimore Orioles, International League, mid-season 1944 – 1953
• Baltimore Orioles, American League, 1954 – 1991
• Bowie Baysox, Eastern League (Orioles farm club), 1993

American Football

• Baltimore Colts, AAFC 1947 – 1949, NFL 1950
• Baltimore Colts, National Football League, 1953 – 1983
• Baltimore Ravens, National Football League, 1996 – 1997

Canadian Football

• Baltimore Stallions, Canadian Football League, 1994 – 1995

[edit] Stadium history

[edit] Baltimore Stadium

Memorial Stadium started out in life as Baltimore Stadium, also known as Municipal Stadium, and as Venable Stadium. It was built in 1922, in a previously undeveloped area called Venable Park. It was primarily a football stadium, a large horseshoe with its open end facing south. In its early years it hosted various college-level games, including the occasional Army-Navy Game. In mid-summer 1944 it was pressed into service as a baseball park by the Baltimore Orioles of the International League, when their previous home, Oriole Park, was destroyed by fire. The diamond was positioned in the northwest "corner" of the field, making for a short left field (about 290 feet) and spacious center and right fields.

The minor league Orioles literally rose from the ashes, in heroic fashion, going on to win the International League championship that year, and also the Junior World Series over Louisville of the American Association. The large post-season crowds at Municipal Stadium, which would not have been possible at Oriole Park, and which easily surpassed the attendance at major league baseball's own World Series that year (in which the St. Louis Cardinals defeated their in-town rivals, the St. Louis Browns, who would move to Baltimore in 1954), caught the attention of the major leagues, and Baltimore suddenly became a viable option for teams looking to move.

[edit] Memorial Stadium

Spurred by the Orioles' success, and also by the presence of professional football, the city chose to rebuild the stadium as a facility of major league caliber, which they renamed Memorial Stadium in honor of the dead of World War I and World War II. It was also known for a time as "Babe Ruth Stadium", after the then-recently deceased Hall of Famer and Baltimore native. The reconstruction was done in stages, slowly obliterating the old Municipal Stadium stands, even as the Orioles continued playing on their makeshift diamond in the northwest corner.

Memorial Stadium was completed in 1950 at a cost of $6.5 million. Seating 31,000 at the time, the stadium consisted of a single, horseshoe-shaped deck, with the open end facing north, and was designed to host both football and baseball. A roofless upper deck was added four years later when the St. Louis Browns committed to moving to Baltimore and becoming the major league version of the Baltimore Orioles.

The general layout of Memorial Stadium resembled a somewhat scaled-down version of Cleveland Stadium. As such, the playing area was initially quite large in center field for baseball, due to the need to fit a football field on the premises, and foul territory was also quite large as well. The construction of inner fences after 1958, however, shrunk the size of the outfield somewhat. The addition of several rows of box seats also shrunk the foul ground, ultimately making the stadium much more of a hitters' park than it was originally. It did host the Major League Baseball All-Star Game that year.

Both the Orioles and the Colts had some great successes over the next few decades, winning several championships. Among the Orioles who played here were pitcher Jim Palmer, first baseman John (Boog) Powell, shortstop Cal Ripken Jr., third baseman Brooks Robinson and outfielder Frank Robinson. Among the Colts' greats were quarterback John Unitas and running back Alan Ameche.

Hard times for the ballpark began when the Colts' fortunes sagged and they transferred to Indianapolis, in a notorious move where moving vans trucked the club's equipment in the middle of the night. Then the Orioles began pressing for a new baseball-only facility, resulting in the first and arguably the best of the 1990s retro-ballparks, Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

Memorial Stadium was relegated to temporary-home status for several sports teams, and was finally abandoned for good in 1997. It was bade farewell in style by both the Orioles (in a field-encircling ceremony staged by many former Oriole players and hosted by Hall of Fame announcer Ernie Harwell, who began his announcing career here) and the Ravens (who had many former Colts assemble for a final play, run by Unitas).

The City of Baltimore solicited proposals for development of the site. Most proposals preserved some or all of the stadium, including the memorial to World War II veterans and words on the facade, one proposal even had a school occupying the former offices of Memoral Stadium and the field used as a recreational facility for the school. Mayor Martin J. O'Malley, however, favored the proposal that resulted in the total razing of the stadium, an act that many fought and protested. Former Mayor and Governor William Donald Schaefer continues to protest that the stadium was razed for political reasons. The venerable and historic stadium was demolished over a ten-month period beginning in April, 2001. Much of the stadium remnants were used to build an artificial reef in Chesapeake Bay.

As of 2005, the former site of Memorial Stadium now houses Maryland's largest YMCA facility and two apartment (one being a retirement home) complexes to serve the surrounding communities.

[edit] Airplane crash

One highly unusual incident was the crash of an airplane on the stadium premises. This occurred on December 19, 1976, just minutes after the conclusion of an NFL playoff game with the Pittsburgh Steelers. A small plane buzzed the stadium, and then crashed into the upper rows of the upper tier of seating. Fortunately for the fans, the Steelers had won the game handily (40-14), and most of the fans had already exited the stadium by the time the game ended. There were no serious injuries, and pilot Donald Kroner was arrested for violating plane safety regulations.

[edit] Sources

• House of Magic, by the Baltimore Orioles
• The Home Team, by James H. Bready