The Baltimore Orioles play baseball at the regally-named Orioles Park at Camden Yards, way downtown where the Baltimore & Ohio railroad terminals used to meet, back when people used to travel, or ship merchandise, by rail. The warehouse that you see here is the longest brick building on the east coast of America. 1,116 feet long and eight stories high, it has overseen a lot since it was completed in 1905.
A lot of baseball! I mean, the Orioles built the stadium around that giant wall, and the childhood home of Babe Ruth, whose father operated a saloon in what is now center field. Young Babe, in and out of reform school, lived in the family quarters above the bar, and used the outhouse in the back yard.
That backyard was full of Rams last week, a few dozen of the Los Angeles variety.
What happened was, the National Football League Rams came to Baltimore to beat the Ravens a couple of weeks ago, and their next game was in London, so rather than flying home to Southern California, they bivouacked in Baltimore, having arranged with the Maryland Stadium Authority to lay out a miniature gridiron in the baseball outfield. Then they jetted off to swinging London, where they easily defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars, and if all that is not confusing enough, I'll remind you that once there was a football team called the Baltimore Colts, whose owner traded them for the Rams, and then he drowned in the ocean. (No kidding.)
The nice part of all this is the parting gift the Rams had for the Orioles. They are paying to replace the sod they tore up, so it will be nice and fresh in March when baseball comes back. It's only nice to leave a gift for your hosts!
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