MEMORIAL STADIUM | bmoresportsnest

MEMORIAL STADIUM--THE WORLD'S LARGEST OUTDOOR INSANE ASYLUM

THE LADY IN RED by RICK DEMPSEY

She's the lady in red, She's Baltimore's Best,

and many a great one have come from her nest.

She gave birth to a thousand, adopted a few,

by the way that she loved them nobody knew.

There was Brooksie and Frank and Booger by name,

there was Palmer, McNally, Paulie and Blade.

Eddie and Flannie and Tippy and Scott,

Dobber and Cuellar, Stanhouse and Stod.

There was Moby and Kell and Gary and Low,

Ritchie and Dennis, Gus and the Crow.

She made Earl her General and Ripken the Sarge.

And they led her children on a perilous charge.

But when the battles had ended on October subsides,

there stood the lady in all of her pride.

She's gray now and tired, and goes to lay down.

With the pennants God gives her to wear as her crown.

Glory and honor will sleep at her feet,

for the miracles she gave us on 33rd Street.

Both the new Orioles and the Colts had some great successes over the next few decades, winning several championships. Among the noteworthy Orioles who played here by the 1960s to 90's were pitcher Jim Palmer, first basemen John (Boog) Powell and Eddie Murray, shortstop Cal Ripken Jr., third baseman Brooks Robinson, and outfielder Frank Robinson. Among the Colts' greats were quarterbackJohnny Unitas, wide receiver Raymond Berry, and running backs Alan Ameche and Lenny Moore, as well as tight end John Mackey. Over the next few decades, both teams became among the winningest and competitive franchises in their sports, sending a number of players to their respective Halls of Fame. Following the stunning win of their first championship in what became known as "The Greatest Game to be Played" versus the New York Giants in the 1958 title game in New York, the Colts later repeated the accomplishment in the next year'sNFL championship game of 1959, which the "Hosses" won, playing at the stadium before a home crowd. It was the enthusiasm of Colts fans in particular that led to the stadium being dubbed "The World's Largest Outdoor Insane Asylum" by Cooper Rollow, the "Chicago Tribune"'s head NFL sports writer at the time.

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In a most unusual move, Robert Irsay (1923–1997), then owner of Los Angeles Rams and then-current Colts owner Carroll Rosenbloom (1907–1979) swapped franchises. Under the new Irsay regime, their new general manager Joe Thomas (1921–1983) made some daring and ultimately rewarding trades and drafts which again brought the Colts to prominence in the NFL. However, by the late 70s/early 80s, key injuries (especially to their franchise QB, Bert Jones, who ironically wound up going to the Rams) and ill-advised personnel moves by Irsay caused the team's fortunes to sag, and attendance in the modest stadium did as well. Further, neither Irsay nor the city could agree to desperately-needed improvements to the aging and tattered stadium, so Irsay started visiting other cities, seeking to either motivate the city or woo another. Finally, a quick travel stop with a B.W.I. Airport conference was held with City Mayor William Donald Schaefer(1921–2011), which also proved fruitless. Irsay then negotiated with Indiana officials and in Indianapolis with Mayor William H. Hudnut, III, and they stunned the sports world by transferring to Indianapolis, with Mayflower Moving Company moving vans trucking the club's equipment to Indiana in the middle of a snowy night on March 29, 1984, under the threat of a measure introduced into the state legislature to initiate condemnation proceedings for the city and state to assert "eminent domain" and take ownership of the franchise on behalf of the citizens and fans. This event dramatically shifted the political establishment's view on how best to address the later continued stadium upgrade needs of the Orioles, the only remaining tenant.

It was only after the Colts moved that the mayor reversed his position and supported establishment of a new stadium in time for the Orioles...but too late to keep the Colts.

For the next decade, while the community input process lumbered on, Memorial Stadium hosted a minor league baseball team and two new professional football teams. The Bowie Baysox, a minor league affiliate of the Orioles, played their inaugural 1993 season at Memorial Stadium while their permanent home ballpark was being built. As the Orioles were then in their second season at Camden Yards, this gave Baltimore the rare distinction of hosting both major league and minor league teams simultaneously; currently, New York City has that honor with the presence of the Brooklyn Cyclones and Staten Island Yankees, who are affiliated with the Mets and Yankees, respectively.

HISTORY OF BALTIMORE MEMORIAL STADIUM

Memorial Stadium was completed in the late spring/early summer of 1954 under the direction of the administration of Mayor, Thomas L.J. D'Alesandro, Jr. as the Orioles' first "big league" season progressed, at a cost of $6.5 million under a project which started with its expansion in 1950. Seating 31,000 at the time, the new stadium consisted of a single, horseshoe-shaped deck, with the open end facing north, and was designed to host football as well as baseball. A roofless upper deck was added later in 1953–1954 when the St. Louis Browns of the American League were announced in November 1953 to be moved to Baltimore and became the new major league version of the Baltimore Orioles, beginning play in April 1954 in the American League.

On April 15, 1954, thousands of Baltimoreans jammed city streets as the new Orioles paraded from downtown at the Baltimore City Hall to their new home at Memorial Stadium on 33rd Street for their first home game. During the 90-minute parade, the new "Birds" signed autographs, handed out pictures and threw styrofoam balls to crowd as the throngs marched down several major city streets ending on East 33rd Street. Inside, more than 46,000 watched the Orioles beat the Chicago White Sox, 3–1, to win their home opener and move into first place (although temporarily) in the American League.

A small private airplane crashed on the stadium premises on December 19, 1976, just minutes after the conclusion of an NFL playoff game with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The airplane, a Piper Cherokee, buzzed the stadium, and then crashed into the upper deck overlooking the south end zone. 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 the pilot was arrested for violating air safety regulations

TRIBUTE TO MEMORIAL STADIUM

When the decision to abandon Memorial Stadium (in favor of the new downtown ballpark) became imminent, various citizen groups began to organize opposition to the decision. In particular, the neighborhoods surrounding Memorial Stadium became anxious about the impact on their area of an abandoned "white elephant": there simply wasn't any other use that would generate the funds to properly maintain the site. And there were no funds for demolition and redevelopment. While the stadium events may have created periodic disruptions to local life, it did provide easy access to major league sports and special attention from the city for maintenance of the area. No one in the local community was optimistic about the future of the neighborhoods.

The Baltimore Stallions played during the Canadian Football League's "southern expansion" experiment to the United States. The team was originally known as the "Baltimore CFL Colts", but they were forced to change their name to the Stallions (after one year of playing without an official name) when the NFL was granted a legal court injunction which prevented the CFL franchise from reclaiming the "Colts" name. Owner Jim Speros took over the facility, exchanging tickets to contractors for renovations to help bring the dilapidated stadium to workable condition. Memorial Stadium was unique in that it was one of the few U. S. stadiums that could accommodate the full 65-yard width and 150-yard length of a regulation Canadian football field (most likely since it had been designed for baseball as well as American football). Averaging more than 30,000 spectators a game for two years, the Stallions would eventually become the only American team to win the Grey Cup.

The Stallions of the CFL were ultimately forced out of town when Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell announced he was moving his team to Baltimore. Following protracted negotiations between Modell, the two cities and the NFL, it was decided that Modell would be allowed to take his players and organization to Baltimore as the Ravens, while leaving the Browns name and legacy for a replacement team that returned in 1999. The Ravens were tenants of the stadium until the end of the 1997 NFL regular season, when they moved to what is now M&T Bank Stadium. It was bid 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).

Memorial Stadium also hosted several University of Maryland home football games against such opponents as Clemson and Penn State. In 1988, the stadium served as Navy's "home" venue for their annual football game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

The ballpark also served as the home venue for Baltimore's two North American Soccer League teams, the Bays (1967–1968) and the Comets (1974).