Orioles 60th Anniversary

In the next several days, you are going to read plenty of well written, articulate accounts of the Orioles 60th Anniversary celebration. This will probably not be one of them. I wish that I could put together a blog post that would make sense for those of you that weren’t there. I wish I could put into words how that made me feel.

But I can’t. There’s simply too much.

The Orioles celebrated their 60th anniversary in Baltimore by blowing out a team that played in the city from which they came. The 12-2 victory that included six home runs might have been enough to send me and my 43,743 closest friends home happy. But when the game ended, the show really began.

The ceremony featured fireworks, a laser show, and an intricate projection on the Warehouse wall. Oh yeah, and 23 Orioles Hall of Famers, the largest such gathering the Orioles have managed to put together.

Here’s the best way I think I can explain what last night was like:

My stepdad’s Aunt, my Great Aunt Bette was a wonderful lady. Unwed late in life, she laughed easily, calling herself an “unclaimed jewel.” And she was. This woman was full of life, a twinking eye, and an infectious sense of humor. She entered a room calling “you hoo!” which is a customary greeting in my family to this day, even though Aunt Bette has left us. Aunt Bette loved B.J. Surhoff. Loved him. He was her favorite Oriole, and for my siblings and cousins, the sweet infatuation one B.J. (Betty Jane) had with another (#17 of her Baltimore Orioles) is a part of the fabric of our family. It’s the kind of stories we reminisce over at family gatherings.

When Surhoff was introduced to the crowd last night, my first thought was Aunt Bette, calling “you hoo!” as she entered the beach house, ready to brighten someone’s day. It was hard not to get emotional. It was hard not to feel her presence. To feel goosebumps. To feel the magic in the air.

Looking around, I wasn’t the only one who has having a magical night.

All of us have these stories. Whether they’re memories of Milt Papas, or the last game of the 2011 season. Last night was about O’s fans celebrating the memories that bind us to this team we love. Memories that connect families and generations. These are the reasons that baseball matters. Otherwise, the fact that we care so deeply about a bunch of brutes playing a kids’ game is a little silly. And let’s face it, it is silly. But it’s a wonderful kind of silly – the kind that made the Magic of Orioles Baseball very real for those at the stadium, and watching at home.

Kudos the Orioles for putting together such a great event, and to the 2014 team for giving us reason to believe there are plenty more memories on the way.

Here are some photos – just like my accounts of the event, they’re not the best you’ll see today. But they’re mine, and I’ll treasure them.