helped to bring me into this world(mom did most of the work). I was an all-star softball player starting at age 8. Every summer Dad took me to an O’s game and thats where it all began, well realy since birth but most of my memories are from well, when I can remember. My daughter is 4 now and I took her to her first O’s game in 05 when she was just barely 1. We go to as many as I can afford(single mom) every year, starting in April, and you she doesn’t compalin if it’s cold because she’s at Camden Yards and loves it.

Sad note:

I had a daughter pass away from SIDS in 08, she lived one month and I named her Camden Amber, she was to be my next little O’s fan….May she rest in peace.

I grew up just outside of Philly, and all of my friends were Phillies fans, so wanting to be different, I chose the Orioles. Plus, I liked Ripken a lot.

Not sure which team would have given me the bigger ulcer though: Phils or O’s.

My dad grew up an Orioles fan and made sure I turned out the same way. I remember watching Cal and the 1995, 96, and 97 Orioles and having my Orioles love shaped by those teams, but I didn’t start fanatically following them until a few years ago. I mean I’ve always been an O’s fan but I never knew the team inside and out until a few years ago.

I live near DC and I’m tired of watching people go over to “the other side,” and become Nationals fans… ick. Once an O’s fan, always an O’s fan, no matter how many times they break your heart, that’s what I say.

My fandom was forged in a 10,000-degree fire and beaten into a fine blade in a secretive cave in the Norwegian fjords.

and my mom from S. Jersey liked the Phillies. When they moved here right before I was born, the only baseball on TV was of course, the Orioles. They moved here in late 88, so when I was growing up, it was Cal Ripken and Brady Anderson in the house.

My dad by now is more of an O’s fan than Twins. But he does like the Twins.

born in Baltimore, and my hole family is O’s fans. I grew up hearing about old stories of Memorial Stadium. I have pictures of me at a few months old wearing Oriole jerseys an hats.

I was a Pittsburgh Pirate fan thanks to the likes of Matty Alou, Bill Mazeroski, Gene Alley, Roberto Clemente, Bob Veale and a few other old pirates over the years. The black and gold sleeve less uniforms, The mystical old Forbes Field. It stayed that way until 1988 when my military career brought me to the Maryland/DC area. I became an Orioles fan and never looked back.

Southern PA, there was a few ways I could have gone (O’s, Phils, or Bucs). However, I am much closer to B-more than either of the others, plus my father’s side is from Charm City.

I began going to games in the mid-80’s that I can barely remember now. Memorial Stadium is a blur to me at this point. My first trip to Camden Yards was one of the most amazing days of my youth, however. “Oh you should see the Coliseum Spaniard…”

These days I spend my time mainly following the various minor league affiliates, with at least 5 O’s games mixed in per year.

 They Took over the independent cable system in my area for years, I had all Baltimore and Philadelphia stations (this was new london pa) Although my mom raised us to be Phillies fans because she always was one and grew up closer to philly and we had a 14 game plan.. I still am one today as well, she never discouraged me from being an O’s fan as well. She always said (because they never used to play) you can root for them because theyre your al team. We even went to a couple o’s games*though I was the only one who really rooted for the O’s, my brother and sister were there just to watch..) before I got my drivers license in 1996. Ever since then, I’ve never looked back, I started going to even more O’s games since i was able to take myself down to baltimore. The funny thing is out of my brother, sister and me, i’m the only one who also became an O’s fan .Maybe i watched too much tv:) .They just stayed Phils fans..

Thankfully in todays age we have digital papers and mlb.tv to so i can follow the O’s.. Today with my 2 boys Zach and Luke I get to baltimore once or twice a year, we also see the Orioles minor league teams a few times a year, the keys are in wilmington a lot, I love Aberdeen,go once a year or so and my dad lives in Norfolk, so when we visit him, I’m always sure to catch a tides game.
By the way, I am raising my boys to like both teams. They both have phils and O’s hats/ jerseys etc. we’ll see how that works out.,for all I know they might like neither team, but I can’t say I didn’t try.

No Nats during my formative years, or else I probably would’ve supported a Washington team.

I was born & raised in New England. Was a Red Sox fan when Ted Williams was still playing. Moved to Baltimore in ‘60 and was captivated by the “Oriole Way”. Enjoyed the O’s of the 60’s & 70’s with Brooks, Boog, Frank, Palmer, Barber, Cuellar and McNally. I moved to Rochester, NY in 1978, so I saw some AAA baby birds there including Cal. Left Rochester in ‘88 but stayed an Oriole fan. I’m retired, now in New Jersey, visited all 30 major league ballparks (OPACY is the best) and am excited about the future for the Orioles. They remind me of the “kiddie corps” of the early 1960s when the foundation of all those great Oriole teams was formed.

of my life when I wasn’t an Oriole fan. Dad worked for BGE and we went to “Gas Company Night” every year, starting when I was a fetus. Any notable event (Hank Aaron in town with the Brewers, Bird Fidrych starting…) we were on our way to Memorial. The payoff for a good report card — Oriole Game!!

Born and Raised in New Jersey, my household was split with Yankee and Mets fans. I was suppose to become one of them, but things didnt turn out that way.

The first baseball game I ever attended was in the summer of 99,the age of 4, at Yankee Stadium. It was a Yankee, Oriole game, one which I would never forget. When I first walked into the stadium I remember thinking, “this place looks like a dump”, the pee covered white walls of 1930 didnt appeal to me at the time, and will never now. Anyway, in the first inning, Cal Ripken homered, I didnt know why, but I was jumping up, screaming as loud as a could once it went over the left field wall, and I was an Oriole fan ever since

if you recommend this so more people can share thier stories!
I would really appreciate that!

My dad wasnt in to sports and he passed away when I was 6, so I really didnt have a sports influence in my life. My best friend was a big basketball fan, so I latched on to the Bulls like everyone else (I was born in ’82 for reference btw). I knew I was supposed to like the Mets or Yankees. For some reason I knew I hated the Yanks (probably because everyone else liked them) so I picked the Mets. I didnt watch a single game, just had to have one picked for 1st grade discussion.

Fast forward to me being around 11 years old. My mom remarried. I was a die hard Devils fan, so I actually had a sports interest at that point. My stepdad worked for the FAA and would inspect helicopters coming into Dundalk alot, so we got free vacations to Baltimore. Well, the first time I went I was amazed. I reemmeber that the Red Sox were in town, and I figured i’d see alot of fights. To my surprise the fans were actually joking around and having fun! This place was OBVIOUSLY a baseball town, as they had no other major sport, but the fans were civil and the place was clean and friendly! What gives?

So I took a tour of Camden with my mom and sis and that pretty much nailed it. The place had just opened and it was gorgeous. I was amazed. This was my new favorite place in the world.

We stayed in the Sheraton inner harbor and I remember seeing the sign saying it was the official hotel of the O’s so I got all excited and thought maybe I’d see one. The was the Orioles bar in the hotel at that time and we went in and I got a coke so I could get the souvenir all star game cup (which I still have). I got a ripken t shirt jersey (which I still have) and I was headed back to NJ.

We made quite a few trips after that and ive been making yearly pilgrimages (well, multi pilgrimages a year) for at least the past 14 years. I remember being the kid everyone traded baseball cards with becase id give away all the yankees and mets for an oriole. I had a million randy milligan and eddie murray cards. I took heat for being a “front runner” in HS because of Cal’s 2131st and the O’s actually being competitive, but whatever. I live in NJ. I dont have a home baseball team. Ive never rooted for a NY team (remember, the Giants play in NJ). Bmore may be a bit further away than the Bronx, but it feels a whole lot more like home.

And I mean very, very casual. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him watch a game on television. He talks about how he used to sort of follow the team during the 70s, but I don’t think he was anything more than a fair-weather fan, to be honest. Although he does enjoy going to a game or two each season. Mom doesn’t watch sports, my brother isn’t a baseball fan but will watch an occasional game – he’s more into College Basketball and the NFL.

And yet I always remember loving the Orioles. I can remember attending a game at Memorial Stadium when I was just a wee tyke, and I can remember updating the standing on the chalkboard in homeroom every morning during the 1996 season and being angry that some assholes in class would erase it during first period. I played little league, so I guess the love of baseball and the Orioles stemmed out of that. I met my current best friend when we were in middle school and we always talked baseball. We even tried out for the JV team in high school together and were the only two who didn’t make the team (because we sucked and we knew it, but we thought it would be fun to try out and it was). So no family influence here, just a love of the game nurtured by great friendship.

it was already set for me who I was going to love. This was an exciting team to grow up in the 90’s with even though there was no championship to go along with it. Being a fan of all other Washinton teams, I remember telling myself that I was going to switch to the Nats when they came to town because of Angelos’ incompetence. It was impossible no matter how hard I tried.

My whole family is O’s fans. My brother in law researched how Cal proposed to his wife, and he did the same thing to my sister. I am hoping Cal comes over here via the USO at some point. I will definitely have a few good fanshots to post here if that ever happens.

I actually don’t like the fact that I pour so much energy and emotion into a bunch of guys who swing a stick at a ball, but I can’t help it. I don’t get too many highs over here, but when I read about the comeback against Boston, I had a little extra giddy-up in my step all day.

For a toddler baseball was alright but that goofy mustachioed man whooping on the top of the bullpen dugout, sliding around with pillows stuffed under his shirt during rain delays…that was the greatest. When I learned to read it was the Sun Sports page. I loved Littwin hated Eisenberg. Again probably in no small part due to the mustache.

as i came out the whom haha. My dad had me know the oriole starting lineup before i was saying DA DA. He basically tutored me on oriole history and has keep me interested through the years of loosing. I was born in 88 and really can’t remember the good teams of the 90’s, so i was stuck with the loosing ways but i am anxious to get out of that. Also wish i could of experienced the wild bill hagy days where the games were like football games but i hope that comes back when the o’s win again. I get tired when you are at the games and 5,000 out of the 20,000 fans there at the game our into it.

I was born in 1970 (The year the Baltimore Orioles and the ‘70 Colts were both Champions in Baltimore). I was a fan of the Orioles, thanks to my mom who got me interested in baseball. Cried in 1979 when we lost the World Series to the Pirates. Redeemed in 1983. Been a rough ride since then but… Let’s Go Orioles!!!

Accident of birth

Lived in Maryland my entire life and my dad is a big fan as well as my grandparents on my mom’s side. My parents divorced when I was six and O’s games were a main event for me and my dad when he’d pick me up on the weekends. About the 7th grade it just kicked into high gear for some reason and I’ve been going strong ever since.

Living in Northern New York since ‘93, I have stayed strong. Everyone else is Yanks or bandwagon Sox. See a bunch of Mets fans,too. Every once in a while I run into an Orioles fan, with a similar situation that I have, or someone who loved Cal. I have a friend who was an Orioles fan, loved Cal, and then suddenly he was a Red Sox fan in ’04. That, my fellow CC’ers, is b.s., I have always given him a rough time for it, and is just one example of what I have to live with up here.

Go O’s, I would never even dream of changing teams.

I don’t know how old I was, but this is the earliest memory I have of being aware of the Orioles. My dad and brothers were talking about “the Birds” while watching a game. I remember thinking to myself that there were no birds on the television.

My family moved to suburban Balitmore from suburban Chicago in 1983. At the time baseball wasn’t all that popular in the Chicago area and the White Sox were probably the more popular team.

I was impressed how easily the O’s took care of the Sox in the ALCS and became a fan.

That’s what I get for hopping on the bandwagon.

in St Michaels.
Grandfather was president of the local bank, and had season tickets before I was born in 1958.
First game, because my Mom was sick, was to the 66 World Series game 4 when Frank murdered one to deep left for the 2nd straight 1-0 win, and a clincher.
I have been addicted ever since.

Gorwing up in Carroll County during the 70’s and 80’s meant a trip to Memorial Stadium was exotic. My dad worked for B&D. Several times per summer they had bus trips down to 33rd St. We went, but I mostly remember it being a long day. Bill Hagey was keeping things interesting. We didn’t go down much after B&D collapsed. I sure remember the 79 and 83 world series, and Gary Roenikie’s Provident Bank grandslam. I guess I went to old Memorial Stadium about 15 or 20 times from the late 70s until they moved to Oriole Park. The new place was more expensive and seemingly harder to get to (not really, I know). But by this time the football was more important to me. Football seemed more exciting. My granddaddy always listened to the Orioles on the radio watched whenever they were on TV. I remember that damn kid in right field stealing the playoff game from us in the Bronx, and I remember that firesale in 1997 when we got hot even after the star players were let go.
I didn’t start to love baseball until I moved away for college in 2003. Missouri State had the gret fortune of being pretty good, and a new minor league stadium (10,000 seats) was being built for a new team that wasn’t there yet. Our college team sold out when that stadium opened. The Bears were in the top ten for attendance that season. It was a bigger deal when the minor league team arrived in Springfield. They are a StL AA team, and usually host the big league team by the end of spring training. I started liking baseball so much that when I went on the road for work I would seek out the nearest minor league team. I even killed time by walking to a park where kids were playing little league when I was stuck in a really small town.
We moved to Houston right after hurricane Rita. The Astros were hot, beat the Cardinals for the NL pennant. I stayed up until 2am for the Chris Burke home run. My wife is from here, and we jumped on the Astros bandwagon and are still on it. I also went to games at Rice, and now always go to UH games since I’m a student.
As for the Orioles. Nostalgia. Hoemesick. I miss my Maryland and Bawlmer. The Orioles are a part of that. This spring we went to the day game on May 29 (or 27?), where the O’s made a come from behind victory, which was proclaimed to be the best game of the year at the time. I loved it. Felt some of that Orioles magic. I think they are about to turn the corner. So when I can’t have soemthing, it becomes more special. I may live in Houston, but I’ll always love the Orioles. I’m really glad that the road jerseys say “Baltimore” and I will look for Adam Jones wearing that tonight in the All-Star game.

I grew up in California – the first awareness I had of the O’s was Jim Palmer beating my idolized Sandy Koufax in 1966. They were always the team talked about with the great farm system. And then in the early 1980’s I was offered a job in three cities: I chose Baltimore because I always had a friendly feeling about the O’s. In my second year in town,1982, I witnessed that amazing four-game showdown with Milwaukee, with the fans going crazy in Memorial Stadium even though the boys lost the last game — it was like falling in love.

I wanted to become a baseball fan and so I was trying to decide which team to follow. First I wanted a pretty historical team, and didn’t really want to be a Yankee fan and looked at St. Louis. But then I wanted to see my team live pretty frequently and so then living in Central Virginia, that wasn’t going to happen. So then it came between the Nationals….and the ORIOLES!!! And then I looked in the future and the Orioles were just so bright. And I just can’t wait till we start taken it to the AL East. I love the Orioles!

And I became an Orioles fan through the Red Wings. I rarely got to see them on local TV, but every time I was able to it was such a treat.

I was shocked when I heard we’d switched affiliations to the Twins; a very unpleasant day to say the least. But there was no way I was going to go along with the switch! I still cheer for my Red Wings, but once they get called up, forget it.

I finally got to see them in person last September, at the game where David Price made his MLB debut as a starter. I was so thrilled; Camden Yards was as wonderful as everyone has always said it is. I didn’t care that it was late in the season, that we lost the game, even that there were so few fans in the stands. I was finally getting to see the Orioles at home after 25 years of waiting.

I am excited about the future of the team and can’t wait until we can lift our heads high again as a team to be reckoned with. Go O’s!

we have no ties to any specific teams other than Penn State. Any way you go it’s so far away you never really have that home team feeling (NYC 3 1/2 hrs, Philly 3 hrs, Pittsburg 3 1/2 hrs, Baltimore 2 1/2 hrs) so everyone here is either a Yanks fan or a Phils fan (the PHN is growing though) but My dad is an O’s fan, I grew up an O’s fan and I will raise my kids as O’s fans. I was in the baltimore area so much for games, I met a girl from Annapolis and eventually married her and we hope to move back down to the area as soon as possible.

I went to my first game at Memorial Stadium in ‘82. Jim Palmer pitched, the Orioles scored 13 runs, and The Bird beat the shit out of a guy in a tiger suit several times throughout the course of the game. We sat in the mezzanine, and I got a batting helmet (which sadly I don’t have any more).

I know I’ve always been an O’s fan (with varying degrees of actually paying attention depending on what else was going on my life at the time) since that point, but I don’t remember if I was a fan before that.

What’s kind of weird is that I’m a die-hard sports fan, and my Dad is not. He likes watching sports, but he doesn’t really have strong team loyalties like I do, except for PSU football and the Hershey Bears. (He roots for the Phillies, Orioles, and Eagles mostly on behalf of my wife and I) . So, I don’t really know where my fandom came from. Sometimes I do wish I cared less, but it’s kind of like an addiction for me.

I was born. Thus began my fandom.

therefore, i’m an o’s fan

Camden yards is one of the best ballpark i have been to.

so I have no region ties to Baltimore. My Dad (who was not a sports fan) bought me an O’s hat when I was kid. It was one of the old ones with the cartoon bird, the hat we all love. I loved that hat and as a result I became an O’s fan because I thought they had a cool logo. As I got a little older, I transitioned from the logo to Cal. I’m loyal to fault and that’s how I became and stayed an O’s fan.

I’ve lived in Norfolk, Va since 1991, and followed my hometown Astros until 2008. But the mismanagement of building a long-term competitor, complete apathy by the players, lack of coverage here, and the fact I don’t identify with Houston anymore shot that for me.
Since the Tides are only 3 miles from my house, and MASN covers all their games, it only made sense to watch the Orioles, and I’ve really become a fan….Even watching a team clearly in a rebuilding process, they are entertaining, and on the verge of becoming something special. I’m enjoying following my new “home team”.