For nine years the proud Oriole franchise has (as a friend says) gotten less for their money than any team in baseball. I need not recite the litany of bad baseball decisions and non-decisions under the direction of Peter Angelos, who has to be considered one of the worst owners in Major League Baseball.
Well, there’s an organized protest: radio station WNST put together a rally and even listed some Dos and Don’ts:
We are STRONGLY encouraging fans to wear black…with NO ORANGE at all…Some folks have insisted on wearing purple…we would NEVER discourage the color purple during the fall…We DO NOT want this crowd to look like a “typical” baseball crowd…
We are STRONGLY encouraging fans to make this a classy, self-policed event. We do not come seeking violence, anarchy or upheaval. This rally is about the fans uniting as one and voicing their opposition to this ownership group for the world to see and to do it with the same dignity our city showed in 1988 on Fan Appreciation Night and in 1991 during the final days at Memorial Stadium.
Please consider bringing your wife, kids, mothers, fathers, friends — anyone in your life who you’ve ever gone to a baseball game with!
We are also encouraging folks to make signs with clever slogans or statements. We want ORIGINALITY, something that’s been sorely lacking at local baseball games. BUT PLEASE — the world is watching — make this something family-oriented and pro-Baltimore (and don’t expect that you’ll be allowed to ENTER the ballpark with the sign…we are working to have people collect the signs for redistribution after the game).
One of the prime movers was Nestor Aparicio (who owns WNST), a nephew of Luis Aparicio, the great shortstop, who played for the O’s in the Sixties. It apparently came off tonight. At 5:08 PM (to honor Brooks Robinson, #5, and Cal Ripken, #8) about a thousand fans walked out of Camden Yards in protest.
Angelos said of Aparicio:
“He is a very unimportant person who has delusions of grandeur,” Angelos said. “To begin with, to leave in the middle of the game is an abuse of the players who have worked hard and played their hearts out.”
As opposed to Angelos, an important person with delusions of grandeur, who has ruined a proud franchise. The WNST site lists his transgressions. The beat writer for the Sun, Kevin Cowherd, had this to say.
Will this have any long-term effect? Hard to know. But it’s good to know that there are fans who still care. Wish we had their ballpark to go with our fans. And the Twins’ pitching staff, and the White Sox’ lineup, and the Yankees’ money . .
I was at the rally,, hey the City thought it was serious and big enough , they had the SWAT Team there,,,, what they think we were gonna do?
Comment by Bill Pohlman — September 24, 2006 @ 02:34
How did it go? The Sun reported that it was smaller than the organizers hoped but that it was well-behaved. I’m not sure what the Oriole management expected: did they think you’d tear down the ballpark?
Walter.
Comment by hotc — September 24, 2006 @ 11:40