Oriole Park at Camden Yards

BUILT: 1992

CAPACITY: 48,000 (1992); 48,079 (1994)

FIRST GAME: April 6, 1992, vs. Cleveland Indians (Orioles 2, Indians 0)

• Rick Sutcliffe (CG-W) vs. Charles Nagy (CG-L); HR: None

• First Hit: Paul Sorrento
• First Double: Chris Hoiles
• First Triple: Cal Ripken, Jr. (April 17th, 1992)
• First HR: Sorrento (April 8th, 1992)
• First Run: Sam Horn
• First RBI: Hoiles

Oriole Park at Camden Yards, often simply known as Camden Yards, has been the home of the Baltimore Orioles since the 1992 season

Camden Yards is the ballpark that created the "retro" trend for new baseball stadiums. Built in Baltimore's historic old port area, it integrates the brick wall from a former factory on the site, and was part of a larger effort to revitalize the city's downtown. There is a large walking concourse lined with shops just outside the wall, Eutah Street, where fans can congregate before, during and after games. Home run balls that clear the right field bleach and land onto the street are commemorated with bronze markers laid in the pavement.

In 2012, the Orioles unveiled a series of bronze statues depicting past Orioles greats outside the stadium. Those include Frank Robinson, Earl Weaver, Jim Palmer, Brooks Robinson, Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken Jr.

For many years, the ballpark played as an extreme hitter's park, with a particular fondness for home runs. This sometimes helped the Orioles, but was mostly been murder on their pitching over the years. They had first tried moving back the fences in 2001, leading to a huge drop in homers hit, but moved them back the next year, officially because the change of dimension had "adversely affected the viewing angle of the batter's eye."

Following the 2021 season, during which the Orioles' pitching was particularly brutal, the team announced it would move back the left field wall by as much as 30 feet in certain places in order to make the park more neutral (although still a hitter's park). Over the last three seasons before the changes, there had been 72 more homers hit at Camden Yards than in any other ballpark - including the notorious Coors Field. The 2019 season saw a total of 289 homers being hit here and in 2021 there were 277; those are respectively the second and fourth highest single-season totals ever recorded, with only Coors Field in 1999, at the height of a live ball era, allowing more with 303. There were also 282 homers hit at Minute Maid Park in 2019. While the changes were expected to reduce the number of homers, they would also increase the number of doubles of triples (Camden Yards was well below average in these two departments), so it was difficult to evaluate what the total effect on hitting numbers would be. Early returns confirmed that the changes had cut down on home runs - and probably more than the team would have liked - as the park went from most homer-friendly in the AL to least in the first few weeks of the 2022 season. After three seasons with that very pitcher-friendly configuration, the Orioles decided to adjust the dimensions again for the 2025 season, bringing some of the deeper parts of left field from 384 to 398 feet to a more conventional 374 to 376. The wall was also lowered from 13 to 8 feet in some areas. The objective was to create a neutral playing environment.

Further Reading

• Gabe Lacques: "'It's a travesty': Camden Yards' new look leaves sluggers steaming, pitchers hopeful in Baltimore: One of baseball's most beloved ballparks is no longer a hitters' paradise after a major offseason change.", USA Today, May 19, 2022. [1]
• Mike Petriello: "How Camden Yards changes will affect hitters: New dimensions likely to have prevented 200 home runs over past four years", mlb.com, March 25, 2022. [2]
• Mike Petriello: "'Walltimore' no more: The effect of Camden Yards' latest change: 29 non-homers in 2024 would have been dingers with updated wall", mlb.com, March 2, 2025. [3]
• Jake Rill: "A 'happier medium': After 3 years, O's modifying left-field wall again", mlb.com, November 15, 2024. [4]
• Jake Rill: "More work for Mr. Splash: O's expanding 'Bird Bath' in '25", mlb.com, January 8, 2025. [5]

Links

Description of stadium's first game