Camden Yards | ericarditti

Once you get into Camden Yards, the first place you should head is the Monument Park located in center field.

These statues were constructed throughout the 2012 season and helped bring back the love of Baltimore baseball. People wanted to come to the games to see their favorite Oriole legends, as well as their statues.

Alex Arditti poses with the statue of Cal Ripken Jr. in Monument Park at Camden Yards. (Photo by TU student Eric Arditti)

Once you step into the park, you will notice the six Oriole greats immortalized forever. The statues are bigger than life size and look amazingly real.

Click here to look through pictures, see video and read about all the players who have been made into statues.

The six Oriole legends are Frank Robinson, the late Earl Weaver, Jim Palmer, Eddie Murray, Cal Ripken Jr., and Brooks Robinson.

There were six games during the 2012 season where fans were treated to pregame ceremonies.

The order of the players unveiling their statues was based on the order of when they got their jerseys retired.

For each statue reveal, the fans that arrived early were lucky enough to see all 6 legends unveil their own statue, listen to a speech about that player, and watch a video about their career. It was amazing to see these living legends right in front of our eyes.

The first 10,000 people who entered the stadium on each day when the legend was unveiling their statue were lucky enough to receive a replica miniature statue. These six games were all sold out and were awesome experiences for everyone at the stadium. The fans packed the yard!

If you didn’t get a chance to attend one of the games, or visit the park during a game, don’t worry. You can enter that part of Camden Yards anytime for free and visit the monuments.

So go ahead, eat lunch at one of the picnic tables surrounded by Cal Ripken Jr. fielding a grounder, or Earl Weaver yelling at the umpire. For Oriole fans, these statues must be seen. It’s a no brainer.

Camden Yards, in Baltimore, Md, home to the Baltimore Orioles and is one of the most gorgeous ballparks out there. Whether it is the great food choices, to the sites of the city you can see from the upper deck, there is no doubt in my mind that Camden Yards is the best ballpark out there.

The first thing you can do when you get to Camden is check out Eutaw Street. The stretch of street that runs outside center field and right field, Eutaw Street runs parallel to the B&O Warehouse. The warehouse, originally built in the 1900s, now houses offices for the Baltimore Orioles. The lower levels of the warehouse are home to a team store, and a restaurant owned by former Oriole Great Rick Dempsey. As long as the Empire State building is tall, the Warehouse is definitely a site that should be seen while visiting Camden Yards.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards as seen from Eutaw Street (Photo taken by Eric Arditti)

While you are strolling along Eutaw Street, take a look down and be on the look out for home run plaques. The Orioles place a ball onto Eutaw Street every time a ball is hit out there. It is a neat way of marking where the balls are hit. Check out this Baltimore Sun Website where they show you all the balls that have been hit onto Eutaw Street.

Another new neat feature about Camden Yards is Statue Park. The Orioles placed statues of six of their greatest players. The statues are life like and are awesome to look at. Definitely check them out if you get a chance.

The food choices at Camden Yards are what make the park so awesome. You have your choice of typical baseball foods (hotdogs, hamburgers, fries, soda, beer), and then you have the new wave of ballpark food. Crab dip fries (waffle fries with crab dip poured over top), bacon on a stick, chicken grilled overtop of a beer can (to soak up all the beer), and even a crab mac and cheese hot dog. No matter what food you chose, you couldn’t go wrong. Each one has its own great taste and you will never forget the time you had it.

One last thing to check out at Camden Yards is….The Game! Stay and watch your Baltimore Orioles as they look to make it to the playoffs two years in a row. Enjoy watching the crab shuffle on the big screen, and get ready to yell “O” during the star spangled banner!