Baseball Rant: Casual Fans

Posted by Jeff Quinton on August 27, 2007

This post is just some things that made me want to vent from attending yesterday’s Twins-Orioles game.We sat in the left field club level (in 286) out where the patio is for the All You Can Eat ticket deal.

First of all, the ushers at Camden Yards do a very good job of helping you find your seat and wiping it down but I really wish they’d just show late people to their seats and not wipe them down since you end up with people in front of you in the aisle and on the row of seats blocking your site lines of the field during the action. This directly relates to my second item.

If you come in late or you leave your seat to go get food (this was an issue in the AYCE section obviously) try to time your return to your seat to a time between batters or between pitches so you don’t block the view of others. This was a common courtesy that I’d followed for years and a few people still follow it as well but a few people (and they usually seemed to be large groups sitting together) just take their time getting to their seats right in front of you (sometimes standing right in front of you while the usher is wiping the seats down) without paying any attention to what’s going on in the field. The same courtesies apply to your egress from your seat as well.

My other rant doesn’t directly apply to yesterday, but the playing of Take Me Out to the Ballgame is mandatory in non-Sunday games as far as I’m concerned. Yesterday, there was a singing of God Bless America which is a MLB-allowed thing for Sundays since 9/11. However, whoever runs the scoreboard and public address at Oriole Park was so concerned with playing some cheesy thing against the Yankees at a game earlier in the season that they only had time to play Thank God I’m a Country Boy after it.

These are only minor rants (disrespect for the National Anthem and God Bless America would be a whole other post) but I wanted to get them off my chest.

The photograph from section 286 from the Inside Charm City Flickr group was taken by Flickr user jeffq (that’s me.)