Tuesday afternoon, following my work assignment in Baltimore with ABF Freight, I hopped in my rental car to take a trip east to Aberdeen, MD. My visit had two purposes, one of which I will share with you now. The Aberdeen Iron Birds, the High-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, play their home games at Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium. Yes, that Ripken meaning Cal Ripken, Jr. Ripken’s name and presence are all over Aberdeen, MD and in particular – this area off Long Dr. I mentioned my visit had two purposes, so let’s start with the Aberdeen Iron Birds experience.
With Daylight Savings Time pushing the clock back an hour, that meant sunset in Baltimore was now one hour earlier. Thus, I had to hustle once I arrived in Aberdeen to get a good look around the stadium and hopefully catch a small glimpse of the Iron Bird experience. The Iron Bird’s season is long since over, front gates are locked, ticket windows are shut – that I sort of counted on. However, many businesses use their off season time for construction, rebuilds, etc. so I was optimistic a gate or two might be open for construction workers and their vehicles. As a rule, and I’m fairly certain it is the law, I do not attempt to enter a locked property or facility, hop fences, that sort of thing.
As I left the front gate area and headed towards left field, there it was – an open gate. I had guessed right, there were about 25 or so construction workers in the open gate area. It was about 4:00ish and it looked like many of the workers were calling it a day. There was a white van parked just outside the gates and a man was loading his construction gear. “Are you locking that gate?” I asked the man nicely pointing to the open gate. His response was classic and probably something I would have said. “I don’t know anything, I didn’t see anything.” I laughed and just asked if he was locking it because I wanted to go and take a few photos of the stadium. “Heck, go play baseball on the field for all I care,” he said sort of sarcastically. I got it and walked through the gate with a sense of urgency, and into the upper deck area of left field and an empty, yet absolutely eye-popping Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium.
I was really fighting the sunset and wanted to hustle around to my normal spots to take photos. Home plate, right field, 3rd base, center field, bullpens, dugouts, memorial plaques, former players now in the Big Leagues, commemorative signs – all of the great views and experiences a fan could expect at a baseball game. I managed to capture a few photos around Leidos, concentrating mostly on the field and stadium.
The fall colors of the trees in the background and the sun setting along with the condition of the field – wow very picturesque. Absolutely amazing baseball stadium to walk around. I made it as far as home plate and realized that my time was probably just about up, as I watched other construction workers began their “packing it up for the day” routines. I managed to get back over to the left field deck to take this series of photos and a short video.
And this from the left field deck…
I took one last look of the impressive Leidos Field from that great left field deck area, then exited the way I came in through the open gate. As I was walking down the hill towards my car, I turned to spot the second reason I was traveling to Aberdeen, MD. It was a baseball location that I have been reading and hearing about for years, youth baseball teams from RI and all over the USA fundraise for a chance to play here in events and tournaments, a place where baseball memories abound, and the game of baseball is front and center 24/7/365. A place known as The Ripken Experience.
Stay tuned for more of my trip to Aberdeen and my walk around the Ripken Experience. Oh man, to be a kid again and play here…that would be a most incredible baseball experience!!!
The Rhiter 