The bonds that will fund video/sound upgrades for 2026 were approved by the state authority yesterday.
Hello, friends.
There are now two months and 18 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day. Pitchers and catchers will be reporting to spring training at a still not officially announced date that’s probably about a month and five days from today. It’s really not that far away now.
One more way you know that the start of the season is approaching was checked off yesterday as the Orioles announced the coming sale of single game tickets. With that announcement, they also revealed the season’s schedule of giveaway items. I wrote about the giveaways here. Some general impressions across social media and the comments here:
- Occasional weeknight giveaways are good
- This year’s Hawaiian shirt is good, giving it away on two games is good, totaling only 35,000 across two games is not good
- People are ready to embrace the cringe of the bowling shirt
- David Rubenstein should maybe sign a player to a contract extension before having a bobblehead made of himself
- Adley Rutschman playing golf bobblehead being given away on the final week of the regular season is “rancid vibes”
Season ticket holders can start grabbing single game tickets as soon as today, while the general public will have to wait until next week. Start making your plans now so that you don’t end up like my family did last year having to buy on the secondary market for Father’s Day on fairly short notice. That’s a more expensive path to take than the one where you’re organized in advance.
There are some interesting giveaways in the array. The two Star Wars-themed ones involving Colton Cowser and Gunnar Henderson in the same weekend is neat thanks to their much-publicized appreciation of Lego sets from that franchise. I like this generation of Hawaiian shirt and I might need to add that bowling shirt to my dorky baseball attire as well.
An adjacent topic that is on my mind that is connected to some of the links below today: How many people will come to Oriole Park at Camden Yards this year? The team drew 2,281,129 fans a year ago, an impressive jump compared to the year before. It was easier to have extra excitement for the team coming off the 101-61 campaign in 2023. That feeling is a bit more muted now after a step back to 91 wins and with a series of offseason moves that to date haven’t seemed aimed at the biggest need to be filled.
The team certainly hopes the excitement will continue, with the Bird Bath gimmick expanding into a second section for 2025. According to what was released yesterday, there will be a platform where Mr. Splash can run back and forth to patrol his larger space. Another step was also taken towards larger video and sound improvements that won’t arrive until next year. All involved stakeholders will be hoping that pays dividends towards drawing bigger crowds, or at least keeping the one they’ve got.
It’s probably going to be up to the team’s performance to see how high of a ceiling of attendance can possibly be reached. I hope that it can get to something like 2,450,000, adding about half again as many new attendees as they did from 2023 to 2024. The days of 3+ million aren’t coming back but I think the Orioles can beat their 2012-2016 attendance numbers if the team can succeed for longer and more consistently than they did a decade ago. That’s the big if.
Around the blogO’sphere
Orioles to install new sound system, videoboard ahead of 2026 season after first wave of bonds approved (The Baltimore Sun)
This is another official step on the way to carrying out already-announced plans to renovate the stadium. Take heart: Temporary improvements are coming to the PA for 2025 before the bigger upgrades that are a little farther off.
25 Orioles predictions for the 2025 season (Orioles.com)
The temptation of doing 25 for 25 was too much to resist. Jake Rill’s predictions include Grayson Rodriguez as Opening Day starter and a key player signing a multiyear contract extension. That second one would be something.
New Orioles pitcher Charlie Morton on joining club and possible role as leader/mentor (Steve Melewski)
I kind of hope that the “considered retirement before joining the Orioles” aspect works out in more of a fun sports movie kind of way rather than in the way we’re used to seeing guys at the end of long careers.
New details emerge in death of former Orioles pitcher Brian Matusz (The Baltimore Banner)
As of this writing, the details are light and the only new thing is that there is an investigation ongoing. I am 41 years old and I hope to have a lot of life left to live; someone dying who is several years younger than I am is a tough one to get my head around.
The 2016 Phillies, the 2025 Orioles, and you (The Good Phight)
After the signing of Charlie Morton, our friends at SBN’s Phillies blog have taken notice that there are quite a few 2016 Phillies floating around the 2025 O’s organization.
Also, at 1pm today is the deadline before which teams and arbitration-eligible players must agree on 2025 contracts or else exchange salary numbers to head towards an arbitration hearing. Teams typically adopt a “file and trial” approach, meaning that if the process reaches this point then the team shuts down negotiations and pursues to the hearing. The Orioles under Mike Elias have made exceptions to this when negotiations have included team options beyond the current season.
These 11 players are left to be settled: Keegan Akin, Kyle Bradish, Dean Kremer, Jorge Mateo, Ryan Mountcastle, Cedric Mullins, Trevor Rogers, Adley Rutschman, Gregory Soto, Ramón Urías, and Tyler Wells.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
Of all the players to ever play for the Orioles, not a single one has a January 9 birthday.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! You may not have any Orioles birthday buddies, but you do have these: women’s suffrage leader Carrie Chapman Catt (1859), 37th president Richard Nixon (1913), Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page (1944), Baltimore-born basketballer Muggsy Bogues (1965), and Dave Matthews Band leader Dave Matthews (1967).
On this day in history…
In 1431, Jeanne d’Arc’s trial against charges of heresy began; it took until the end of the same May to fully play out.
In 1822. a Portuguese prince, Pedro, chose to stay in Brazil when ordered to return by t he king, starting a confrontation that eventually resulted in Brazilian independence from Portugal with Pedro proclaiming himself emperor.
In 1916, the Allied forces that had been attacking Gallipoli retreated after a battle lasting about ten months, a victory for the Ottoman Empire in World War I. More than 125,000 men died in the fighting.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on January 9. Have a safe Thursday.