Memorial Stadium
Spurred by the Orioles' success, and also by the presence of professional football, the city chose to rebuild the stadium as a facility of major
league caliber, which they renamed Memorial Stadium in honor of the dead of World War I and World War II. It was also known for a time as
"Babe Ruth Stadium", after the then-recently deceased Hall of Famer and Baltimore native. The reconstruction was done in stages, slowly
obliterating the old Municipal Stadium stands, even as the Orioles continued playing on their makeshift diamond in the northwest corner.
Memorial Stadium was completed in 1950 at a cost of $6.5 million. Seating 31,000 at the time, the stadium consisted of a single,
horseshoe-shaped deck, with the open end facing north, and was designed to host both football and baseball. A roofless upper deck was added
four years later when the St. Louis Browns committed to moving to Baltimore and becoming the major league version of the Baltimore Orioles.
The general layout of Memorial Stadium resembled a somewhat scaled-down version of Cleveland Stadium. As such, the playing area was
initially quite large in center field for baseball, due to the need to fit a football field on the premises, and foul territory was also quite large as well.
The construction of inner fences after 1958, however, shrunk the size of the outfield somewhat. The addition of several rows of box seats also
shrunk the foul ground, ultimately making the stadium much more of a hitters' park than it was originally. It did host the Major League Baseball
All-Star Game that year.
Both the Orioles and the Colts had some great successes over the next few decades, winning several championships. Among the Orioles who
played here were pitcher Jim Palmer, first baseman John (Boog) Powell, shortstop Cal Ripken Jr., third baseman Brooks Robinson and outfielder
Frank Robinson. Among the Colts' greats were quarterback John Unitas and running back Alan Ameche.
Hard times for the ballpark began when the Colts' fortunes sagged and they transferred to Indianapolis, in a notorious move where moving vans
trucked the club's equipment in the middle of the night. Then the Orioles began pressing for a new baseball-only facility, resulting in the first and
arguably the best of the 1990s retro-ballparks, Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
Memorial Stadium was relegated to temporary-home status for several sports teams. During the CFL's two seasons in Baltimore, the stadium
became noted for being one of the few American facilities with a playing surface large enough to accommodate a regulation Canadian football
field - this likely contributed to the Stallions' success both on and off the field. The Stallions were replaced as tenants by the Ravens in 1996, who
used the stadium until it was finally abandoned for good in 1997. It was bade farewell in style by both the Orioles (in a field-encircling ceremony
staged by many former Oriole players and hosted by Hall of Fame announcer Ernie Harwell, who began his announcing career here) and the
Ravens (who had many former Colts assemble for a final play, run by Unitas).
The City of Baltimore solicited proposals for development of the site. Most proposals preserved some or all of the stadium, including the memorial
to World War II veterans and words on the facade, one proposal even had a school occupying the former offices of Memoral Stadium and the
field used as a recreational facility for the school. Mayor Martin J. O'Malley, however, favored the proposal that resulted in the total razing of the
stadium, an act that many fought and protested. Former Mayor and Governor William Donald Schaefer continues to protest that the stadium was
razed for political reasons. The venerable and historic stadium was demolished over a ten-month period beginning in April, 2001. Much of the
stadium remnants were used to build an artificial reef in Chesapeake Bay.
As of 2005, the former site of Memorial Stadium now houses Maryland's largest YMCA facility and two apartment (one being a retirement home)
complexes to serve the surrounding communities.
