As the minutes ticked by, Henry White became more aware of the consequences of staying.
White and his wife, Emily, bought tickets to Wednesday afternoon’s Orioles game at Camden Yards as an Easter gift for their son Jayden. The 9-year-old is an avid Orioles fan and wore his Adley Rutschman “City Connect” jersey to the game — the family’s first at Camden Yards.
They drove four hours Wednesday morning from Suffolk, Virginia, only to wait five more for the game — originally scheduled for 1:05 p.m. — to start at 6:05 p.m. because of a rain delay. After the game ended at 8:40 p.m., they had to drive back home because White, a foreman for a construction company, had to wake up at 4 a.m. to work Thursday.
The sacrifice for their son, White said, was well worth it.
“He’s ecstatic,” White, 33, said. “We can dump all our money on toys and he plays with them for maybe a day. But this, we’re making core memories now.”
Jayden and his parents were among the few hundred fans who braved the chilly, rainy conditions while ignoring the voice in the back of their heads by staying at Oriole Park through the five-hour rain delay to watch Baltimore’s game against the Kansas City Royals.
Each fan had a different reason. The Whites stayed for their son. Others traveled thousands of miles for the game and weren’t going to let a little rain stop them. Some just love baseball and the Orioles too much to leave. And a few were scared in case something historic happened during the game.
The rainy week in Baltimore hit its apex Wednesday as it rained virtually all morning and afternoon. Rather than reschedule in the morning for later in the afternoon or evening, as the Philadelphia Phillies did Wednesday, the Orioles kept the game at 1:05 p.m. and didn’t announce a delay until 12:30 p.m. Whether to play or postpone the game was up to Major League Baseball, and because the Royals’ home opener is Thursday and they aren’t scheduled to return to Baltimore this season, finding another date for the game would’ve been challenging.
Fans who arrived when gates opened believed they had two options throughout the lengthy rain delay: stay and watch the game, or leave and forfeit the opportunity to see the contest while wasting the money spent on tickets.
“I just didn’t want to eat the ticket,” said Brett Owings, 29, of Glyndon. During the game, the team announced that all fans with tickets to Wednesday’s game would receive vouchers to another Monday through Thursday game in 2024.
More than four hours into the delay, the Orioles announced fans who left were allowed to reenter.
“No, we didn’t know that,” Emily White said. “We would’ve loved to have gone and sat in our car.”
A major league game with tens of thousands of fans provides a cacophony of sounds — from music to chatter from fans to the sounds of baseball. But with only a few hundred, the game was intimate, with every cheer, exclamation from an excited fan or scream from an angry one audible. A young boy wearing a Jorge Mateo jersey screamed after the shortstop playing center field missed a diving catch about how Cedric Mullins should instead be out there. Male and female fans alike screamed about how they love Gunnar Henderson. The “Fired Up Guy” was, expectedly, just as fired up as usual.
Before the game, though, fans roamed the concourse hoping to hear when the delay would end, stopping in every team store — two or three times — and trying out an assortment of concession stands, until many of them closed. The new sensory room was a hot commodity to get some peace and quiet, and the club level was an opportunity for fans allowed there to stay warm. After a few hours, some on the concourse sat (or napped) on the ground, looking defeated and huddling to stay warm in the low-50-degree temperature.
Mahateja Karri, an 11-year-old from Ellicott City, was at his first Orioles game and he was pleading with his dad to stay through the delay. Devynne and Brynne Taylor didn’t have as much luck with their dad, Chris.
The Taylors flew in from Salt Lake City earlier this week to visit family — but seeing an Orioles game was at the top of their to-do list. Chris, a Gambrills native, is a lifelong Orioles fan, and Wednesday was their only opportunity to see the team in person this season. Chris and his wife, Natalee, left their 6-month-old twins — a boy named Camden (yes, after the ballpark) and a girl named Claire — with their grandmother because of the cold temperature.
Devynne, 13, and Brynne, 10, sat on the concourse huddled with their mom during the delay. The experience wasn’t exactly what Chris, 38, was hoping for as he envisioned his daughters becoming Orioles fans, too. He’s not sure that’ll happen now, and the voucher does no good for the Taylors, who head back to Salt Lake City later this week.
“Their excitement is fading,” he said. “I feel so bad.”
But the experience won’t “sour” Taylor on the team he loves.
“What am I going to do? Be mad at this team?” he said. “All the way through September and hopefully October I’m going to be sitting in front of my TV in Utah going nuts.”
Luke and Hadley Miller roamed the concourse during the delay — sharing a soft pretzel and Hadley trying Boog’s Barbecue for the first time — as Luke, 42, held their 6-month-old son, Lyndon, in a baby carrier on his chest. It was chilly, but Lyndon wasn’t bothered.
“It’s his first game, and we have nothing else to do,” said Hadley, 28, after the trio drove up from Richmond, Virginia, on Wednesday. “I think having a baby makes you more primed to be OK with this sort of thing. We’re outside, we’re walking, he’s happy.”
Luke didn’t grow up in the Baltimore area, but he’s been an Orioles fan since he was 8 years old because he shares a birthday with Cal Ripken Jr. and the “Iron Man” was Luke’s favorite player growing up. The 8-year-old baseball fan in his head was screaming to not leave.
“The romantic in me is saying that this is going to be one of those games where no one is here,” he said. “It’s going to be a Corbin Burnes no-hitter. Something incredible is going to happen. Or the next ball that hits the warehouse.”
Burnes didn’t throw a no-hitter, and no slugger hit the B&O Warehouse. The game appeared to be another clunker for the Orioles after Tuesday’s loss, but a late offensive rally and a two-run walk-off single by James McCann sent the small but rowdy crowd home happy.
“That’s a tough day to watch baseball,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “So for those people to stick around, that’s true Orioles fans.”
Would Hyde have waited five hours for the game if he was a fan who had tickets?
“That’s a negative. No chance,” he said with a smile.
Kevin Ayd, 43, of Street, arrived at noon with his 12-year-old son, Brooks (yes, after Robinson), and 9-year-old daughter, Mia. He spent the delay walking around the club level to teach his kids about the history of the team he’s cheered for his whole life.
As he sat in the drizzling rain before first pitch, he said he wasn’t cold, and his son, clearly a baseball fanatic, didn’t appear to be, either. As Kevin answered, Mia interjected.
“I’m cold. I. Am. Cold,” she said, sounding out each syllable as her dad chuckled.
Jeff Orner was one of the oldest fans in attendance. At 71, the York, Pennsylvania, resident spent the hiatus making friends and talking baseball. Orner is a lifelong baseball nut; last week, he attended his 50th consecutive opening day.
“Oh, it was fun — for the first couple hours,” he said with a laugh. “Then it wasn’t so fun after that. But I hung on.”
Why, exactly, did he — and everyone else — do that?
“Because I love baseball.”