Wednesday, June 17, 2020

Baseball Trip Replay - Day 25 - June 17, 1994

June 17 - Becky took me to work in the morning. I met Senator Bingaman; he is a nice, middle-aged guy. Seems to be a perfect Western politician; he looks like he has spent a lot of time with horses out on the range. Becky then took me about the Capitol building, and got me in to see the Senate and House chambers, including going onto the Senate floor. I had a good time doing this; I could see myself in politics.

After Becky really had to go to work for real, I went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. I really liked it, but I hope that they update some of the displays soon. There was some out of date info, and some of the text was worn away. Nothing like places like this to remind one of the seventies.

There is a relatively new display about computers and space with some truly amazing old computers. Scary stuff. They also have a couple of films about computers that are truly, truly awful and seem to me to only be vehicles for the computer companies that sponsor them to show their insignia. Sigh.

I didn't get through this place, but I don't think I missed *too* much. Sigh.

I then drove to Baltimore and Camden Yards. It's really easy to get to, which was a welcome relief from DC. Camden Yards is a neat place; they have closed off Eutaw Street and made it part of the stadium. They have stocked it with food places, souvenir stands, and bars. They don't let you in to the actual stadium until about an hour and a half before the game. Until then, you can hang over the walls and watch batting practice. Actually, the bleachers are open, so fans can watch batting practice from their seats. The walls, however, are five feet high or so, so you have to be fairly tall to see, and they don't let kids sit on top, so their were a lot of fathers with kids on their shoulders.

They let us in, and I found my seat. The seats down the line are my only real complaint about this place; they face the area between second base and center field. It's amazing that this happened in a stadium so young. This is a nice place, but I prefer Jacobs Field.

The O's fans have their idiosyncrasies. They say "O" real loud when "Oh, say does that star-spangled" line comes around, and they don't sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" when the seventh inning stretch comes around. Instead, they play "Thank God I'm a Country Boy". Gack.

And frankly, I am tired of seeing the Orioles. I keep running in to them; they were in Oakland, and Kansas City, and now here, and I think I have another game with them later.

I was sitting, watching the game and listening on the radio, as I normally do when I go to the game alone, when the O. J. Simpson chase came on the radio. So while they were playing the game on the field, I was relaying what was going on to the people around me. A very surreal experience. The Orioles beat the Twins, 9-2. Stars of the game included Chris Sabo, who went 3 for 4 with one walk, one double, 2 RBI's and one run scored; and Leo Gomez, who went 3 for 4 with a double, home run, walk, 2 RBIs and 3 runs scored.

I got completely lost in Washington again trying to get back to the apartment. I hate driving in this city. Just when you find a street on the map that you think will work, it gets blocked by a monument, and the continuation has no sigh. After an hour and a half in the city, I found the apartment again. By this time it was 12:30, and OJ had given himself up. I went to bed.

Route - Washington 295 to I-495. I-495 North to I-95. I-95 North to Baltimore. Reverse route back to Washington.


Shop with a sign saying "Kosher Burritos"

Right Field at Camden Yards





Scoresheet of 1994-06-17 MIN at BAL - Visitors

Scoresheet of 1994-06-17 MIN at BAL - Home


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