1.
Baltimore
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Baltimore is the largest city in the U. S. state of Maryland, and the 29th-most populous city in the country. It was established by the Constitution of Maryland and is not part of any county, thus, it is the largest independent city in the United States, with a population of 621,849 as of 2015. As of 2010, the population of the Baltimore Metropolitan Area was 2.7 million, founded in 1729, Baltimore is the second largest seaport in the Mid-Atlantic. Baltimores Inner Harbor was once the leading port of entry for immigrants to the United States. With hundreds of identified districts, Baltimore has been dubbed a city of neighborhoods, in the War of 1812, Francis Scott Key wrote The Star-Spangled Banner, later the American national anthem, in Baltimore. More than 65,000 properties, or roughly one in three buildings in the city, are listed on the National Register, more than any city in the nation. The city has 289 properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the historical records of the government of Baltimore are located at the Baltimore City Archives. The city is named after Cecil Calvert, second Lord Baltimore, of the Irish House of Lords, Baltimore Manor was the name of the estate in County Longford on which the Calvert family lived in Ireland. Baltimore is an anglicization of the Irish name Baile an Tí Mhóir, in 1608, Captain John Smith traveled 210 miles from Jamestown to the uppermost Chesapeake Bay, leading the first European expedition to the Patapsco River. The name Patapsco is derived from pota-psk-ut, which translates to backwater or tide covered with froth in Algonquian dialect, a quarter century after John Smiths voyage, English colonists began to settle in Maryland. The area constituting the modern City of Baltimore and its area was first settled by David Jones in 1661. He claimed the area today as Harbor East on the east bank of the Jones Falls stream. In the early 1600s, the immediate Baltimore vicinity was populated, if at all. The Baltimore area had been inhabited by Native Americans since at least the 10th millennium BC, one Paleo-Indian site and several Archaic period and Woodland period archaeological sites have been identified in Baltimore, including four from the Late Woodland period. During the Late Woodland period, the culture that is called the Potomac Creek complex resided in the area from Baltimore to the Rappahannock River in Virginia. It was located on the Bush River on land that in 1773 became part of Harford County, in 1674, the General Assembly passed An Act for erecting a Court-house and Prison in each County within this Province. The site of the house and jail for Baltimore County was evidently Old Baltimore near the Bush River. In 1683, the General Assembly passed An Act for Advancement of Trade to establish towns, ports, one of the towns established by the act in Baltimore County was on Bush River, on Town Land, near the Court-House
2.
Maryland
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The states largest city is Baltimore, and its capital is Annapolis. Among its occasional nicknames are Old Line State, the Free State, the state is named after Henrietta Maria of France, the wife of Charles I of England. George Calvert was the first Lord of Baltimore and the first English proprietor of the colonial grant. Maryland was the state to ratify the United States Constitution. Maryland is one of the smallest U. S. states in terms of area, as well as one of the most densely populated, Maryland has an area of 12,406.68 square miles and is comparable in overall area with Belgium. It is the 42nd largest and 9th smallest state and is closest in size to the state of Hawaii, the next largest state, its neighbor West Virginia, is almost twice the size of Maryland. Maryland possesses a variety of topography within its borders, contributing to its nickname America in Miniature. The mid-portion of this border is interrupted by Washington, D. C. which sits on land that was part of Montgomery and Prince Georges counties and including the town of Georgetown. This land was ceded to the United States Federal Government in 1790 to form the District of Columbia, the Chesapeake Bay nearly bisects the state and the counties east of the bay are known collectively as the Eastern Shore. Close to the town of Hancock, in western Maryland, about two-thirds of the way across the state. This geographical curiosity makes Maryland the narrowest state, bordered by the Mason–Dixon line to the north, portions of Maryland are included in various official and unofficial geographic regions. Much of the Baltimore–Washington corridor lies just south of the Piedmont in the Coastal Plain, earthquakes in Maryland are infrequent and small due to the states distance from seismic/earthquake zones. The M5.8 Virginia earthquake in 2011 was felt moderately throughout Maryland, buildings in the state are not well-designed for earthquakes and can suffer damage easily. The lack of any glacial history accounts for the scarcity of Marylands natural lakes, laurel Oxbow Lake is an over one-hundred-year-old 55-acre natural lake two miles north of Maryland City and adjacent to Russett. Chews Lake is a natural lake two miles south-southeast of Upper Marlboro. There are numerous lakes, the largest of them being the Deep Creek Lake. Maryland has shale formations containing natural gas, where fracking is theoretically possible, as is typical of states on the East Coast, Marylands plant life is abundant and healthy. Middle Atlantic coastal forests, typical of the southeastern Atlantic coastal plain, grow around Chesapeake Bay, moving west, a mixture of Northeastern coastal forests and Southeastern mixed forests cover the central part of the state
3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
4.
Camden Station
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It is adjacent to Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Architectural renderings for Camden Station were submitted by the firm of Niernsee, construction was completed in 1867 with the addition of two wings and the towers following the end of the Civil War. The stations center tower was originally 185 feet high, in February,1861, Abraham Lincoln travelled through Camden Station in February 1861, on his way to Washington, D. C. to be inaugurated as President of the United States. News of the Battle of Fort Sumter, beginning the Civil War, first reached Baltimore on April 12,1861, trainloads of wounded soldiers and Confederate POWs came through the station following the Battle of Antietam,75 miles west of Baltimore on September 17,1862. President Lincoln changed trains at Camden Station on November 18,1863 en route to Gettysburg, Lincoln also used Camden Station on April 18,1864 when he made an overnight visit to Baltimore for a speaking engagement. Some in the crowd attempted to set fire to the station, and nearby buildings associated with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, but were largely unsuccessful. Beginning in 1897, Camden Station also had lower level platforms for B&Os New York–Washington passenger trains, which used the Howard Street tunnel to reach Mount Royal Station. The first mainline electrification of a railroad in the U. S. occurred at Camden Station on June 27,1895. In 1912, the B&O remodeled the central waiting room, enlarging it and adding oak panelling with marble wainscoting for the Democratic National Convention, the Annapolis & Baltimore Short Line Railroad also used Camden Station for its trains to Annapolis, Maryland, beginning in 1887. The first streamlined, non-articulated diesel locomotive in the U. S. EMC EA-EB #51, began using Camden Stations lower level platforms in 1937, pulling the B&Os famed Royal Blue. When the modern-era Major League Baseball Baltimore Orioles began playing in Baltimore, declining rail passenger traffic in the 1950s–1960s led to substantial reductions in passenger train arrivals and departures at the venerable station. When Mount Royal closed in 1961, the lower platforms were removed. Today, the lower level tracks and the Howard Street tunnel continue to be used by freight trains of B&Os successor CSX Transportation. The inception of Amtrak on May 1,1971, marked the demise of all B&O long-haul passenger service, thereafter, only B&Os local commuter trains, mostly Budd Rail Diesel Cars, continued to use Camden Station. Its golden oak benches and large overhead lamps were maintained in the pristine condition as when they welcomed delegates to the 1912 Democratic Presidential Convention. The MTAs Light Rail began service around the time that Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened and its schedules refer to the stop as Camden Yards, its name derives from the B&Os freight yards that were part of the site. The adjacent B&O Warehouse is now part of the Orioles stadium, although MARC schedules still refer to the Camden Lines terminus as Camden Station, only the stations platforms are now used. The station is served by three platforms, and six tracks
5.
Maryland Stadium Authority
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The Maryland Stadium Authority, MSA, was created by Chapter 283, Acts of 1986 Maryland General Assembly. Its initial mission was to return the National Football League to Baltimore, Maryland sought a new football team after former Baltimore Colts owner, Robert Irsay, moved the Colts out of the city in the middle of a snowy night on March 29,1984. The Authority is a corporation of Maryland which is authorized to issue tax-exempt bonds for financing its operations. The proceeds from the sale of bonds and any other revenues collected are deposited in the Maryland Stadium Authority Financing Fund. Since its creation, the MSA broadened its goals and responsibilities, soon after its incorporation, it sought to negotiate a long-term lease with the Baltimore Orioles, its last remaining professional sports team. In 1992, under the auspices of the MSA, Orioles Park at Camden Yards was opened, the MSA continued to work toward acquiring a new NFL team. The city was courted by the owners of such as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the New Orleans Saints, the St. Louis Cardinals. Baltimore thought it had its best shot in the 1993 NFL Expansion, the city finally acquired the old Cleveland Browns team in 1995 under the leadership of John Moag, Chairman of the Maryland Stadium Authority at the time. Ironically, the remaining areas seeking an NFL team, St. Louis. The Los Angeles Rams moved to St. Louis and the Houston Oilers temporarily relocated to Memphis, all three teams that relocated made it to the Super Bowl soon after they moved, St. Louis and Tennessee in 2000 and Baltimore in 2001. Six directors are appointed by the governor with one appointment by Baltimores mayor, Executive Director Michael J. Frenz Maryland Stadium Authority Maryland Archives
6.
Seating capacity
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Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats hundreds of thousands of people. The International Fire Code, portions of which have adopted by many jurisdictions, is directed more towards the use of a facility than the construction. It specifies, For areas having fixed seating without dividing arms and it also requires that every public venue submit a detailed site plan to the local fire code official, including details of the means of egress, seating capacity, arrangement of the seating. Once safety considerations have been satisfied, determinations of seating capacity turn on the size of the venue. For sports venues, the decision on maximum seating capacity is determined by several factors, chief among these are the primary sports program and the size of the market area. Seating capacity of venues also plays a role in what media they are able to provide, in contracting to permit performers to use a theatre or other performing space, the seating capacity of the performance facility must be disclosed. Seating capacity may influence the kind of contract to be used, the seating capacity must also be disclosed to the copyright owner in seeking a license for the copyrighted work to be performed in that venue. Venues that may be leased for private functions such as ballrooms and auditoriums generally advertise their seating capacity, seating capacity is also an important consideration in the construction and use of sports venues such as stadiums and arenas. The seating capacity for restaurants is reported as covers, a restaurant that can seat 99 is said to have 99 covers, seating capacity differs from total capacity, which describes the total number of people who can fit in a venue or in a vehicle either sitting or standing. Use of the term public capacity indicates that a venue is allowed to more people than it can actually seat. Again, the total number of people can refer to either the physical space available or limitations set by law
7.
Poa pratensis
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Poa pratensis, commonly known as Kentucky bluegrass, smooth meadow-grass, or common meadow-grass, is a perennial species of grass native to Europe, Asia, North America, and northern Africa. Poa pratensis forms a valuable pasture plant, characteristic of well-drained and it is also used for making lawns in parks and gardens and is common in cool moist climates like the northeastern United States. Poa pratensis was one of the species described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark work Species Plantarum in 1753. Poa is Greek for fodder and pratensis is derived from pratum, the name Kentucky bluegrass derives from its flower heads, which are blue when the plant is allowed to grow to its natural height of 60 to 90 cm. Poa pratensis is the species of the grass family Poaceae. There are two ill-defined subspecies, Poa pratensis ssp. pratensis – temperate regions Poa pratensis ssp. colpodea – Arctic Poa pratensis is a perennial plant 30–70 centimetres tall. The leaves have boat-shaped tips, narrowly linear, up to 20 centimetres long and 3–5 millimetres broad, smooth or slightly roughened, with a rounded to truncate ligule 1–2 millimetres long. The conical panicle is 5–20 centimetres long, with 3 to 5 branches in the whorls, the oval spikelets are 3–6 millimetres long with 2 to 5 florets. They are in flower from May to July, compared to annual meadowgrass which is in flower for eight months of the year, Poa pratensis has a fairly prominent mid-vein. The ligule is short and square ended, making a contrast with Annual Meadowgrass and Rough Meadowgrass in which it is silvery. The Kentucky bluegrass is a dark green compared to the green color of poa annua. The rootstock is creeping, with runners, the broad, blunt leaves tend to spread at the base, forming close mats. Since the 1950s and early 1960s, 90% of Kentucky Bluegrass seed in the United States has been produced on specialist farms in Idaho, during the 1990s botanists began experimenting with hybrids of Poa pratensis and Texas bluegrass, with the goal of creating a drought and heat-resistant lawn grass. Sod Flora Europaea, Poa pratensis European Poa Database Horticultural information on this turfgrass, pages 42–43 Kew gardens grass database
8.
Populous (company)
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Populous is a global architectural firm specializing in the design of sports facilities, arenas and convention centers, as well as the planning of major special events. Populous formerly operated as HOK Sport Venue Event, which was part of the HOK Group, in January 2009, Populous was created through a management buyout, becoming independently owned and operated. It is reported to be one of the largest architecture firms in the world, in 1983, HOK under Jerry Sincoff created a sports group. The firm initially consisted of eight architects in Kansas City, on several projects, HOK Sport had teamed with international design practice LOBB Partnership, which maintained offices in London, England, and Brisbane, Australia. On HOK Sports 15th anniversary in November 1998, the merged with LOBB. The new practice retained headquarters in all three cities, the Kansas City, Missouri, office was first based in the citys Garment District in the Lucas Place office building. It was the first major company to relocate to the neighborhood in several decades, in March 2009, HOK Sport Venue Event changed its name to Populous after a managers’ buyout by HOK Group. In October 2015, Populous relocated to its new headquarters at the newly renovated Board of Trade building at 4800 Main street near the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City. Other firms with sports design presence in Kansas City that trace their roots to Kivett include Ellerbe Becket Inc. Populous is credited for spearheading a new era of baseball park design in the 1990s, beginning with Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Starting with the Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati in 2003, subsequent stadium exteriors featuring this motif opened in Washington and Minnesota. And because the stadiums were designed for baseball instead of several sports, Camden Yards was not only hugely popular with baseball fans. The success of a new ballpark in downtown Baltimore convinced many cities to invest public funds in their own new ballparks to help revitalize struggling urban neighborhoods, from 1992 to 2012, HOK Sport/Populous were the lead architects on 14 Major League Baseball stadiums and helped renovate four existing stadiums. One sportswriter said the attempt to emulate the old parks in this way is contrived. S, Louis, Missouri – St. Louis Cardinals Nationals Park, Washington, D. C. Sir Bobby Robson Stand at Portman Road – Ipswich, England, UK – Ipswich Town Football Club Estádio da Luz – Lisbon, benfica Estádio Algarve – Loulé, Portugal – S. C. Monterrey Stade des Lumières – Décines, France – Olympique Lyonnais City of Manchester Stadium expansion – Manchester, UK – Manchester City F. C. C. Petersburg, Florida (joint project with Lescher & Mahoney Sports & Criswell, Blizzard & Blouin Architects Ervin J. Paul, Minnesota, USA2015 – Final Four - Indianapolis, Indiana, USA Official website
9.
Lend Lease Project Management & Construction
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Lend Lease Project Management & Construction is the international project management and construction division of Lend Lease Group. The origins of Lend Lease Project Management & Construction date back to the establishment of C. W. Bovis & Co by Charles William Bovis in London in 1885 and it changed hands in 1908 when it was acquired by Samuel Joseph and his cousin, Sidney Gluckstein. The client receives any savings during construction instead of the contractor. ”During World War II, Bovis built the factory at Swynnerton. At the end of hostilities, Bovis resumed work for the sector and in the early 1950s. Following the acquisition of Frank Sandersons business in 1967, Bovis Homes expanded rapidly, Frank Sanderson was to change radically the future of Bovis. He was appointed Managing Director of Bovis Holdings in January 1970, after a number of housing acquisitions, Sanderson attempted to obtain control of P&O by means of a reverse takeover. An initial agreement was followed by a boardroom and shareholder revolt at P&O, there was boardroom dissension, too, at Bovis and Sanderson was forced out in September 1973. One of Sanderson’s acquisitions, in 1971, had been Twentieth Century Banking, the crisis came to a head in December 1973 when National Westminster Bank refused to provide the necessary funds. A rescue of Bovis was inevitable and, ironically, the proved to be P&O. From 1985 the company was led by Sir Frank Lampl, who changed it from a British concern into an international contractor, Bovis Homes was demerged in 1997, and floated on the London Stock Exchange. The company was bought by Lend Lease Corporation in 1999, at time it became Bovis Lend Lease. The firemen consulted the check list, thought they had a good system, only when they reached the dangerous area that was on fire, did they realize the system did not have any water pressure, and they died trying to retreat amid the confusion. As of June 2011, two out of the three individuals charged in the manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide case have been acquitted. On 17 February 2011 Lend Lease announced wider ranging changes to its group of brands, for a ten-year time span ending in 2009, the company along with others devised a scheme to defraud federal, state and local government contracting agencies as well as private clients. The fine is the largest in the citys history, on 29 October 2012 the long boom of a Lend Lease construction crane atop the 1,004 foot high One57 snapped during Hurricane Sandy forcing the evacuation of several buildings in Midtown Manhattan. The company has managed construction projects worldwide, including retail developments, Lend Leases Project Management & Construction Business has a significant presence in Australia, Asia, Europe and the United States. Key sector expertise includes commercial, retail, residential, government, as a major contractor in the UK, Lend Lease Project Management & Construction is a contractor member of Build UK. the International Convention Centre Sydney due to be completed in 2016. Building Relationships, The History of Bovis 1885-2000, Peter Cooper, Cassell & Co ISBN 978-0-297-82533-3
10.
Sverdrup & Parcel
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Sverdrup & Parcel was an American civil engineering company formed in 1928 by Leif J. Sverdrup and his college engineering professor John I. The company worked primarily in a specialty field of bridges, the companys headquarters was located in St. Louis, Missouri. The firm was the designer of the ill-fated I-35W Mississippi River bridge, Minneapolis, the official report by the National Transportation Safety Board blamed the bridge collapse on a design error by the firm, resulting in the gusset plates having inadequate load capacity. Busch Memorial Stadium 1966, St. Jacobs Engineering website
11.
Baltimore Orioles
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The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball as a member of the American League East division, Louis, Missouri to become the St. Louis Browns. After 52 often-beleaguered years in St. Louis, the franchise was purchased in November 1953 by Baltimore business interests led by Clarence Miles, the franchise officially moved to Baltimore for the 1954 season and adopted the historic Orioles name in honor of the official state bird of Maryland. The Orioles name had also used by several previous major and minor league baseball clubs in Baltimore. Nicknames for the team include the Os and the Birds, the Orioles experienced their greatest success from 1966 to 1983, when they made six World Series appearances, winning three of them. The franchise has won a total of nine division championships, six pennants. The Orioles are also known for their successful stadium, the trend-setting Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The modern Orioles franchise can trace its roots back to the original Milwaukee Brewers of the minor Western League, the Brewers were there when the WL renamed itself the American League in 1900. At the end of the 1900 season, the American League removed itself from baseballs National Agreement, two months later, the AL declared itself a competing major league. As a result of several shifts, the Brewers were one of only two Western League teams that didnt fold, move or get kicked out of the league. In its first game in the American League, the team lost to the Detroit Tigers 14–13 after blowing a lead in the 9th inning. To this day, it is a league record for the biggest deficit overcome that late in the game. During the first American League season in 1901, they finished last with a record of 48–89 and its lone Major League season, the team played at Lloyd Street Grounds, between 16th and 18th Streets in Milwaukee. The Miles-Krieger -Hoffberger group renamed their new team the Baltimore Orioles soon after taking control of the franchise, the name has a rich history in Baltimore, having been used by a National League team in the 1890s. In 1901, Baltimore and McGraw were awarded a franchise in the growing American League. After a battle with Ban Johnson, the Head of the American League in 1902, McGraw took many of the top players including Dan McGann, Roger Bresnahan and Joe McGinnity to the New York Giants. As an affront to Johnson, McGraw kept the black and orange colors of the New York Giants, which San Francisco wears to this day. In 1903, the rest of the team was transferred to New York where they were nicknamed the Highlanders until circa 1912, as a member of the high-minor league level International League, the Orioles competed at what is now known as the AAA level from 1903 to 1953
12.
Major League Baseball
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Major League Baseball is a professional baseball organization, the oldest of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. A total of 30 teams now play in the National League and American League, the NL and AL operated as separate legal entities from 1876 and 1901 respectively. After cooperating but remaining legally separate entities since 1903, the merged into a single organization led by the Commissioner of Baseball in 2000. The organization also oversees Minor League Baseball, which comprises about 240 teams affiliated with the Major League clubs, with the World Baseball Softball Confederation, MLB manages the international World Baseball Classic tournament. Baseballs first professional team was founded in Cincinnati in 1869,30 years after Abner Doubleday supposedly invented the game of baseball, the first few decades of professional baseball were characterized by rivalries between leagues and by players who often jumped from one team or league to another. The period before 1920 in baseball was known as the dead-ball era, Baseball survived a conspiracy to fix the 1919 World Series, which came to be known as the Black Sox Scandal. The sport rose in popularity in the 1920s, and survived potential downturns during the Great Depression, shortly after the war, baseballs color barrier was broken by Jackie Robinson. The 1950s and 1960s were a time of expansion for the AL and NL, then new stadiums, Home runs dominated the game during the 1990s, and media reports began to discuss the use of anabolic steroids among Major League players in the mid-2000s. In 2006, an investigation produced the Mitchell Report, which implicated many players in the use of performance-enhancing substances, today, MLB is composed of thirty teams, twenty-nine in the United States and one in Canada. Baseball broadcasts are aired on television, radio, and the Internet throughout North America, MLB has the highest season attendance of any sports league in the world with more than 73 million spectators in 2015. MLB is governed by the Major League Baseball Constitution and this document has undergone several incarnations since 1875, with the most recent revisions being made in 2012. Under the direction of the Commissioner of Baseball, MLB hires and maintains the sports umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, MLB maintains a unique, controlling relationship over the sport, including most aspects of Minor League Baseball. This ruling has been weakened only slightly in subsequent years, the weakened ruling granted more stability to the owners of teams and has resulted in values increasing at double-digit rates. There were several challenges to MLBs primacy in the sport between the 1870s and the Federal League in 1916, the last attempt at a new league was the aborted Continental League in 1960. The chief executive of MLB is the commissioner, Rob Manfred, the chief operating officer is Tony Petitti. There are five other executives, president, chief officer, chief legal officer, chief financial officer. The multimedia branch of MLB, which is based in Manhattan, is MLB Advanced Media and this branch oversees MLB. com and each of the 30 teams websites. Its charter states that MLB Advanced Media holds editorial independence from the league, MLB Productions is a similarly structured wing of the league, focusing on video and traditional broadcast media
13.
Baseball park
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A baseball park, also known as a ballpark or diamond, is a venue where baseball is played. A baseball park consists of the field and the surrounding spectator seating. While the diamond and the areas denoted by white painted lines adhere to rules, guidelines for the rest of the field are flexible. The term ballpark sometimes refers either to the structure, or sometimes to just the playing field. A home run where the player makes it around the bases, sometimes a home run over the fence is called out of the ballpark, but that phrase more often means a home run that clears the stands and lands outside the building. The playing field is most often called the ballfield, though the term is used interchangeably with ballpark when referring to a small local or youth league facility. A baseball field can be referred to as a diamond, the infield is a rigidly structured diamond of dirt containing the three bases, home plate, and the pitchers mound. The space between the bases and home is normally a grass surface, save for the mound in the center. Some ballparks, like Torontos Rogers Centre, have grass or artificial turf between the bases, and dirt only around the bases and pitchers mound, others, such as Koshien Stadium in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, have an entirely dirt infield. Two white lines run out from the plate area, aligned with first. These are the lines or base lines, usually differentiated by referring to them as the first base line. If a ball hit by the lands outside of the space between these two lines, or rolls out of this space before reaching first or third base, the ball is foul. If it lands between or on the lines, it is fair, at the end of the lines are two foul poles, which help the umpires judge whether a ball is fair or foul. These foul poles are actually in fair territory, so a ball hits them on the fly is a home run. On either side of plate are the two batters boxes This is where the batter stands when at bat. Behind home is the box, where the catcher and the home plate umpire stand. Next to first and third base are two boxes, where the first and third base coaches guide the baserunners, generally with gestures or shouts. As the baserunner faces away from the outfield when running from second base to third, they see where the ball is
14.
Memorial Stadium (Baltimore)
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Memorial Stadium was a sports stadium in Baltimore, Maryland, that formerly stood on 33rd Street on an oversized block also bounded by Ellerslie Avenue, 36th Street, and Ednor Road. The rebuilt multi-sport stadium, when reconstruction was completed in the summer of 1954, the stadium was also known as The Old Gray Lady of 33rd Street, and also as The Worlds Largest Outdoor Insane Asylum. C. Canadian Football League, 1994–1995 Baltimore Ravens, National Football League, 1996–1997 Baltimore City College vs Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, Thanksgiving Day 1954–1999, Calvert Hall College vs Loyola Blakefield Thanksgiving Day 1957–1999, known as Calvert Hall vs. Loyola, the Turkey Bowl. Army vs Navy United States Military Academy, vs. United States Naval Academy, Memorial Stadium started out in life as Municipal Stadium, also known as Baltimore Stadium, and as Venable Stadium. Designed by Pleasants Pennington and Albert W. Lewis, it was built in 1922 over a period at the urging of the Mayor. It was also known for a time as Babe Ruth Stadium, after the then-recently deceased Hall of Famer and Baltimore native. Seating 31,000 at the time, the new stadium consisted of a single, horseshoe-shaped deck, with the end facing north. A roofless upper deck was added later in 1953–1954 when the St, during the 90-minute parade, the new Birds signed autographs, handed out pictures and threw styrofoam balls to crowd as the throngs marched down several major city streets ending on East 33rd Street. Inside, more than 46,000 watched the Orioles beat the Chicago White Sox, 3–1, to win their home opener, both the new Orioles and the Colts had some great successes over the next few decades, winning several championships. Among the Colts greats were quarterback Johnny Unitas, wide receiver Raymond Berry, over the next few decades, both teams became among the winningest and competitive franchises in their sports, sending a number of players to their respective Halls of Fame. On May 2,1964, an accident involving a stadium escalator caused the death of a teenaged girl. That day, the Orioles held Safety Patrol Day to honor schoolchildren who served in their schools safety patrols, in which helped their fellow students travel to. For the event,20,000 schoolchildren from around the state of Maryland were given admission to the Orioles game against the Cleveland Indians. The moving steps cut and mutilated the children until a stadium usher, 65-year-old Melville Gibson, finally reached the escalators emergency shut-off switch and turned the escalator off. Previously, the switch had been moved to a wall across from the escalator in order to prevent pranksters from turning it off while people were on it. A 14-year-old girl, Annette S. Costantini, was killed in the accident,46 other children were injured, some seriously. The gate at the top of the escalator — called a people channeler — had apparently been left there after a previous event, the gates purpose was to control the flow of people getting onto the escalator. Children heading for the deck then got onto the escalator
15.
Inner Harbor
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The Inner Harbor is a historic seaport, tourist attraction, and landmark of the city of Baltimore, Maryland, USA. It was described by the Urban Land Institute in 2009 as “the model for post-industrial waterfront redevelopment around the world. ”The Inner Harbor is located at the mouth of Jones Falls, creating the wide and short northwest branch of the Patapsco River. The district includes any water west of a line drawn between the foot of President Street and the American Visionary Art Museum, the harbor is within walking distance of Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium. A water taxi connects passengers to Fells Point, Canton, while Baltimore has been a major U. S. seaport since the 18th century, the historically shallow water of the Inner Harbor was not conducive to large ships or heavy industry. These were concentrated in Locust Point, Fells Point, and Canton, in the mid-20th century, Baltimore suffered from the economic decline of restructuring common to many industrial cities in the United States. Old harbors were abandoned with the arrival of ships after World War II. Later, the old harbors were adapted as focal points to reconnect cities with their waterfronts, and develop public spaces, tourism, business, during the 1940s, John H. Threadgill, the head of the Steamship Trade Association, initiated a study for a cross-harbor bridge. A bridge across the Inner Harbor of Baltimore was one idea that was discussed frequently, Threadgill was named head of Baltimores Port Commission during the 1950s. In the 1950s, economic changes ended both the freight and passenger use of the Inner Harbor, such as the Old Bay Lines steamers, rotting warehouses and piers were eventually torn down and replaced by open, grass-covered parkland that was used for recreational purposes and occasional large events. The renewal of Baltimores Inner Harbor area began with the adoption of the 33-acre Charles Center project by the City Council, between 1958 and 1965, Baltimore renewed the center of its business district by rebuilding Charles Center with office buildings, hotels, and retail shops. At the beginning of mayor Theodore R. McKeldins second term in 1963, corporate headquarters and hotels were built around the shoreline of the Inner Harbor. A public park and promenade were added for leisure activity and community gatherings. On July 4,1976, following the rendezvous of Tall Ships in New York for the U. S. Bicentennial, eight ships from other nations visited Baltimore, where they attracted a huge number of tourists. The nearby Baltimore Convention Center and Hyatt Regency Baltimore Hotel added to the services and resulted in population density, with the success of the Inner Harbor in the 1970s and 1980s, Baltimore became a worldwide tourist destination and model of urban planning and development. S. In recent years, the area along the waterfront to the east of the Inner Harbor has been developed with condominiums, retail space, restaurants, and hotels – an ongoing project known as Harbor East. While little development land remains around the Inner Harbor, the land has been subject to many plans. In September 2003, the Inner Harbor area was flooded by Hurricane Isabel, in March 2004, a water taxi capsized during a storm on the Northwest Branch of the Patapsco River near Fort McHenry. While occurring over a mile downstream of the Inner Harbor, the accident was associated with the Inner Harbor by news reports, five passengers died in the accident, which the National Transportation Safety Board determined was caused when the small pontoon-style vessel encountered unpredictable strong winds and waves
16.
Camden Yards Sports Complex
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The Camden Yards Sports Complex is located in the center of Baltimore, Maryland. The complex is composed of buildings and stadiums including Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The two stadiums are home to the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball and the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League, the complex still houses the recently closed Sports Legends Museum at Camden Yards. Along with the Sports Legends Museum, the Babe Ruth Birthplace, Geppis Entertainment Museum is also located in Camden Station, atop the Sports Legends at Camden Yards. The complex is more than museums and stadiums and it is a location for community events such as the Dew Tours Panasonic Open in June 2007 and 2008, the Baltimore Marathon, and the African American Festival which is held every year. M&T Bank Stadium is home to the Baltimore Ravens football franchise located at 1101 Russell St, Baltimore, the Ravens franchise returned to Baltimore in 1996 when the Cleveland Browns announced their intention to move. The stadium was completed in 1998 at an estimated cost of $220 million, the stadium itself is 185 ft. high. The stadium is also LEED Certified, being the first existing outdoor professional sports facility in the United States to do so, the stadium offers scenic views of the Baltimore city skyline. There are 71,008 available seats, much more than its sister ball park, there are also 8,196 club seats located in 128 different suites. The Sports Legends Museum is located at the Camden Yards Sports Complex in Baltimore, the museum was opened to the public on May 14,2005, with the hopes of maintaining and commemorating the historic significance of Marylands past and present sports teams. It was privately owned by The Babe Ruth Birthplace Foundation until October 12,2015, the museums collection can be priced at over 3.2 million dollars in sport memorabilia. The museum was constructed at the Camden Station which used to be a stop on the B&O Railroad, constructed between 1856 and 1857 this railroad stop served both passenger and freight trains. Even president Abraham Lincoln traveled through Camden Station on his way to his inauguration, since being closed in the 1980s, the Sports Legend Museum occupied the space until its location had been moved. Currently, the tenant in Camden Station is Geppis Entertainment Museum. Camden station may be vacant within the five years. Babe Ruth was born in 1895 to parents George Sr. George Jr. in Baltimore, MD, in a house near the site of the original Orioles ballpark, today known as Oriole Park at Camden Yards. His childhood home is located in the old Ridgleys Delight neighborhood close to the Inner Harbor, the house became a tourist attraction in the early 1980s to preserve its history. A local group of Babe Ruth fans and Baltimore historians took action to have the city support a museum in Babes honor, in 1973, Babe Ruth Birthplace Foundation opened a non-profit museum to the public in honor of Babe Ruths Birthplace
17.
Oriole Park
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Oriole Park is the name of several former major league and minor league baseball parks in Baltimore, Maryland. It is also half the name of the current downtown home of the Baltimore Orioles, all of the early incarnations of Oriole Park were built within a few blocks of each other. The first field called Oriole Park was built on the southwest corner of Sixth Street / Huntington Avenue, the park was also variously known as Huntington Avenue Park and American Association Park. It was the first home of the major league American Association professional baseball franchise called the Baltimore Orioles, in 1890, the Orioles club moved four blocks north and opened a new Oriole Park. It was on a rectangular block bounded by 10th Street, York Road, 9th Street. This field in the suburban village of Waverly, a community then just outside the northeast city limits of Baltimore at North Avenue, from 1816. Orioles entry only briefly, during 1890 and for the first month of the season in 1891. The clubs reason for abandoning the park after more than one full season is unknown. They opened a new Oriole Park and it was on the same site as the 1890-91 experimental site. That team now known since 1913 as the New York Yankees, Baltimore was thus reduced to minor league status, as an entry in the Eastern League and later renamed International League, which began play at this same Oriole Park/American League Park. The last and by far the best known Oriole Park prior to Camden Yards is the fifth one and it was the home field of the Baltimore Terrapins of the short-lived Federal League of 1914–1915. Terrapin Park was built on a block bounded by 10th Street, York Road, 11th Street. That is, it was directly across the street, to the north and west, presumably that did not sit well with the Orioles, but the minor league club initially survived the challenge. The Federals only lasted two seasons, and the Orioles acquired the park to the north in 1916 and renamed it Oriole Park. This resulted in the famous U. S. Supreme Court decision, in Federal Baseball Club v. National League, that exempted baseball from antitrust laws, a ruling that still stands. That fact is out of scope of this discussion except to point out that Baltimore had been spurned by the big leagues yet again, Terrapin / Oriole Park was located at 39°19′26″N 76°36′40″W. This fifth Oriole Park was the home for the next 28½ seasons. The team enjoyed success, especially in the early 1920s when the Orioles won seven consecutive International League pennants
18.
Multi-purpose stadium
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Multi-purpose stadiums are a type of stadium designed to be easily used by multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event and it is used most commonly in Canada and the United States, where the two most popular outdoor team sports – football and baseball – require radically different facilities. Football uses a field, while baseball is played on a diamond. This requires a design to accommodate both, usually an oval. While building stadiums in this way means that sports teams and governments can share costs, some stadiums were renovated to allow multipurpose configurations during the 1980s. This type of stadium is associated with an era of suburbanization, in many sports teams followed their fans out of large cities into areas with cheaper. They were usually built near highways and had large parking lots, as multipurpose stadiums were rarely ideal for both sports usually housed in them, they had fallen out of favor by the 1990s. With the completion of the Truman Sports Complex in Kansas City in 1973, since Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened in 1992, most major league sports stadiums have been built specifically for one sport. In other countries, such as England, teams rarely share facilities, in Australia, many sports grounds are suited to both Australian rules football and cricket, as Australian rules was originally conceived for play on cricket fields. As of 2016, the Oakland Coliseum is the last multipurpose stadium to serve as a home to both an MLB team and an NFL team. Several stadiums hosted multiple sports teams prior to the advent of multipurpose stadiums, the original configuration of Yankee Stadium was specifically designed to accommodate football, as well as track and field, in addition to its primary use for baseball. Wrigley Field, while originally built for baseball, also hosted the Chicago Bears, just as Comiskey Park hosted the Chicago Cardinals, later venues such as Cleveland Stadium and Baltimore Memorial Stadium were built to accommodate both baseball and football. In the 1960s, multipurpose stadiums began replacing their baseball-only and football-only predecessors, subsets of the multipurpose stadiums were the so-called cookie-cutter stadiums or concrete donuts which were all very similar in design. They featured a circular or nearly circular design, and accommodated both baseball and football by rotating sections of the box seat areas to fit the respective playing fields. The first of these stadiums was Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, as of 2016, seven of these 11 stadiums have been demolished. The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome was unusual in that it was one of the few air-supported dome stadiums that was multipurpose in practice, being convertible between football and baseball. Home of the Minnesota Vikings through the 2013 season, it was home to the Minnesota Twins until 2009. The Carrier Dome was another such air-supported, multipurpose stadium, although it was built to accommodate sports such as football
19.
St. Louis
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St. Louis is an independent city and major U. S. port in the state of Missouri, built along the western bank of the Mississippi River, on the border with Illinois. Prior to European settlement, the area was a regional center of Native American Mississippian culture. The city of St. Louis was founded in 1764 by French fur traders Pierre Laclède and Auguste Chouteau, in 1764, following Frances defeat in the Seven Years War, the area was ceded to Spain and retroceded back to France in 1800. In 1803, the United States acquired the territory as part of the Louisiana Purchase, during the 19th century, St. Louis developed as a major port on the Mississippi River. In the 1870 Census, St. Louis was ranked as the 4th-largest city in the United States and it separated from St. Louis County in 1877, becoming an independent city and limiting its own political boundaries. In 1904, it hosted the Louisiana Purchase Exposition and the Summer Olympics, the economy of metro St. Louis relies on service, manufacturing, trade, transportation of goods, and tourism. This city has become known for its growing medical, pharmaceutical. St. Louis has 2 professional sports teams, the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball, the city is commonly identified with the 630-foot tall Gateway Arch in Downtown St. Louis. The area that would become St. Louis was a center of the Native American Mississippian culture and their major regional center was at Cahokia Mounds, active from 900 AD to 1500 AD. Due to numerous major earthworks within St. Louis boundaries, the city was nicknamed as the Mound City and these mounds were mostly demolished during the citys development. Historic Native American tribes in the area included the Siouan-speaking Osage people, whose territory extended west, European exploration of the area was first recorded in 1673, when French explorers Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette traveled through the Mississippi River valley. Five years later, La Salle claimed the region for France as part of La Louisiane. The earliest European settlements in the area were built in Illinois Country on the east side of the Mississippi River during the 1690s and early 1700s at Cahokia, Kaskaskia, migrants from the French villages on the opposite side of the Mississippi River founded Ste. In early 1764, after France lost the 7 Years War, Pierre Laclède, the early French families built the citys economy on the fur trade with the Osage, as well as with more distant tribes along the Missouri River. The Chouteau brothers gained a monopoly from Spain on the fur trade with Santa Fe, French colonists used African slaves as domestic servants and workers in the city. In 1780 during the American Revolutionary War, St. Louis was attacked by British forces, mostly Native American allies, the founding of St. Louis began in 1763. Pierre Laclede led an expedition to set up a fur-trading post farther up the Mississippi River, before then, Laclede had been a very successful merchant. For this reason, he and his trading partner Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent were offered monopolies for six years of the fur trading in that area
20.
Baltimore Colts relocation to Indianapolis
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The Baltimore Colts relocation to Indianapolis was a successful effort by the then-owner of the Baltimore Colts to move the American football team from Baltimore, Maryland to Indianapolis, Indiana. The team began play as the Indianapolis Colts for the 1984 National Football League season, the Colts move was completely unannounced and occurred in the early hours of March 29,1984, after years of lobbying for a new stadium to replace the inadequate Memorial Stadium. Although the Colts had been successful since arriving in Baltimore for the 1953 NFL season, in May 1969, the city of Baltimore announced it would seek a substantial increase in Memorial Stadium rental fees from Colts owner Carroll Rosenbloom and the team itself. Rosenbloom had already called Memorial Stadium antiquated and had threatened to move all Colts home games out of the stadium unless improvements were made. Rosenbloom even considered using $12–20 million of his own money to fund the building of a new football only stadium on land in adjoining Baltimore County. Real estate investor Will Keland was originally slated to buy the Colts from Rosenbloom, on July 13,1972, Irsay became owner of the Colts. Under the terms of the arrangement, he bought the Los Angeles Rams for $19 million, then traded them to Rosenbloom for the Colts and $3 million in cash. In 1971, Baltimore mayor William Donald Schaefer and the governor, Marvin Mandel. Their report was a blow to Memorial Stadium, also, there was not enough office space for the front offices of either the Orioles or Colts, much less both teams combined. Both teams had to share rooms, the upper deck of Memorial Stadium did not circle the field. Any expansion plans for the stadium had usually mentioned less attractive end-zone seats, lastly, the number of bathroom facilities in Memorial Stadium was deemed inadequate. Marylands planners came up with an ambitious project, nicknamed the Baltodome, the original plan was to create a facility near the citys Inner Harbor known as Camden Yards. The new stadium would host 70,000 fans for games,55,000 for baseball. But the proposal did not receive support to pass the Maryland legislature, in spite of assurances that contributions from taxpayers would be limited strictly to city, on February 27,1974, Marylands Governor Mandel pulled the plug on the idea. Orioles owner Jerold Hoffberger was blunt, I will bow to the will of the people and they have told us what they want to tell us. First, they dont want a new park and second, they dont want a club, Robert Irsay was willing to wait. Its not a matter of saying there will be no stadium. Its a matter of getting the facts together so everybody is happy when they build the stadium
21.
Government of Maryland
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The government of Maryland is conducted according to the Maryland Constitution. Administrative influence in Maryland is divided among three branches of government, executive, legislative, and judicial, unlike most other states, significant autonomy is granted to many of Maryland’s counties. Most of the business of government is done in Annapolis, the state capital, the constitution establishes five principal executive branch officers, as described below. Four of them are elected statewide, the governor and lieutenant governor, the general. The fifth, the treasurer, is elected by a joint ballot of both houses of the General Assembly, as in all states, a popularly elected governor heads Marylands executive branch. The governors cabinet is known as the Executive Council, like most state chief executives, the Maryland governor is elected to serve a four-year term. He or she is limited to serve no more than two consecutive terms. The Governor is elected under the plurality system, the current governor is Larry Hogan. The state legislature can override a veto by a vote of the total number of members in each house. This is different from most states, which require a higher two-thirds vote to override a veto. The appointment powers of the governor are extensive, as he or she appoints almost all military and civil officers of the State subject to the advice and consent of the Senate. The Governor also commissions notaries public and appoints persons to fill vacancies in the offices of Attorney General and Comptroller, any officer appointed by the Governor is removable by him or her for cause. In times of emergency the Governor has certain emergency powers as defined by law. The Maryland Lieutenant Governor is elected on the ticket as the states Governor and is nominally the second highest-ranking official in the state. The position was first created by the short-lived Maryland Constitution of 1864 and functioned from 1865 to 1868 before being abolished by the present constitution. The position was re-established by Constitutional amendment in 1970, under which the Lieutenant Governor shall have only the duties delegated to him by the Governor, the Maryland Lieutenant Governor, currently Boyd Rutherford, is therefore weaker than the office in most other states which have one. In both of those states, as in others, the Lieutenant Governor is elected in his or her own right. If there is a vacancy in the office of the Governor, a vacancy in the Lieutenant Governorship is filled by a person nominated by the Governor and confirmed by a majority vote of the General Assembly voting in joint session
22.
Minor League Baseball
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All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses. Most are members of the organization known as Minor League Baseball. Several leagues, known as independent baseball leagues, do not have any links to Major League Baseball. Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball teams may enter into a PDC for a two- or four-year term. At the expiration of a PDC term, teams may renew their affiliation, or sign new PDCs with different clubs, though many relationships are renewed and endure for extended time periods. Minor League teams that are owned directly by the major league club do not have PDCs with each other and are not part of the reaffiliation shuffles that occur every other year, several more independent leagues operate in the United States and Canada. The earliest professional baseball association, the National Association of 1871 to 1875 and this system proved unworkable, however, as there was no way to ensure competitive balance, and financially unsound clubs often failed in midseason. This problem was solved in 1876 with the formation of the National League, with a membership which excluded less competitive. Professional clubs outside the National League responded by forming regional associations of their own, there was a series of ad hoc groupings, such as the New England Association of 1877 and the Eastern Championship Association of 1881. These were loose groups of independent clubs which agreed to play a series of games for a championship pennant, the first minor league is traditionally considered to be the Northwestern League of 1883 to 1884. Unlike the earlier minor associations, it was conceived as a permanent organization and it also, along with the National League and the American Association, was a party to the National Agreement of 1883. Included in this was the agreement to respect the reserve lists of clubs in each league, teams in the National League and the American Association could only reserve players who had been paid at least $1000. Northwest League teams could reserve players paid merely $750, implicitly establishing the division into major and minor leagues, over the next two decades, more minor leagues signed various versions of the National Agreement. Eventually, the minor leagues joined together to negotiate jointly, in the late 1890s, the Western League run by the fiery Ban Johnson decided to challenge the National Leagues position. Representatives of the different minor leagues met at the Leland Hotel in Chicago on September 5,1901, in response to the National–American battle, they agreed to form the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, called the NAPBL, or NA for short. The purpose of the NA at the time was to maintain the independence of the leagues involved, several did not sign the agreement and continued to work independently. Powers was made the first president of the NAPBL, whose offices were established in Auburn, in 1903, the conflict between the American and National Leagues ended in the National Agreement of 1903. The NAPBL became involved in the stages of the negotiations to develop rules for the acquisition of players from their leagues by the National
23.
Coca-Cola Field
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HOK Sport designed the park as one of the first retro-classic ballparks. This concept featured classic and distinctive architecture, a grass, baseball-specific design, the same firm would bring this concept to the major leagues four years later with Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The ballpark was built with a capacity of 19,500 people. The design allows for expansion to accommodate a major league team. In this first season, the Bisons outdrew a number of Major League teams, after several years as Pilot Field, there was a dispute involving the naming rights to the stadium following Pilot Air Freights defaulting on naming rights payments. For part of a season, the stadium was known simply as the Downtown Ballpark. In July 1995, however, another company stepped in and acquired the rights. The stadium maintained this moniker for only a few years, however, prior to the start of the 1999 season, Dunn Tire, a local chain of retail tire outlets, became the naming rights holder for the stadium, thus the name Dunn Tire Park. On December 17,2008, the Buffalo News reported that a new naming deal has been reached with Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Buffalo, with the stadium renamed as Coca-Cola Field for the 2009 season. With the Omaha Royals moving out of Rosenblatt Stadium after the 2011 season, on November 6,2015, a 120-foot light pole from left field, fell, and blocked Oak Street, which is behind Coca-Cola Field. The pole came crashing down around 11,15 a. m. due to high winds, no one was hurt in the incident. Before the baseball field was built, the corner of Swan and Washington was the site of Ellsworth Statlers first hotel and it was later called the Hotel Buffalo after Statler built a new Statler Hotel on Niagara Square in 1923 and sold this one. Before the Statler Hotel here was St. Johns Episcopal Church built from 1846–1848 on land donated by Joseph Ellicott, remained in use until 1893, the 2017 season will be the Bisons 30th season at the ballpark. In 2011, the Buffalo Bisons added a new state of the art video screen, the screen is the largest high-definition LED video display in all of Minor League Baseball. Along with the new board, a new lighting system was added for Coca-Cola Field. The new lighting system at Coca-Cola Field cost over $970,000 and contains fewer bulbs, for the 2014 season, $500,000 was spent in improvements to Coca-Cola Field. On August 22,2014, it was announced that the stadium would get new seats for the 2015 season, the new seats were installed during the offseason, and these seats are for specially reserved sections. The seating capacity dropped from 18,025 to 17,600, on August 22,2016, the second phase of new seating project was announced to take place over the offseason
24.
Buffalo, New York
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Buffalo is a city in western New York state and the county seat of Erie County, on the eastern shores of Lake Erie at the head of the Niagara River. As of 2014, Buffalo is New York states 2nd-most populous city after New York City, the metropolitan area has a population of 1.13 million. After an economic downturn in the half of the 20th century, Buffalos economy has transitioned to sectors that include financial services, technology, biomedical engineering. Residents of Buffalo are called Buffalonians, the citys nicknames include The Queen City, The Nickel City and The City of Good Neighbors. The city of Buffalo received its name from a creek called Buffalo Creek. British military engineer Captain John Montresor made reference to Buffalo Creek in his journal of 1764, there are several theories regarding how Buffalo Creek received its name. In 1804, as principal agent opening the area for the Holland Land Company, Joseph Ellicott, designed a radial street and grid system that branches out from downtown like bicycle spokes similar to the street system he used in the nations capital. Although Ellicott named the settlement New Amsterdam, the name did not catch on, during the War of 1812, on December 30,1813, Buffalo was burned by British forces. The George Coit House 1818 and Samuel Schenck House 1823 are currently the oldest houses within the limits of the City of Buffalo, on October 26,1825, the Erie Canal was completed with Buffalo a port-of-call for settlers heading westward. At the time, the population was about 2,400, the Erie Canal brought about a surge in population and commerce, which led Buffalo to incorporate as a city in 1832. In 1845, construction began on the Macedonia Baptist Church, an important meeting place for the abolitionist movement, Buffalo was a terminus point of the Underground Railroad with many fugitive slaves crossing the Niagara River to Fort Erie, Ontario in search of freedom. During the 1840s, Buffalos port continued to develop, both passenger and commercial traffic expanded with some 93,000 passengers heading west from the port of Buffalo. Grain and commercial goods shipments led to repeated expansion of the harbor, in 1843, the worlds first steam-powered grain elevator was constructed by local merchant Joseph Dart and engineer Robert Dunbar. Darts Elevator enabled faster unloading of lake freighters along with the transshipment of grain in bulk from barges, canal boats, by 1850, the citys population was 81,000. At the dawn of the 20th century, local mills were among the first to benefit from hydroelectric power generated by the Niagara River, the city got the nickname City of Light at this time due to the widespread electric lighting. It was also part of the revolution, hosting the brass era car builders Pierce Arrow. President William McKinley was shot and mortally wounded by an anarchist at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo on September 6,1901, McKinley died in the city eight days later and Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in at the Wilcox Mansion as the 26th President of the United States. The Great Depression of 1929–39 saw severe unemployment, especially working class men
25.
Guaranteed Rate Field
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Guaranteed Rate Field is a baseball park located in Chicago, Illinois. It serves as the ballpark for the Chicago White Sox. The park is owned by the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, the park opened for the 1991 season, after the White Sox had spent 81 years at the original Comiskey Park. It also opened with the name Comiskey Park but was renamed U. S, cellular Field in 2003 after U. S. Cellular bought the rights at $68 million over 20 years. The stadium is situated just to the west of the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicagos Armour Square neighborhood and it was built directly across 35th Street from old Comiskey Park, which was demolished to make room for a parking lot that serves the venue. Old Comiskeys home plate location is represented by a plaque on the sidewalk next to Guaranteed Rate Field. Also, the spectator ramp across 35th Street is designed in such a way that it echoes the contour of the old first-base grandstand, the park was completed at a cost of US$167 million. The current public address announcer is Gene Honda, who serves as the PA announcer for the Chicago Blackhawks, NCAA Final Four. The stadium was the first new major sporting facility built in Chicago since Chicago Stadium in 1929 and it was also the last one built before the wave of new retro-classic ballparks in the 1990s and 2000s. However, a few features from the old park were retained. The front facade of the park features arched windows, most notable is the exploding scoreboard which pays homage to the original installed by Bill Veeck at the old park in 1960. The original field dimensions and seating configuration were very similar to those of Royals Stadium in Kansas City—which had been the last baseball-only park built in the majors, as originally built, the park was criticized by many fans because of the height of the upper deck. The original architect, HOK Sport, wanted to eliminate the problems present in many stadiums built since the 1970s. With this in mind, the deck was set back over the lower deck. While it gave nearly every seat in the level an unobstructed view of the field. The first row of seats in the deck at the new stadium is as far from the field as the highest row of seats in the upper deck at the old stadium. g. In response to fan complaints, the stadium has undergone renovations since the 2001 season in order to retrofit the facility to current architectural trends
26.
Governor of Maryland
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The Governor of Maryland heads the executive branch of the government of the State of Maryland, and is the commander-in-chief of the states National Guard units. The Governor is the official in the state and has a broad range of appointive powers in both the State and local governments, as specified by the Maryland Constitution. Because of the extent of constitutional powers, the Governor of Maryland has been ranked as being among the most powerful Governors in the United States. The current Governor is Larry Hogan, a Republican who defeated Lt, Governor Anthony Brown on November 4,2014. Like most state chief executives in the United States, the Governor is elected by the citizens of Maryland to serve a four-year term, under the Constitution of Maryland, the Governor can run any number of times, but not more than twice in a row. This makes it possible for a governor to run for the office again after remaining out of office for at least one term. An eligible candidate for Governor must be at least 30 years old, and also a resident of, the Governor, like all statewide officials in Maryland, is elected in the even-numbered years in which the election for President of the United States does not occur. The main constitutional responsibility of the Governor of Maryland, and any other States chief executive, is to out the business of the state. The Governor also has some say in these laws, since the Governor has the ability to any bill sent to his or her desk by the Maryland General Assembly. Every year, the Governor must present a budget to the Maryland General Assembly. The Assembly may, however, increase funds for the Legislative, the Governor has the power to veto any law that is passed by the General Assembly, including a line item veto, which can be used to strike certain portions of appropriations bills. The Legislature then has the power to override a Governors veto by vote of three-fifths of the number of members in each house, the Governor also sits on the Board of Public Works, whose other two members are the Comptroller and the Treasurer. This Board has broad powers in overseeing and approving the spending of state funds and they must approve state expenditures of all general funds and capital improvement funds, excluding expenditures for the construction of state roads, bridges, and highways. The Governor appoints almost all military and civil officers of the State government, subject to advice, any officer appointed by the Governor, except a member of the General Assembly, is removable by him or her, if there is a legitimate cause for removal. Among the most prominent of the Governors appointees are the 24 secretaries and heads of departments that make up the Governors Cabinet. The Governor of Maryland is the Chairman of the Governors Executive Council which coordinates all state government functions, hunter-Cevera Adjutant General - Gen. Linda Singh Other members of the Governors Staff may be invited to Cabinet meetings as attendees. The Governor also oversees several sub-cabinets that coordinate the activities of a function of state government that involves several state departments or agencies. In times of emergency, the Governor may exercise emergency powers
27.
William Donald Schaefer
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William Donald Schaefer was an American politician who served in public office for 50 years at both the state and local level in Maryland. On September 12,2006, Schaefer was defeated in his bid for a third term as Comptroller by Maryland Delegate Peter Franchot in the Democratic Party primary. Schaefer was born in the City of Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Tululu Irene and William Henry Schaefer and his parents were Baptist, and he was of part German ancestry. He spent his childhood at 620 Edgewood Street in the old West Baltimore community off Edmondson Avenue, near Hilton Street and he received early education in Baltimores city public schools, and later graduated from The Baltimore City College high school in 1939. Schaefer received an LL. B. from the University of Baltimore School of Law in 1942, Governor Schaefer was a member of the Order of DeMolay in Baltimore as a youth, later inducted into the DeMolay International Hall of Fame. He was also a Freemason and a member of the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and he was a member of Mystic Circle Lodge No.104 when he first ran for public office. He continued to remain in the U. S. Army Reserves all during his academic, legal and political/public service careers until 1979, Schaefer resumed his legal career afterwards, practicing real estate law. He had earned his Master of Law degree in 1954 from the University of Baltimore School of Law, Schaefer ran for a seat in the Maryland House of Delegates in 1950 and again in 1954 and lost both elections. He was successful in his campaign for a seat on the Baltimore City Council in 1955 when his concern for city planning and housing issues propelled him to a seat representing the 5th District. In 1967, Schaefer ran successfully for Baltimore City Council president and, four years later, Schaefer served four terms as mayor, being re-elected in 1975,1979 and 1983, each time receiving 85% or more of the vote. He was known for his attention to detail, taking notes of strewn garbage and other violations as he rode around, and ordering them fixed immediately. A famous photograph shows him dressed in a striped bathing suit in the seal pool at the then-new National Aquarium in Baltimore to settle a wager that it would not be opened in time. His administration turned to tourism as a possible alternative, dAlesandro, Jr. administration from the late 1940s. McKeldin, who was recognized by having the redeveloped plaza facing the new festival marketplaces at Pratt, Light. With new businesses, new hotels, a new National Aquarium, harborplace had 18 million visitors its first year, 1980–81. In 1984, Esquire Magazine named him the best mayor in America, Schaefer constantly battled Robert Irsay, the owner of the Baltimore Colts of the National Football League. Schaefer extracted a promise from Irsay that the Colts owner would call Schaefer first before moving the team, in the early morning hours of March 29,1984, Mayflower moving vans began relocating the Colts from the teams Owings Mills training facility to Indianapolis. Schaefer lamented that didnt call his old friend, Don before the move, the Colts were not the first professional sports team to leave Baltimore on Schaefers watch
28.
Toronto Blue Jays
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The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto, Ontario. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the American League East division. The team plays its games at the Rogers Centre. The Blue Jays name originates from the bird of the same name, in addition, the team was originally owned by the Labatt Brewing Company, makers of the popular beer Labatts Blue. Colloquially nicknamed the Jays, the official colours are royal blue, navy blue, red. An expansion franchise, the club was founded in Toronto in 1977, originally based at Exhibition Stadium, the team began playing its home games at the SkyDome upon its opening in 1989. Since 2000, the Blue Jays have been owned by Rogers Communications and in 2004, the SkyDome was purchased by that company, which it renamed Rogers Centre. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Blue Jays went through struggles typical of an expansion team, in 1983, the team had its first winning season and two years later, they became division champions. From 1985–1993, they were an AL East powerhouse, winning five championships in nine seasons. The Blue Jays became the first team outside the US to appear in and win a World Series, after 1993, the Blue Jays failed to qualify for the playoffs for 21 consecutive seasons, until clinching a playoff berth and division championship in 2015. The team clinched a second playoff berth in 2016, after securing an AL wild card position. Both years, the Jays won the AL Division Series, the Blue Jays are one of two MLB teams under corporate ownership, with the other being the Atlanta Braves. The Blue Jays played their first game on April 7,1977 against the Chicago White Sox before a crowd of 44,649. The game is now perhaps best remembered for the minor snowstorm which began just before the game started, Toronto won the snowy affair 9–5, led by Doug Aults two home runs. That win would be one of only 54 of the 1977 season, as the Blue Jays finished last in the AL East, after the season, assistant general manager Pat Gillick succeeded Peter Bavasi as general manager of the team, a position he would hold until 1994. In 1978, the team improved their record by five games, in 1979, after a 53–109 last place finish, shortstop Alfredo Griffin was named American League co-Rookie of the Year. In addition, the Blue Jays first mascot, BJ Birdy, in 1980, Bobby Mattick became manager, succeeding Roy Hartsfield, the Blue Jays original manager. In Matticks first season as manager, although they remained at the bottom, Toronto almost reached the 70-win mark, finishing with a record of 67–95, Jim Clancy led with 13 wins and John Mayberry became the first Jay to hit 30 home runs in a season
29.
Oakland Athletics
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The Oakland Athletics are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the American League West division. The club plays its games at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum. The club has won nine World Series championships, the third most of all current Major League Baseball teams, the Athletics 2017 season will be the teams 50th season in Oakland. One of the American Leagues eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Philadelphia and they won three World Series championships from 1910 to 1913 and two in a row in 1929 and 1930. The teams owner and manager for its first 50 years was Connie Mack and Hall of Fame players included Chief Bender, Frank Home Run Baker, Jimmie Foxx, the team left Philadelphia for Kansas City in 1955 and became the Kansas City Athletics before moving to Oakland in 1968. They won three World Championships in a row from 1972 to 1974, led by players including Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson, ace reliever Rollie Fingers, after being sold by Finley to Walter A. Haas, Jr. The film Moneyball, and the book on which it is based, the As made their Bay Area debut on Wednesday, April 17,1968, with a 4-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles at the Coliseum, in front of an opening-night crowd of 50,164. The Athletics name originated in the term Athletic Club for local gentlemens clubs—dates to 1860 when an amateur team, the team later turned professional through 1875, becoming a charter member of the National League in 1876, but were expelled from the N. L. after one season. A later version of the Athletics played in the American Association from 1882–1891, McGraw and Mack had known each other for years, and McGraw accepted it graciously. By 1909, the As were wearing an elephant logo on their sweaters, over the years the elephant has appeared in several different colors. In 1963, when the As were located in Kansas City and this is rumored to have been done by Finley in order to appeal to fans from the region who were predominantly Democrats at the time. Since 1988, the Athletics 21st season in Oakland, an illustration of an elephant has adorned the sleeve of the As home. Beginning in the mid 1980s, the on-field costumed incarnation of the As elephant mascot went by the name Harry Elephante, in 1997, he took his current form, Stomper. Through the seasons, the Athletics uniforms have usually paid homage to their forebears to some extent. Until 1954, when the uniforms had Athletics spelled out in script across the front, furthermore, neither Philadelphia nor the letter P ever appeared on the uniform or cap. The typical Philadelphia uniform had only a script A on the left front, in the early days of the American League, the standings listed the club as Athletic rather than Philadelphia, in keeping with the old tradition. Eventually, the city came to be used for the team
30.
Chris Hoiles
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Christopher Allen Hoiles is an American former professional baseball player. He played his entire Major League Baseball career as a catcher for the Baltimore Orioles from 1989 to 1998, although his playing career was shortened by injuries, Hoiles was considered one of the best all-around catchers in Major League Baseball, performing well both offensively and defensively. Hoiles was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 19th round of the 1986 Major League Baseball draft and he played in the Tigers minor league system until 1988, when he was traded with Cesar Mejia and Robinson Garces to the Baltimore Orioles for Fred Lynn. He appeared in 23 games with the Orioles in 1990, Hoiles returned to the major leagues in 1991 when the Orioles traded away catcher Mickey Tettleton and gave Hoiles an opportunity to be their starting catcher. Hoiles had his best season offensively in 1993, hitting for a.300 batting average at mid-season, both players were hitting.300, but Hoiles had 18 home runs compared to Steinbachs seven. Gaston explained that he was forced by Major League Baseball rules to name at least one Oakland player to the All-Star team. Hoiles finished the season with a.310 batting average along with 29 home runs,80 runs batted in, a.416 on-base percentage and a.585 slugging percentage. He ranked fifth in the American League in slugging percentage and in on-base percentage, by early 1996, Hoiles offensive production had diminished to the point to where the Orioles tried to drop him from the team by exposing him through waivers, but he managed a comeback. Hoiles feat was unique, in that he hit his home run on a count with two outs, only the second time in major league history this has ever been recorded. The Orioles went on to defeat the Cleveland Indians in the first round of the playoffs, the Orioles defeated the Seattle Mariners in the first round of the playoffs, before losing to the Cleveland Indians in the 1997 American League Championship Series. On August 14,1998, at Jacobs Field in Cleveland, Hoiles became the ninth player and he played in his final major league game on September 27,1998 at the age of 33. By the beginning of 1999, the 34-year-old Hoiles was hampered by injuries that included a degenerative hip, on May 1,1999, the Orioles announced that Hoiles had been placed on waivers, but had been offered another job within their organization. He led American League catchers four times in fielding percentage and ended his career with a.994 average and his.994 career fielding percentage ranks ninth all-time among Major League catchers. Hoiles career.837 on-base plus slugging percentage is seventh-highest all time major league catchers. His.467 slugging percentage is 11th highest all-time among major league catchers and his 151 career home runs rank 12th highest in Orioles team history. Hoiles was the Orioles catcher on July 13,1991, when four Orioles pitchers combined to pitch a no-hitter. In a game against the Kansas City Royals on April 9,1998, after his playing career, Hoiles returned to his alma mater, Eastern Michigan University, where he served as a baseball coach. He later became a coach at Bowling Green State University
31.
Sam Horn
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Horn grew up in San Diego and went to Samuel F. B. Morse High School with Mark McLemore, where they were coached by Bob Mendoza, the 1982 first round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox, Horn hit.278 with 14 home runs in just 158 at-bats as a rookie in 1987. Horn hit 23 home runs as a member of the Baltimore Orioles in 1991, during his career with Boston, Baltimore, Cleveland, and Texas, the powerful 6 ft 5 in,250 lb pound first baseman Horn hit.240 with a total of 62 home runs. After leaving MLB, Horn played for the Taipei Gida in 1997 and 1998 and he hit the first home run in the Taiwan Major League and held the record of being the highest paid player in the Taiwan professional baseball history until surpassed by Chin-Feng Chen in 2006. On April 6,1992, he scored the first ever run at Camden Yards. Horn is perhaps best remembered as the origin of the horn, referring to the act of striking out six times in a single game. Horn worked for New England Sports Network, providing analysis on Red Sox post-game shows, horns catch-phrase was ka-pow, which he exclaims whenever a Sox player hit a home run. The Red Sox fans message board website called Sons of Sam Horn, in July 2007, he declared his candidacy for President of Red Sox Nation. On August 15,2007, a group calling themselves the Fans of Sam Horn took out an ad in USA Today, career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or The Baseball Cube
32.
Cal Ripken Jr.
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Calvin Edwin Cal Ripken Jr. nicknamed The Iron Man, is an American former baseball shortstop and third baseman who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball for the Baltimore Orioles. One of his positions most offensively productive players, Ripken compiled 3,184 hits,431 home runs, and 1,695 runs batted in during his career and he was a 19-time All-Star and was twice named American League Most Valuable Player. Ripken holds the record for games played,2,632, surpassing Lou Gehrigs streak of 2,130 that had stood for 56 years. In 2007, he was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, born in Maryland, Ripken grew up traveling around the United States as his father, Cal Sr. was a player and coach in the Orioles organization. After a fine career at Aberdeen High School, Ripken Jr. was drafted by the Orioles in the round of the 1978 MLB draft. He reached the leagues in 1981 as a third baseman. That year, Ripken also won the AL Rookie of the Year Award, in 1983, he won a World Series championship and his first AL MVP Award. He switched back to base for the final five years of his career. In 2001, his season, Ripken was named the All-Star Game MVP and was honored with the Commissioners Historic Achievement Award. Ripken is considered one of the best shortstops and third basemen in baseball history, at 6 ft 4 in,225 lb, he pioneered the way for the success of taller, larger shortstops. He is a member of the 3,000 hit club and is behind Derek Jeter, Ripken is a best-selling author and the President and CEO of Ripken Baseball, Inc. whose goal is to grow the love of baseball from a grassroots level. Since his retirement, he has purchased three minor league baseball teams and he has been active in charity work throughout his career and is still considered an ambassador of the game. Ripken was born in Havre de Grace, Maryland, the son of Violet Vi Ripken and he has German, English, and Irish ancestry. Though the Ripkens called Aberdeen, Maryland, their home, they were often on the move because of Cal Sr. s coaching duties with the Baltimore Orioles organization. Cal Sr. in fact, was in Topeka, Kansas with one of his teams when his son was born, Cal Jr. grew up around baseball and got started in it at a very young age. He was able to receive instruction from players on his fathers teams and he also got advice from his father, who once remarked to his mother that his questions were better than the ones reporters had. At the age of three, Ripken knew he wanted to be a ballplayer and, at the age of 10, Ripken knew the game inside, Ripken and his brother Billy attended Aberdeen High School. They both played there, Cal also played soccer
33.
Eddie Murray
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Eddie Clarence Murray, nicknamed Steady Eddie, is a former Major League Baseball first baseman and designated hitter. Spending most of his MLB career with the Baltimore Orioles, he ranks fourth in history in both games played and hits. Though Murray never won a Most Valuable Player Award, he finished in the top ten in MVP voting several times, after his playing career, Murray coached for the Orioles, Cleveland Indians and Los Angeles Dodgers. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003, in the New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, Murray is described as the fifth-best first baseman in major league history. He was 77th on the list of the Baseballs 100 Greatest Players by The Sporting News, Murray was the eighth child of twelve and still has five sisters and four brothers. He has often quipped that as a child he did not have to go far for a baseball game. The games were quite fierce and his brothers never let him win. Murray played Little League baseball under coach Clifford Prelow, a minor leaguer. Prelow remembers that young Murray was a well behaved player, Murray attended Locke High School in Los Angeles, where he batted.500 as a senior and was a teammate of Ozzie Smith. Murray was selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the round of the 1973 amateur draft and had several successful seasons in the minor leagues. He debuted at the league level on April 7,1977. He won the American League Rookie of the Year award by batting.283, hitting 27 home runs and contributing 88 RBI. With the Orioles from 1977 until 1988, Murray averaged 28 home runs and 99 RBI and was a candidate for the MVP award. His best season was 1983, when he hit. 306/. 393/.538 with 110 RBI, the Orioles also appeared in the post-season twice, in 1979 and 1983, and won the World Series in 1983. He won the Gold Glove Award three consecutive times from 1982 to 1984, Murrays close-knit friendship with fellow Oriole Cal Ripken, Jr. was highly publicized in Baltimore at the time. Murray was traded on December 4,1988 to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Juan Bell, Brian Holton, louis Cardinals to the American Leagues Oakland As. McGee won the NL batting crown with a.335 average, prior to the 1992 season, Murray signed a two-year deal with the New York Mets. Murray was one of several acquisitions the Mets made to try to regain their winning ways, however, in Murrays two years with the team they finished with 90 and 103 losses, respectively
34.
Shortstop
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Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. The position is filled by defensive specialists, so shortstops are generally relatively poor batters who bat later in the batting order. In the numbering used by scorers to record defensive plays. More hit balls go to the shortstop than to any position, as there are more right-handed hitters in baseball than left-handed hitters. Like a second baseman, a shortstop must be agile, for example performing a 4-6-3 double play. Also, like a third baseman, the shortstop fields balls hit to the side of the infield. Doc Adams of the Knickerbockers created the concept of the position, according to Thorn. In the first five years the Knickerbockers played, the team fielded anywhere from eight to eleven players, the only infielders were the players covering each of the bases, if there were more than eight players, extra outfielders were sometimes used. The outfielders had difficulty throwing baseballs into the infield, because of the light weight. Adams shortstop position, which he started playing at some time from 1849 to 1850, was used to field throws from the outfielders, with the advent of higher-quality baseballs, Adams moved to the infield, since the distance the balls could travel increased. Adams had a playing career with the Knickerbockers, he remained a player with the team until 1860. The shortstop ordinarily is positioned near second base on the third-base side, a shortstop must also be extremely agile, because balls hit to or near the shortstop position are usually hit harder than to other infield positions. Shortstops are required to cover second base in double play situations when the ball is hit to the second baseman or first baseman and they also cover second when a runner is attempting a stolen base, but only when a left-handed hitter is batting. This is because the infield will respond to a batter by shifting toward first base. They often become the man on balls to any part of the outfield that are being directed towards third base and all balls to left. Depending on the system the shortstop may cut balls from left field heading home, however, the emphasis on defense makes the position unusually difficult to fill. Historically, a strong shortstop did not have to be a good hitter.200, since the 1960s, however, such mediocre hitting has become rarer as teams increasingly demand players with ability to both field and hit. Alex Rodríguez, Michael Young, or Miguel Tejada, the year in which the player was inducted is given in brackets after his name
35.
Chicago Cubs
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The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago, Illinois. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the National League Central division. The team plays its games at Wrigley Field, located on the citys North Side. The Cubs are one of two league teams in Chicago, the other, the Chicago White Sox, is a member of the American League Central division. The Cubs, first known as the White Stockings, was a member of the NL in 1876. The Cubs have appeared in a total of eleven World Series, the 1906 Cubs won 116 games, finishing 116–36 and posting a modern-era record winning percentage of.763, before losing the World Series to the Chicago White Sox by four games to two. The Cubs won back-to-back World Series championships in 1907 and 1908, the 108-year drought was also the longest such occurrence in all major North American sports. Since the start of play in 1969, the Cubs have appeared in the postseason eight times through the 2016 season. The Cubs are known as the North Siders, a reference to the location of Wrigley Field within the city of Chicago, there is a divisional rivalry with the St. Louis Cardinals and also a newer rivalry with the Milwaukee Brewers. There is also a rivalry with the White Sox. The Cubs began play in 1876 as the Chicago White Stockings, joining the National League as a charter member. Owner William Hulbert signed multiple star players, such as pitcher Albert Spalding and infielders Ross Barnes, Deacon White, the White Stockings played their home games at West Side Grounds and quickly established themselves as one of the new leagues top teams. Spalding won forty-seven games and Barnes led the league in hitting at.429 as Chicago won the first ever National League pennant, which at the time was the games top prize. After back-to-back pennants in 1880 and 1881, Hulbert died, and Spalding, the White Stockings, with Anson acting as player-manager, captured their third consecutive pennant in 1882, and Anson established himself as the games first true superstar. In 1885 and 86, after winning N. L. pennants, both seasons resulted in match ups with the St. Louis Brown Stockings, with the clubs tying in 1885 and with St. Louis winning in 1886. This was the genesis of what would become one of the greatest rivalries in sports. In all, the Anson-led Chicago Base Ball Club won six National League pennants between 1876 and 1886. As a result, Chicagos club nickname transitioned, and by 1890 they had known as the Chicago Colts, or sometimes Ansons Colts
36.
Ernie Banks
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He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977, and was named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999. Banks is regarded by some as one of the greatest players of all time and he began playing professional baseball in 1950 with the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro leagues. He served in the U. S. military for two years, played for the Monarchs again, and began his league career in September 1953. The following year, Banks was the National League Rookie of the Year runner-up, beginning in 1955, Banks was a National League All-Star for 11 seasons, playing in 13 of the 15 All-Star Games held during those seasons. Banks was the Cubs main attraction in the late 1950s, the National League Most Valuable Player in 1958 and 1959, in 1962, Banks became a regular first baseman for the Cubs. In the mid-1960s, Cubs manager Leo Durocher became frustrated with Banks, Durocher said he was unable to remove Banks from the lineup due to the stars popularity among Cubs fans. Between 1967 and 1971, he was a player-coach, in 1969, through a Chicago Sun-Times fan poll, Cubs fans voted him the greatest Cub ever. In 1970, Banks hit his 500th career home run at Wrigley Field and he retired from playing in 1971, was a coach for the Cubs in 1972, and in 1982 was the teams first player to have his uniform number retired. Banks was active in the Chicago community during and after his tenure with the Cubs and he founded a charitable organization, became the first black Ford Motor Company dealer in the United States, and made an unsuccessful bid for a local political office. In 2013, Banks was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his contribution to sports, Banks lived in the Los Angeles and Chicago areas. Banks was born in Dallas, Texas, to Eddie and Essie Banks on January 31,1931 and his father, who had worked in construction and was a warehouse loader for a grocery chain, played baseball for black, semi-professional teams in Texas. As a child, Banks was not very interested in baseball, preferring swimming and his father bought him a baseball glove for less than three dollars at a five and dime store and motivated him with nickels and dimes to play catch. His mother encouraged him to one of his grandfathers into a career as a minister. Banks graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in 1950 and he lettered in basketball, football and track. Banks school did not have a team, he played fastpitch softball for a church team during the summer. He was also a member of the Amarillo Colts, a baseball team. History professor Timothy Gilfoyle wrote that Banks talent for baseball was discovered by Bill Blair, other sources say Banks was noticed by Cool Papa Bell of the Monarchs. In 1951, Banks was drafted into the U. S. Army and he served as a flag bearer in the 45th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion at Fort Bliss, where he played with the Harlem Globetrotters on a part-time basis
37.
2008 Major League Baseball season
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The Civil Rights Game, an exhibition, in Memphis, Tennessee took place March 29 when the New York Mets beat the Chicago White Sox, 3–2. The All-Star Game was played on July 15 at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, New York City, for the eighth straight season, a defending World Champion – the Boston Red Sox – failed to defend their championship. The Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series 4 games to 1 over the Tampa Bay Rays and this was Philadelphias second championship, and also the first World Series appearance for the Rays. The Angels clinched home field on September 26 when the Tampa Bay Rays lost to the Detroit Tigers. On September 20, the Chicago Cubs became the team to get their passport to October with a win over the St. Louis Cardinals. This marked the first time since 1907 and 1908 that the Cubs appeared in consecutive postseasons, two days later, the Cubs clinched the home field advantage through the National League Playoffs by beating the New York Mets. Also on September 20, the Tampa Bay Rays guaranteed a spot in the playoffs for the first time in history by beating the Minnesota Twins at Tropicana Field. Tampa Bay won its first American League East title six days later, on September 23, the Boston Red Sox clinched a playoff spot, their fifth in the last six years. The Red Sox win also eliminated the Yankees from the post-season for the first time since 1993, on September 26, the Yankees handed the Rays the American League East title by beating the Red Sox by a 19–8 score, making Boston the Wild Card. On September 25, the Los Angeles Dodgers clinched the National League West when the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, on September 27, the Philadelphia Phillies clinched the National League East title for the second straight year with their win over the Washington Nationals, 4–3. This marks the first time they would play in consecutive postseasons since the 1980 and 1981 seasons, the 1981 appearance made possible by the split season due to the players strike. The previous season, the Marlins beat the Mets while the Phillies beat the Nationals on the last day to knock the Mets out of the postseason as the Phillies won the NL East. The Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins in a playoff by 1–0 at U. S. Cellular Field on September 30, becoming the winner of the American League Central, note, Major League Baseballs playoff format automatically seeds the Wild Card team 4th. Normally, the No.1 seed plays the No.4 seed in the Division Series, hence, Milwaukee and the Chicago Cubs did not face each other in the NLDS. In scores, home teams are in italics, winning team is boldface, Tampa Bay Rays vs. John Smoltz of the Atlanta Braves recorded his 3, 000th strikeout against Felipe López of the Washington Nationals April 22. Kenny Rogers of the Detroit Tigers became the all-time career pickoff leader with 92, on May 9, Rogers picked off Wilson Betemit of the New York Yankees, passing Mark Langston. Greg Maddux of the San Diego Padres recorded his 350th career win against the Colorado Rockies on May 10, Brad Ausmus of the Houston Astros recorded his 1, 500th hit on May 12 against the Giants
38.
2009 Major League Baseball season
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The 2009 Major League Baseball season began on Sunday, April 5,2009 with the New York Yankees defeating the 2008 World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies 4–2. The regular season ended on October 6, extended two days for a playoff between the Detroit Tigers and the Minnesota Twins to decide the American League Central Division champion. The postseason began the day with the Division Series. This was the time the season was completed in November. The American League champion had home advantage for the World Series by virtue of winning the All-Star Game on July 14 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri. Both teams wore replicas of their 1965 uniforms in the contest, the New York Yankees, with 103 wins, clinched Major League Baseballs best record in the 2009 season, and the #1 seed in the American League by winning the AL East. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim won the second seed with a 97–65 record, in the AL Central, the Minnesota Twins defeated the Detroit Tigers in a one-game playoff for the division championship and the #3 seed. The Los Angeles Dodgers had the National Leagues best record, clinching the top seed in the Senior Circuit, the NL East champion Philadelphia Phillies, who were defending their 2008 title, was the #2 seed with a 93–69 record. The St. Louis Cardinals, from the NL Central, notched a 91–71 record, note, Major League Baseballs playoff format automatically seeds the Wild Card team 4th. Normally, the No.1 seed plays the No.4 seed in the Division Series. † –11 innings † –13 innings ‡ –11 innings The Seattle Mariners named Milwaukee Brewers scouting director Jack Zduriencik its new manager on October 22. Washington Nationals GM Jim Bowden resigned on March 1 amid allegations that he was skimming money from Latin American players. During the last days of the season, two teams fired their general managers, effective at the end of the season. On October 3, the Toronto Blue Jays fired J. P. Ricciardi after eight seasons, the following day, the San Diego Padres axed Kevin Towers, who had been the longest-tenured GM in Major League Baseball at 14 seasons. Gaston had previously been the Blue Jays manager from 1989 until 1997, on January 15, the owners of the 30 Major League Baseball clubs approved two rule changes governing the playing of postseason and one-game playoff games. The game is resumed when conditions permit at the location from the point of suspension. This rule change codifies the controversial interpretation of the rules made by MLB commissioner Bud Selig during Game 5 of the 2008 World Series. Coin tosses will no longer be used to determine home-field advantage for one-game tiebreakers held to determine division champions or wild card teams, instead, performance-based criteria—including head-to-head record between the tied clubs—will be used to determine home-field advantage
39.
Ed Smith Stadium
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Ed Smith Stadium is a baseball field located in Sarasota, Florida. The stadium was built in 1989 to replace Payne Park as a Spring Training, in 2010, the Baltimore Orioles began playing spring games at the ballpark. Ed Smith Stadium was formerly the home of the Chicago White Sox. In 1998, it replaced Plant City Stadium as the training home of the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds remained at the facility through 2008, after Cincinnatis club moved its spring activities to Arizona, Ed Smith Stadium spent a year without major league Spring Training. The Orioles became the tenant and operator in 2010. Baltimore had trained in Sarasota before—at Twin Lakes Park in 1989 and 1990, as well as at Ed Smith in 1991—before moving to St. Petersburg and then Ft. Lauderdale for spring games. From 1989 to 2009, the stadium hosted a series of Minor League Baseball teams, the Single-A Sarasota White Sox, Sarasota Red Sox, from 2004 until 2009, it housed the Gulf Coast Leagues Gulf Coast Reds. Ed Smith has also hosted high school and college baseball tournaments, on November 1,2008, Barack Obama gave a speech to a crowd of 10,000 spectators as part of his 2008 presidential campaign. In 2008, a planned renovation fell through when a bond issue from the city of Sarasota to partially fund the renovation was rejected by the voters. The Reds, whose lease with the city and the stadium expired after the season and they moved to Goodyear Ballpark, located in Arizona, in 2010. The Baltimore Orioles reached a tentative 30-year agreement to begin spring training at Ed Smith Stadium starting in 2010 which included renovations to the stadium, the $31.2 million renovation was completed prior to the beginning of spring training in February 2011. Seats in the stadium are refurbished seats from the Orioles revolutionary home ballpark. Three air-conditioned suites added to the park are numbered Suites 66,70, a fabric sun shade system extends from the stadiums original roof to nearly double the number of seats in the shade. A series of produced by the Orioles shows the dramatic changes resulting from the renovation. Seating is available for 7,428 spectators, with standing room space taking the total capacity to 8,500. Two concourses include food and beverage stands, a cafe,100 high-definition televisions are located throughout the stadium and a high-definition LED video board in the outfield measures 17 feet high by 30 feet across. Ed Smith Stadium Official Website Little Ballparks, Ed Smith Stadium Digital Ballparks, Ed Smith Stadium
40.
Batter's eye
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This dark surface allows the batter to see the pitched ball against a sharply contrasted and uncluttered background. Its primary purpose is the safety of the batter, the use of a batters background has been standard in baseball since at least the late 19th century. Alternatively a black screen is used to contrast the white Limited Overs cricket ball, the batters eye area is usually painted or otherwise decorated in black, dark green, or other color dark enough to allow batters to track the flight of the white ball. If there are seats behind center field, they are painted a color and are not occupied during baseball games. One example of a background is the black area in the center-field bleachers section of the original Yankee Stadium. At one time, there were seats where the area was, but because of distractions the seats were removed. At Fenway Park in Boston, the eye is made by laying a large black tarp over a section of the center field bleachers. The Red Sox have solved this problem by handing out T-shirts of the color to these fans to wear during the game. At Wrigley Field, the center field bleachers used to be closed off and covered by a tarpaulin, there is now a shaded luxury suite there referred to by the Cubs as the Bud Light Batters Eye. Some stadiums have rotating billboards in this area, in this case, advertisements are displayed in between innings, while a dark surface is rotated in while the game is in play. This method was used at Shea Stadium in New York, AT&T Park in San Francisco, tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida has a restaurant called the Batters Eye Restaurant. The current Yankee Stadium has a restaurant with dark tinted glass that serves as the batters eye, nevertheless, many have erected tall, dark, stand-alone batters-eye screens in center to ensure there is no interference with the batters view. The batters eye screen prevents, in day games, the glare of the ocean air and, in night games
41.
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
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The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 25 Main Street in Cooperstown, New York, and operated by private interests. The Halls motto is Preserving History, Honoring Excellence, Connecting Generations, the word Cooperstown is often used as shorthand for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. The Hall of Fame was established in 1939 by Stephen Carlton Clark, Clark had sought to bring tourists to a city hurt by the Great Depression, which reduced the local tourist trade, and Prohibition, which devastated the local hops industry. A new building was constructed, and the Hall of Fame was dedicated on June 12,1939, the erroneous claim that U. S. Civil War hero Abner Doubleday invented baseball in Cooperstown was instrumental in the early marketing of the Hall. An expanded library and research facility opened in 1994, dale Petroskey became the organizations president in 1999. In 2002, the Hall launched Baseball As America, an exhibit that toured ten American museums over six years. The Hall of Fame has since also sponsored educational programming on the Internet to bring the Hall of Fame to schoolchildren who might not visit, the Hall and Museum completed a series of renovations in spring 2005. The Hall of Fame also presents an annual exhibit at FanFest at the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Jeff Idelson replaced Petroskey as president on April 16,2008. In 2012, Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed a law ordering the United States Mint to produce and sell commemorative, non-circulating coins to benefit the private, non-profit Hall. The bill, House Bill H. R.2527, was introduced in the United States House of Representatives by Rep. Richard Hanna, a Republican from New York, the coins, which depict baseball gloves and balls, are the first concave designs produced by the Mint. The mintage included 50,000 gold coins,400,000 silver coins, the Mint released them on March 27,2014, and the gold and silver editions quickly sold out. The Hall receives money from surcharges included in the sale price,114 members of the Hall of Fame have been inducted posthumously, including four who died after their selection was announced. Of the 35 Negro league members,29 were inducted posthumously, the Hall of Fame includes one female member, Effa Manley. The newest inductees, enshrined on July 24,2016, are players Mike Piazza, the incoming class of 2017, to be formally enshrined on July 30, consists of executives John Schuerholz and Bud Selig and players Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines, and Iván Rodríguez. In addition to honoring Hall of Fame inductees, the National Baseball Hall of Fame has presented 40 men with the Ford C, while Frick and Spink Award honorees are not members of the Hall of Fame, they are recognized in an exhibit in the Hall of Fames library. ONeil Award honorees are also not Hall of Fame members, but are listed alongside a permanent statue of the namesake and first recipient, Buck ONeil. From a final ballot typically including 25–40 candidates, each writer may vote for up to 10 players, until the late 1950s, any player named on 75% or more of all ballots cast is elected. A player who is named on fewer than 5% of ballots is dropped from future elections, players receiving 5% or more of the votes but fewer than 75% are reconsidered annually until a maximum of ten years of eligibility
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B&O Warehouse
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The B&O Warehouse is a building in Baltimore, Maryland, adjacent to Oriole Park at Camden Yards. It was constructed by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad beginning in 1899, with sections completed in 1905, adjacent to the B&Os Camden Station and freight yard at Camden. Railroad historian Herbert H. Harwood proclaimed it an awesome structure, a truly classic turn-of-the-century railroad warehouse. With the development of the stadium for the Orioles, which opened in 1992, the former B&O warehouse was converted to team offices, team spaces. It is also used for wedding receptions. In the entire history of Camden Yards, Ken Griffey Jr. was the player to hit the warehouse with a home run. He did so in the 1993 MLB Home Run Derby, in which he tied Juan González before losing in a playoff, no player has accomplished the feat in a game
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Ken Griffey Jr.
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George Kenneth Ken Griffey Jr. nicknamed Junior and The Kid, is an American former professional baseball outfielder who played 22 years in Major League Baseball. He spent most of his career with the Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds, a 13-time All-Star, Griffey is one of the most prolific home run hitters in baseball history, his 630 home runs rank as the sixth-most in MLB history. Griffey was also a defender and won 10 Gold Glove Awards in center field. He is tied for the record of most consecutive games with a home run, although popular with fans around the league, Griffey was unable to shake reports of his petulant demeanor throughout his major league baseball career. Griffey is one of only 29 players in history to date to have appeared in Major League games in four different calendar decades. Following his playing career, Griffey joined the Mariners front office as a special consultant and he was inducted into both the Mariners Hall of Fame and the Reds Hall of Fame. In 2016, Griffey was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, receiving a record 99. 32% of the vote and he is the son of former MLB player Ken Griffey Sr. Griffey was born in Donora, Pennsylvania, on November 21,1969. His family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where his father, Ken Griffey Sr. played for the Cincinnati Reds, Ken Jr. was in the clubhouse during his fathers back-to-back championships in the 1975 and 1976 World Series. As a young child, Ken Sr. would instill in his son the pride of a team accomplishment rather than the individual performance and my dad would have bopped me on the head when I was a kid if I came home bragging about what I did on the field. He only wanted to know what the team did and he attended Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinnati, where he was the U. S high school baseball player of the year in 1987. Griffey was the number one selection by the Seattle Mariners during the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft held on June 2,1987. He received a bonus of $16,000 from the Mariners. On June 11,1987 he joined the Bellingham Mariners of the Northwest League and he made his professional debut on June 16th,1987. During the 54-game season he hit.313 and he led the team with 14 home runs,40 RBI, and 13 steals. Baseball America magazine named him the number one major league prospect. In 1988, Griffey joined the San Bernardino Spirit of the California League, during his 58 games with the Spirit, Griffey batted.338, hit 11 home runs, drove in 42 runs, and stole an astounding 32 bases. Late in the season, Griffey was promoted to the Vermont Mariners of the Class AA Eastern League and he played the final 17 games with the club, hitting.279 with 2 home runs and 10 RBI. In his eleven seasons with Seattle Griffey established himself as one of the most prolific and exciting players of the era, racking up 1,752 hits,398 home runs,1,152 RBIs, and 167 stolen bases
Camden Station
