Ravens’ First Home Still Lives On, in a Unique Way
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By: paulbanks
It is easy to forget that the Baltimore Ravens have had two homes, not just one, in their history. M&T Bank Stadium has been their home since 1998, but the club played their home games at the old Memorial Stadium for the two years prior. The Ravens went 10-21-1 throughout the two seasons they called Memorial Stadium home.
More synonymous with the Baltimore Colts and Orioles (before Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened in 1992), the dual-use facility was demolished in 2002, 80 years after it opened. However, it still lives on in a highly unique manner today.
The gridiron and the diamond are still marked on the ground in their original location today. A new field was put in place in 2010, with the development efforts led by the living legend Cal Ripken himself. Ripken and his brother Billy (known more for his infamous “error” baseball card with a naughty word on it than for what he accomplished on the diamond) attended the ground-breaking ceremony alongside then-Governor of Maryland Martin O’Malley.
This behavior is encouraged if you want to run around on that sacred ground and envision yourself as an NFL or MLB player. The new field was added for recreation. You can also live there if you happen to be of a certain age, as there are multiple senior living facilities up and running at the site.
In addition to the nursing home, assisted living facility, and senior apartment complexes, there is also a Baltimore YMCA. Before it was torn down, Baltimore Memorial Stadium had a very unique history. According to Five Points Videos (12:11 mark in this clip), the venue suffered a fatal escalator accident in 1964 and saw a small plane crash into the upper deck in 1976.
And, of course, the infamous Mayflower brand trucks moving the Colts out to Indianapolis in the middle of the night in 1983.
Originally posted on Ravens Wire
