The Royals are back in the Mid-Atlantic, and I don?t mean those from Kansas City.
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip arrived yesterday for a visit to the colonies and the 400th anniversary celebration of the settlement at Jamestown, Va. They?ll take in the Kentucky Derby while in the states, but it appears at the moment they?ll miss our semi-regular ballpark get-together.
What, you didn?t know that I was tight with the House of Windsor? We go way back.
On May 15, 1991, the Queen and her husband attended the Orioles-Athletics scrum at Memorial Stadium as the guests of then-President George H.W. Bush and then-Governor Schaefer. They sat in owner Eli Jacobs? box, which was separated from the press box by a glass wall. I was a part-time official scorer for the AL in those days, and my seat was maybe 20 feet away from where they were seated. We weren?t actually breathing the same air, but I could see them and they could see me.
We were told not to stare, but it was the Queen, after all, so it was quite a distraction for most of us next door. Gov. Schaefer later explained that he was there to answer any questions about baseball that she or the prince might have, which, given that he?s been quoted more than once saying how boring baseball is, probably wasn?t a good idea. I guess Earl Weaver wasn?t available.
No one expected them to stay for nine innings, so I quickly decided to make my move. I usually had a legal pad with me to take notes, so, using a sharpie, I scrawled an impromptu sign and held it up toward the Prince when he was looking in my direction. The sign said “Hi, my name is Phil, too.” Dumb, for sure, but he saw it, read it, and gave me a wave, and I waved back. When they got up to leave in the third inning ? they couldn?t wait for it to be an official game? ? once again he looked my way and waved. How cool was that?
My earlier brush with royalty came at RFK Stadium. My dad and I had gone to the ballpark to watch the Senators play California on July 18, 1970. The late left-hander George Brunet ? briefly an Oriole ? pitched for Washington with Prince Charles and Princess Anne on hand as the guests of David and (President Nixon?s daughter) Julie Eisenhower. They sat behind the Senators? dugout, and we were behind the Angels? dugout.
You could clock Brunet?s fastball with an hourglass. Using binoculars, I was able to check on the royals across the way, and I think Prince Charles was ready to make his big league debut. At one point he gestured toward the mound and made a motion with his hands like he was swinging a bat, but inasmuch as Brunet shut out the Angels on six hits, perhaps he was simply asking, “Why can?t they hit this guy?”
Perhaps it?s just as well the Queen?s staying away from the ballpark, given the Orioles? current struggles.
The last time she showed up, they lost the game despite two Randy Milligan home runs and finished the year 67-95. That kind of luck they can do without.
Contact Phil Wood at [email protected].
