“Free the Birds!”
That was the final plea from frustrated Orioles fans rallying at Oriole Park at Camden Yards during the Orioles? game with Detroit Thursday afternoon. The group voiced its displeasure with the club’s ownership during the team’s ninth consecutive losing season.
“They hate what [owner Peter Angelos] has done to this organization,” said Nestor Aparicio, owner of WNST 1570 AM, the radio station that organized the rally.
There was no official count of protesters, but a rough estimate suggested there were about 1,000 fans in four-plus sections of the left-field upper deck who left the game, a far cry from the 5,000 to 10,000 that Aparicio had publicly hoped for leading up to the game. Thursday’s paid attendance was 17,877.
“I don?t look at it as success or failure; I look at it as a first step,” Aparicio said. “Nothing?s going to happen tomorrow morning, but they need to know how angry we are.”
The protesting fans left the game, which started at 4:05 p.m., during a bases-loaded situation in the fourth inning at 5:08 p.m. ? in honor of Brooks Robinson (No. 5) and Cal Ripken (No. 8).
Clad in black shirts, they sat in the upper deck for less than half the game, bought beer and re-created Oriole magic with cheers for Eddie Murray, Mike Mussina and Elrod Hendricks. But the jeers were saved for Angelos. There was even a plea to ownership to sell the club to former Oriole Cal Ripken.
“The crowd here has been louder than anything I?ve ever heard in this ballpark,” Aparicio said.
The players were aware of it, and some protesters claimed to notice shortstop Miguel Tejada waving and flashing a thumbs-up sign in their direction before the game.
“I can understand that. I?d be frustrated, too, if I was a fan,” Orioles infielder Chris Gomez said before the game.
“We’re definitely trying in [this clubhouse], but I can definitely understand their frustration,” Gomez said. “It’s a proud organization, and they expect better. And we as players expect better.”
The final fans in the protest left the inner seating bowl by the start of the sixth inning with the Orioles (66-86) trailing the American League Central-leading Detroit Tigers (91-61), 3-2. The Orioles rallied for a 4-3 win, but it was overshadowed by the walkout.
“As players, it’s not going to affect us at all,” Gomez said. “They have their opinions and they?re entitled to them.”
