My first baseball game at The Camden Yards, home of The Orioles

There are two major sports which Americans love, football and baseball. Can you believe that in my almost 4-year stint here, I have not been to either.

My chance to experience a baseball match came when I saw an article in Inside Hopkins Newsletter about watching a baseball game and donating to The Baltimore Heart Walk. It was a win-win situation where I bought two tickets. The other ticket was for Tom, my American friend who could explain the rules of baseball.

On Sep 6, I wore an orange t-shirt to show my support of the Baltimore Orioles. We took the light rail down to Oriole Park at Camden Yards since we did not have to find parking space and deal with city and game traffic. You can see that Baltimore is proud of its baseball team, even the light rail train had advertisement of Orioles. For your information, Baltimore is a.k.a. Birdland.

Besides the Camden Yards is The Sports Legend Museum which used to be a train station, actually the country's first commercial railroad in 1865. Exhibits include Orioles related news and Babe Ruth, a famous American baseball player of whom I first heard of by watching an animation called "Everyone's Hero."

Having some spare time, we visited the Orioles merchandise shops. Personally, I found the selling prices were steep e.g. a jersey could go for $100. I was tempted to buy a mini baseball bat or a foam glove as a memento, those which you see on televised matches with fans waving in support of their favorite team. Fortunately, a long line at the cash registers prevented me from getting them. Bottled water cost $4 and beer was $5.75 and do not mention food prices.

Before the game between Orioles and Texas Ranger, there were some entertaining gigs involving Oriole's mascot, none other than the orange-and-black oriole bird, pitching to kids. You can also see relief pitchers of both teams warming up in the pen or bullpen.

Luckily, our seats in Section 67 were shaded and breezy. One could tell an Oriole fan by the color he was wearing. The match started immediately after the national anthem and that was when Tom started explaining to me about balls, strikes, outs, innings etc.

I got better at determining whether it was a ball or a strike as the game proceeded. Spectators around the home base could scramble for foul balls which flew into the stands.

Between games, there were entertainment such as Fan of The Game where fans at various locations of the stadium were shown on the large screen and race among mustard, ketchup and I-forgot-the-last-condiment hot dog race. Playing at home ground had its advantage of support from fans, demonstrated by their clapping, cheering, and shouting, "Charge."

We left the game around 7th inning when Orioles was leading 7-0 to take the light rail so as to beat the crowd.

Next on my list is the other American favorite sport, a football match at M&T Stadium.

Orioles at Camden Yard pictures.