My fandom of the Orioles began before I was even born. Both of my parents are Orioles fans, as are my two older siblings, so naturally I am too. I can still remember my favorite player from when I was really young. The first Orioles jersey I ever owned was of Nick Markakis #21 jersey. I loved watching him play and the 2110 Eutaw Street combination of him and Adam Jones was electric. Whether it was on defense in right field or his sweet left-handed swing on offense, I was glued to whatever he was doing. I loved the whole team, of course, and watching them play and seeing the joy and passion they played with sparked my interest in playing the sport myself. That was my first “dream”. To become a professional baseball player and play for the Orioles. And my interest would grow even further as I continued to grow older. When I was about 10, the Orioles called up a 20 year old shortstop to play third base. His name was Manny Machado and I vividly remember instantly gravitating towards him. He played the game of baseball in a way that made it seem effortless. He was a smooth defender and had one of the coolest looking swings that I had seen. By that time I was playing baseball myself and I changed my batting stance to emulate Manny Machado as best as I could, and it worked pretty well for me. For years I had my Manny Machado jersey and wore it every time my family and I would go to an Orioles game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. That is, until he unfortunately got traded to the Dodgers in 2018. I was devastated, but knew it was going to happen because he was a free agent after that season ended and I knew the Orioles weren’t going to able to re-sign him. Here’s a quick guide of Camden Yards below.
That trade coincided with some tough times for the Orioles, as they didn’t have a great record for many years, but my support for the team never wavered. I knew that one day we would get back to the level of play that we had during the middle of the 2010’s. And that optimistic outlook increased in 2020. The Orioles had the first overall pick in that year’s draft and they ended up taking the consensus number one player in Adley Rutschman, a catcher who played college baseball at Oregon State. He instantly was seen as the player who would bring the Orioles back to relevancy. What fans, including myself, didn’t know was that Rutshcman wasn’t going to be the only franchise changing player from that draft. You see, the Orioles also had the 42nd pick and they used it on a high school shortstop from Selma, Alabama named Gunnar Henderson. Being a high school player, many people thought he would still have a lot of development to undergo because of his youth, but the talent he had was obvious. Now with two potential franchise cornerstones, the Orioles looked to be becoming a team on the rise, and me and my dad were following the team every step of the way. Now, Rutshman, Henderson, and many other young players are making huge impacts on the major league squad, and I have hope that this team of guys will allow me to witness the world series title returning to Baltimore for the first time since 1983 and I can’t even describe how ecstatic I would be. This team sparked my interest in playing baseball, and now that my dream is to become a sports reporter, every time I envision myself in the sports reporter role, I’m working for the Orioles, interviewing these superstars that have led the team back to competitiveness. Check out some of my O’s-related gear down below!
