Souvenirs up for auction and on display more than a third of a century after Camden Yards’ debut
By Jack Wynn
On Opening Day of Oriole Park at Camden Yards in 1992, a 9-by-14-inch slip of paper appeared on the wall of the visiting dugout. On the left side were the names of the starting players for the team from Cleveland. On the right were Orioles starters in that first game, including Anderson, Orsulak, Horn, Sutcliffe and two players named Ripken.
That lineup card recently was included in a sale of baseball collectibles by REA, a specialty auction house that focuses on sports memorabilia.
The cost: $800, down from an initial asking price of $1,000.
Items from historic Opening Days normally don’t go for top dollar. In much higher demand are items such as classic trading cards, photos and baseballs autographed by legends. (A photo of Babe Ruth at bat in the 1932 World Series offered in February by REA was priced at $15,000.)
But more than three decades after the first pitch, items linked to Opening Day at Baltimore’s ballpark still draw interest.
Whereabouts of many game-used items from Opening Day in 1992 are not known. That includes the first pitched ball (thrown by the Orioles’ Rick Sutcliffe), the bat used by the leadoff hitter in the top of the first inning (Cleveland’s Kenny Lofton), and the ball and bat from the Orioles’ first hit (a single by Glenn Davis in the second inning).
The last baseball used in the game was a gift from Sutcliffe to Orioles manager Johnny Oates.
Sutcliffe and Oates had a close bond. They were teammates for two seasons in the late 1970s with the Los Angeles Dodgers. From 1984 to 1987, they were together again with the Chicago Cubs. Sutcliffe was a star pitcher for the Cubs and Oates a coach who Sutcliffe credits for helping him win the National League Cy Young Award in 1984.
“Johnny Oates is a huge part of my career,” Sutcliffe said.
After posting a shutout in Camden Yards’ debut in 1992, Sutcliffe presented the game ball to Oates, who died in December 2004. It’s not known whether the ball remains with his family. Efforts to reach Gloria Oates, the manager’s widow, were unsuccessful.
Several unusual mementos of Opening Day were sold at auction from the estate of Larry Lucchino, then the Orioles president and one of the key participants in planning for the ballpark.
The auction of Lucchino’s baseball collection featured more than 200 lots (individual items and groups of items), according to Paul O’Hara of Bonhams Skinner, which staged the auction. Items tied to Opening Day “drew significant interest,” he said.
Among mementos was a signed letter to Lucchino from former President George H.W. Bush, who threw out the first pitch. Bush sent the letter, signed and engraved with the presidential seal, thanking Lucchino for "fulfilling [his] dream” of tossing the ceremonial baseball. The winning bid was $332.
The auction also included three tickets from the game encased in Lucite. The set sold for $179.20. There were two single Camden Yards ballpark seats, which sold for $486 and for $460. A group of four seats is still available and valued at $2,000 to $3,000.
Not all memorabilia from the ballpark’s early days is for sale. The bat used to hit the first home run at Camden Yards, and the ball that landed over the fence, are housed at The Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum near Camden Yards. Cleveland first baseman Paul Sorrento did the honors in the second game of the season.
Michael Gibbons, executive director of the museum, said he believes the ball was retrieved after a fan threw it back onto the field. He said Sorrento gave the bat to the museum the day after the game.
The museum also recently received the Opening Day scorebook of longtime Orioles broadcaster Jon Miller, with Miller’s scoring in blue, ballpoint pen.
“It just goes back to that exclusivity,” said Brian Dwyer, REA’s president. “You didn’t have access to the game-used ball. You didn’t have access to the game-used jersey with that. But everyone that was in that stadium that day needed a ticket. Everyone who was in that stadium that day had an opportunity to buy a program.”