From today’s b, the paper

The Orioles have — ahem — stumbled a bit recently, falling three games below .500 with yesterday’s third loss in a row to the Red Sox and into the cellar of the American League East. But that was hardly the biggest story surrounding the franchise this weekend.

Sometime on Saturday evening word “leaked” from The Warehouse that the franchise and its beleaguered ownership group have finally come to their senses and restored the word “Baltimore” back to its rightful place on the crest of the Orioles’ road jerseys beginning in 2009.

Guessing about this is leak is the only option since no one in the organization is allowed “per MLB rules” to make an official announcement regarding this momentous and positive occasion because it might disrupt jersey sales for the remainder of the season. And the Orioles never answer questions from me and revoked my media credential before last season so they’re always “unavailable” for comment.

The team has apparently made the biggest ideological decision of the last decade — embracing its hometown by restoring the city’s name to the franchise’s mantel — and they can’t even figure out a way to make it a supreme public relations win to recruit the community. Ineptitude remains the Oriole Way even when they finally acquiesce to massive public pressure and do the “right” thing.
And make no mistake: Putting “Baltimore” on the road jerseys is the right thing to do.

Any doubt that there has been a serious disconnect with Baltimore is quelled by evidence in any of the videos on WNST’s Web site from the Red Sox Nation’s locust-like descent on the Inner Harbor. This weekend it was just as overrun as it has been in years’ past with the lower bowel of the stadium turned into a sea of red while young Orioles pitchers get booed in their own ballpark.
For many “old-schoolers” like myself, putting the word “Baltimore” on the jerseys establishes an identity with the city and the community and instills a local sports pride that this city has taken seriously for half a century.

The Orioles, meanwhile, have gone so regional and corporate and “non-local” during Peter Angelos’ ownership during the past 15 years that the word “Baltimore” appears nowhere on their Web site, team media guide or anyplace in the organization.

It was an inane policy, keeping Baltimore away from the Orioles, one that continued to harbor the bunker mentality and animosity that Angelos seems to relish in the courtroom but which doesn’t translate to the soul of a sports fan.

If this is an olive branch to the community, I certainly embrace it and support it. If this is the next step in their Oriole Reach program, which will bring people back to the ballpark and into downtown to stimulate the local economy, then it’s another step in the right direction.

But now that the word “Baltimore” will appear on the crest of the jerseys, how long will it take before the sight fills us with the same pride that we feel for the Ravens and not the feelings of shame that 11 consecutive losing seasons currently fill us with each summer?

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