While blowing out the candles for the old and preparing for the new year, the ever-handy notebook sends a reminder that 2024 was full of significant anniversaries (those ending with a five or zero qualify) for Baltimore’s sports fan base.
The Orioles marking their 70th in Major League Baseball was certainly the most significant but hardly the only one worth noting. For openers, there was the 100th anniversary of the first Army-Navy football game played in Baltimore. It went largely unnoticed because no one saw it and little details are available.
It wasn’t quite the same 20 years later when a bunch of 80th anniversaries had something in common other than falling near the end of World War II. The first was July 3-4, 1944, when Oriole Park burned down, destroying the minor league park, which proved to be the start of a 10-year run to the big leagues. The journey was seriously put in motion on Oct. 9, 1944, when 53,811 people crammed the already ancient Municipal Stadium for a Junior World Series game that almost surely influenced the second Army-Navy game in Baltimore.
With travel restrictions in place, the game was originally scheduled for Annapolis. But three weeks before the game, and a month after the overwhelming response to that Junior World Series game, it was decided to move the game to Baltimore, with the price of a War Bond necessary to see the game.
More than 60,000 people showed up for the coming-out party of Doc Blanchard and Glenn Davis, thereafter known as Army’s famed “Mr. Outside and Mr. Inside” combination. In a span of seven weeks, Municipal Stadium had handled more than 115,000 spectators. Safe to say it didn’t go unnoticed and MLB was paying attention.
There was another anniversary celebrated in 2024 — the first of two appearances by a team from Baltimore playing in the Grey Cup, the Canadian Football League version of the Super Bowl. This one was personal because it took me out of the comfort of a baseball press box and served as a wakeup call of sorts.
All of which leads to one of the forgotten factors for those who have spent a lifetime in press boxes around the globe — keeping personal feelings out of the way
It was a point driven home to me with emphasis in November 1994 (the 30th anniversary was Nov. 29). My career at The Sun was winding down sooner than anticipated, and I found an unlikely outlet. Though I had covered a lot of college and professional football games throughout the years, the gridiron was, so to speak, off my grid.
With the Colts long gone, the CFL coming to Baltimore proved to be a perfect way to escape the confines of the press box. For two years I was just like everybody else in the stands, enjoying the return of football and cheering (though I have to admit, quietly for the most part) for the CFLers/Stallions. I wasn’t a season ticket holder but a regular in the horseshoe end of the upper deck, the best seats in the house at Memorial Stadium as far as I was concerned.
It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, maybe what started as nothing more than a whim, but my good friend the late Tom (Goose) Kaiser and I decided to go to the Grey Cup championship game in Vancouver. A larger-than-life, one-of-a-kind, even a Damon Runyon-type character, Goose was the king of charter bus trips in Baltimore. He once loaded 14 of them for an Orioles Opening Day.
He ran these trips, near and far, for more than 50 years for games involving the Orioles, Colts, Clippers, Bullets, CFLers/Stallions, Philadelphia Eagles (his adopted team when the Colts left), and for the last 26 years, the Ravens. You can throw in a few jaunts to Cooperstown in addition. I have no reason to doubt that Goose ran more bus trips out of Baltimore than anyone — and loved every minute of it until shortly before his passing on Aug. 12, 2024. He was one of a kind, and so was the trip we made together 30 years ago.
Vacation time in hand and courtesy of some hotel points and airline miles, we took a two-stop, one-plane-change flight the day after Thanksgiving. As unlikely as it might seem, this trip is high on my memory-bank list, a rewarding experience that resonates with me to this day.
We had a lengthy layover in Seattle. While we were sitting in the lounge doing what adults do when faced with a layover at the airport, we noticed a young man wearing a Baltimore CFL hat sitting at the end of the bar. Figuring he obviously must be going the same place we were, and that we probably missed him on our previous flight, we invited him to join us and the fascinating conversation flowed for much of the weekend.
It turned out our new friend had not been part of the same itinerary. He had come from Hawaii, where he was serving as a sergeant for the U.S. Army. And he wasn’t just a casual fan with ties to Baltimore.
His name was Donald Ham, brother of Tracy Ham, the quarterback whose arm and shoulders carried much of the CFLers’ hopes for winning the Grey Cup in their first year. The three of us immediately developed a cool friendship. When we got to Canada, it wasn’t goodbye, nice meeting you. It was, “Here’s where we’ll be, join us if you’d like.”
Tracy had arranged accommodations for his brother, but soon after he was settled, Donald caught up with us at the Hyatt hotel where we were staying. “They have a bunch of meetings,” he said, “so I figured it’d be more fun hanging out with you guys.” Suffice to say the feeling was mutual.
For the better part of one day and two nights, the three of us hopped around from team party to team party. (It’s a CFL tradition that every team has representation at the Grey Cup, which Canadians refer to as a national holiday.) It was an atmosphere unlike any I had seen … or certainly any in which I had been involved. It really was like a national holiday, celebrated mostly by a small but active and vocal group of people who were football fans first — and party fans foremost.
At one point, while walking the downtown streets of Vancouver, wearing all kinds of CFLers paraphernalia and being politely and playfully jeered by fans of the British Columbia Lions (the home team that was not only hosting, but also playing in the Grey Cup), there was a stark thought that really resonated with me.
“You know what, Goose?” I said/asked Kaiser as we playfully engaged residents of another country, who really were/are no different than those of others around the globe. “One of the things about my profession, after spending so much time in the press box writing about games — we either forget, or don’t realize, what it’s like to be a fan.”
It’s a thought that’s never left me, even all these years later in semi-freelance retirement. Sometimes it’s worth remembering what it’s like to be a fan, which is exactly what the three of us were doing. And it was very cool to have the brother of the quarterback along for the ride. Unfortunately, with team meetings no longer an issue and catching up between brothers the most important agenda, Goose and I didn’t have a chance to catch up with Donald after the game.
But the experience was one Goose and I both enjoyed, and reminisced about throughout the years. Although we never reconnected with Donald, apparently the feeling was mutual. Two weeks after our unlikely connection, Goose and I both got Christmas cards from Hawaii with a nice thank you note from Donald. It was a treasured reminder of how three guys bonded for a weekend — as fans.
And there was a postscript to the story. Later in the night, after the CFLers had lost to the B.C. Lions on a last-second field goal, while having a nightcap in the hotel lounge, Kaiser noticed two couples having dinner. “I think one of those guys is the kicker,” said Kaiser, referring to Lui Passaglia, who had kicked the game-winner.
Presented with that situation/opportunity, Goose and I did something over-exuberant fans should NOT, but occasionally do. We did wait until after dinner before asking Passaglia to sign our caps, which he did graciously, along with offering some complimentary words about the Baltimore team.
Suffice it to say this part of the fan experience was a little embarrassing — but I still have my hat, and I know Goose counted his among his prized possessions.
For Goose, it was just another fan experience. For me it was a wakeup call, one I’m thankful for at this stage of the game. RIP, my friend. As always, it was a blast.That said, it’s a good time to pause, take a vacay and wish everyone Happy New Year.
Cheers to all!
Jim Henneman can be contacted at JimH@pressboxonline.com.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Jim Henneman
Issue 290: December 2024 / January 2025
Originally published Dec. 18, 2024