Brewer Baseball In Baltimore...And Boardgames
Mickey stylin' in his Brewers Hawaiian shirt
My trip to Baltimore was in the final stage and that was focused on baseball. I scheduled my trip so that I could be there while the Milwaukee Brewers were in town to play the Baltimore Orioles. Monday was the home opener for Baltimore. Mickey got a good deal on tickets for us - veterans get special pricing. There were blue skies and warm weather. It was a perfect day for baseball.
As soon as Mickey picked me up we headed down to the inner harbor area. Both Camden Yards, where the Orioles play, and M&T Bank Stadium, where the Ravens play, are located near the waterfront. We got there early, found an all day spot in a parking garage, and spent some time walking along the water. It was very pretty on a nice sunny day. The section we were in was a little farther than Tim and I had reached on Saturday so it was new territory for me. We went by the USS Constellation, the last sail-only warship built by the US Navy. We walked up Federal Hill for an expansive view of the area. It got its name during the Civil War when Federal troops were stationed there to keep an eye on the city of Baltimore. Although Maryland stayed in the Union, there was a strong Confederate sentiment in the city and even occasional outbreaks of violence.
USS Constellation berthed in Baltimore harbor
When it was late enough in the morning that we could get lunch, we went to Pickles Pub, directly across from Camden Yards. We were there early and didn't have trouble getting a spot, but as time went on more and more people came. Soon the place was packed with Orioles fans (and two Brewer fans) both inside and on the patio outside. Even though they don't have a very good team, the Orioles fans seemed to be very loyal and there was a lot of excitement for Opening Day. Oh yeah, lunch was good and we had a Natty Boh.
Camden Yards is a nice ballpark. One unusual feature is that when you go inside the gates, there is a street (pedestrian only) behind the stadium with a number of restaurants. Since there isn't a large parking lot outside the stadium, the local pubs and restaurants, both inside and outside the gates, take the place of tailgaiting as where fans gather before and after the game.
Eutaw Street inside the ballpark at Camden Yards
Since we had time, we walked all around the stadium. Of course we stopped at the fan shop where we bought tshirts that proclaimed "Milwaukee Brewers - Baltimore Orioles Opening Series 2022". After that, the game itself was underwhelming. The Brewers lost 2-0. They just couldn't generate any offense. We even left a little early to avoid the crowd. But it was a nice day at the ball park and at least the home town fans were happy. That evening, we all enjoyed a good dinner at Cowboy Row Saloon & Chophouse in Canton Square.
We also had tickets to the game the following day, but that wasn't until the evening. After I got picked up at my hotel, Mickey and Allie and I went down to Little Italy. It's a neighborhood near the inner harbor area that literally has two or three Italian restaurants on every block. Definitely my kind of place. I had mentioned it to Mickey because Tim and I had passed through it on our Saturday walkabout. Mickey said they had never been there although they had wanted to go. That was enough. We went to have an early lunch in Little Italy. We ended up at Amicci's. Lunch was excellent. If I lived in Baltimore, I would be eating in Little Italy all the time.
A great day for baseball
After lunch Allie had to leave to do some dog walking. She has been making a business of it so she had been doing a lot of it all week. Mickey and I left for an afternoon excursion to Millersville Maryland. It happens to be the hometown of Josh Hader of the Milwaukee Brewers, but that isn't why we were going. It was to visit Multiman Publishing. I'm a wargamer, which is a fairly esoteric hobby. There are only a few publishers and they are all quite small. I regularly visit GMT games in California because they hold a Weekend at the Warehouse gaming event twice a year (in fact I'll be going to GMT not long after I get back from Baltimore). Multiman Publishing is another publisher but since it is on the east coast I had never been to their location or attended any of the events they hold. Since I was so close by this seemed like the time to fix that.
The origin of MMP is interesting. The company which first popularized historical wargames, starting way back in the 1950's and 60's, was Avalon Hill. The name of the company comes from the fact that the founder, Charles Roberts, owned a house on a hill in the Avalon neighborhood of Cantonsville, Maryland, just outside of Baltimore. One of their most popular series was Squad Leader, which later evolved into Advanced Squad Leader.
Restaurant in Little Italy
When Avalon Hill went out of business the brand was purchased by Hasbro. Since it was a large company, Hasbro was only interested in a few of Avalon Hill's nonwargaming titles. Wargames were too small a market to interest them. Baseball player Curt Schilling, an avid ASL player, wanted to be able to keep playing ASL so he joined with Multiman Publishing to acquire the rights from Hasbro. Multiman Publishing has continued to put out ASL titles ever since.
ASL is extremely popular (for a wargame) although I myself am not a fan. Several of my wargaming buddies have tried to convert me over the years but I just don't care for the game. I do like some of the other series that MMP publishes though, particularly the Standard Combat Series and the Storm Over xxx series. My goal in going to MMP headquarters was to buy the new SCS release, North Africa. I could get it online but this would save me the shipping cost. Besides, it was a reason to go and visit MMP in person.
It wasn't very exciting. They had a small office with two people working inside. There were several tables near the door with a few copies of each of their in print games. I bought my game and we left. At least I can say that I've been there now.
Welcome to Little Italy
Mickey was being a good host. He had done some research and found a game store nearby that we could check out. I didn't think it would be worth the effort and thought we could just head home. Most game stores are small and carry very few if any wargames. I had looked at one near Mickey's house over the weekend, Canton Games, and it was a complete waste of time. It was the size of a large closet. It had some magic cards, some warhammer figures, some old PC games, and one shelf of boardgames. The guy in the store asked if could help, but when I asked him if they carried any wargames, he didn't know what I meant. I figured that this store that Mickey had found wouldn't be much better.
But Mickey persisted. He said that as long as we were so close we might as well go. When we did, Games and Stuff turned out to be an incredible store with a huge stock of board games including quite a few wargames. I even found one that I had been trying to find for quite a while but had not had any luck. Fire in the Sky is a strategic level game on the Pacific theater in WWII. First published in English by MMP (the designer is Japanese), it had gone out of print many years ago. It was recently reprinted by Phalanx Games in the UK. I did not preorder the Phalanx version and was surprised when it went out of print shortly after its release. But this game store had a copy! I bought it instantly. This was a great find, although I wasn't sure how I was going to fit two wargames into my small carry on luggage without crushing them.
Thank you Mickey.
A nice evening for baseball
Next we went to a bookstore that Mickey had found nearby. I love bookstores and I can spend any amount of time in one. I can always find a book that I would like to buy. I had fun browsing in this one and they had some cool stuff, but my luggage was already going to be overflowing. I showed restraint and didn't buy any books there. Still, our excursion had been a great success, far more than I ever imagined.
Then it was time to head back to Baltimore. On the way we drove right past the airport, so we stopped at the hotel where I would be staying tonight. I checked in and stashed my luggage there. We also knew how to find the place, so it would easy to find when Mickey dropped me off later that night after the game. Being checked in already would save time too.
Back home, we met up with Tim and walked to The Pig & Rooster Smokehouse" for an early dinner. Then Mickey and I were off to the ball park again.
Hader delivers a pitch in the ninth inning
As dull as the game had been yesterday (for a Brewer fan), this game was exciting. The Brewers took a lead in the first on a two run double by Andrew McCutcheon. In the second inning, the Orioles loaded the bases on a walk, catcher interference and a walk. Cedric Mullins followed with a grand slam home run off of Eric Lauer. The Brewers came back with two runs in the third inning to tie it and then took a one run lead in the seventh. Brewer fans are spoiled to think that if they take a lead into the seventh inning that they win the game. Boxberger did his job and pitched a scoreless seventh inning. The crux came in the eighth, when Devin Williams gave up a hit and then two walks to load the bases with no one out. He came back to strike out the side and escape. Hader pitched a scoreless ninth and the Brewers finished with a one run win.
After the game Mickey drove me back to my hotel near the airport. I had an early flight the next morning and had an uneventful trip home.
It had been a great trip. It was good seeing Tim, Mickey and Allie. Visiting the battles was an awesome experience. The baseball games were fun since I rarely get to see the Brewers in person. I thought Baltimore was a nice city to visit. It was a great trip all around.
