The process of having fans walk through metal detectors at every entrance of Camden Yards seemed to go smoothly for Friday's noon gate opening. The early wave of fans entered the ballpark under new procedures mandated by Major League Baseball largely without issue.
"It was very quick," said Brittney Donovan, 27, of Bel Air. "They knew what to do. They were prepared."
Donovan was in line over three hours before gates opened, having arrived as the first in line at the north Eutaw Street gate at 8:45 a.m. Her time through security took a matter of seconds, and in her zeal to get into the ballpark, she experienced one of the few possible problems — she went through too fast.
Some fans reported longer wait times as the first pitch approached at 3:05 p.m. Greg Bader, Orioles vice president of communications and marketing, didn't have a full report on how security went, but said in an email that "the number of people entering the ballpark was consistent with past Opening Days when comparing entry totals at various times."
"As anticipated, most fans did arrive close to game time, and that is when lines were the longest, but they didn't appear to be noticeably longer than other sold out games in the past," Bader said. The Orioles announced a sellout crowd of 45,936 on Friday.
Right before the gates opened, the quick-thinking security staff solved what could have been a big problem. Initially, metal bowls were placed between the metal detectors for people to put their keys and cell phones in as they walked through. But those, they found, set off the detectors themselves, so they replaced them with cardboard hot dog holders, and the process went smoothly.
MLB announced in 2013, months after backpacks were used to carry homemade bombs to the finish line of the Boston Marathon, a uniform metal detector policy for its 30 stadiums that had to be in place for 2015. The Orioles tested hand-held wands late last season, but decided on going with the walk-through metal detectors to help speed up entrance into the stadium. Every gate Friday appeared to have at least two machines in operation.
By getting the word out early and having gates open three hours before the game on Friday, the Orioles hoped to alleviate long lines. For remaining games, all gates will open two hours before the scheduled first pitch. Previously, the Eutaw Street gates opened two hours early but the rest opened 30 minutes later.
At the other end of Eutaw Street on Friday, Lisa Seivold-Svatek, 51, of Leonardtown, reported no problems. She wanted to get here early for Opening Day anyway, but breezed through the security with no issues.
"You just plan accordingly," she said. "People have to understand it's for our safety, not to inconvenience people."
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