Alec Cunningham attended his first Orioles game when he was about 5 years old. Something about it all — the smells and sounds of Camden Yards, the shared fan experience with his father — imprinted on his brain.
Seventeen years later, the Orioles remain a habit he just can't break. "I just cannot turn my back on the O's," said Cunningham, 22, of Gaithersburg.
The behavior of fans like Cunningham offers a partial clue to an early-summer baseball puzzle:
Why are the Orioles, with the worst record in the major leagues, enjoying an increase in TV ratings and home attendance over a corresponding period a year ago?
At first blush, the growing numbers appear to be a gift from Baltimore's fan base — the equivalent of an unearned run for a franchise that has not had a winning season since 1997 and has seen crowds decline almost uninterruptedly since then.
Attendance has faded from a league-leading 45,490 per game in 1998 to last year's 23,542.
Then there is this season. Even with the Orioles' ineptitude, attendance is up 9.5 percent, from 21,653 to 23,720, through 32 home games compared with the same number of games last year, according to Major League Baseball.
In recent Nielsen data, Orioles games on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) have earned a 3.8 household rating, compared with a 3.4 rating from Opening Day to June 3 of last year. The 3.8 rating translates to about 41,538 area households in the Baltimore TV market — an increase of 12 percent over last season.
By comparison, the Washington Nationals averaged a 1.1 rating during that time, which was before the June 8 debut of pitching prodigy Stephen Strasburg that earned record MASN ratings. Even the New York Yankees — with the top ratings on their YES Network regional sports outlet — averaged just a 4.6 rating this spring. A ratings point equals 1 percent of all TV homes in the market.
On radio, the ratings are running even with last season, according to Bob Philips, senior vice president at CBS Radio Baltimore, which owns 105.7 The Fan.
"The Orioles certainly bring a large listenership to the station," Philips said. "All you have to do is listen to the callers to know there is still lots of passion. The fans care, and they're engaged with the Orioles."
There is no disputing that the Orioles — who return from a West Coast road trip Tuesday to face the Florida Marlins — have benefited from a schedule front-loaded with attractive opponents. Although the season is not yet at the midway point, Baltimore has already hosted the Boston Red Sox in two weekend series, the Yankees in two midweek series and the New York Mets on a weekend.
The Yankees and Red Sox typically attract lots of interest, not only from Orioles backers but also from their own fans making road trips. The O's must wait until Aug. 31 for the next visit by either club.
At this time last year, the Orioles had hosted two Yankees series — one on the weekend and one during the week — and no Red Sox games.
There may be something else at play. After so many years of declining attendance, it's possible that the Orioles may be starting to approach bottom.
The remaining fans include loyalists who are as much a part of Camden Yards as the green seats and the warehouse wall.
"I think the people who are watching now are the core fan base," said John McGuinness, the senior vice president and general sales manager for MASN, who previously helped build the Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies TV networks. "The nice thing about Baltimore, and I liken it to Philadelphia, is that the fan base is extremely passionate and extremely knowledgeable. … And I think as you've seen in Philadelphia, their ratings and attendance have doubled [as they started winning]. So, it's only up from here."
Some fans — like Cunningham, whose dad gave him his first glove at his initial Orioles game and who follows many games online — seem drawn partly out of family tradition.
"If your father grew up as a big Orioles fan, you probably adopt the same thing," said Orioles fan Russ Lease, 54, of Columbia.
Generational ties, fond childhood memories connected with broadcasts and the pleasure that comes from engaging in certain kinds of familiar fan behaviors are some of the explanations analysts offer as to why fans will turn out and tune in even when the losing becomes as habitual as it has for the beleaguered Orioles this year.
"For the true fan, it's about more than winning or losing — it's an allegiance, a bond, a link to something more than themselves," said Dr. Michael Brody, a Silver Spring psychiatrist and University of Maryland professor. "For some of us, it's the family history of shared games and wins and losses that are talked about through the years and become a bond between father and son. Losing doesn't drive the true fan away — it's just a test of one's commitment. In that sense, some fans who pride themselves on their loyalty can even savor this kind of losing streak in that it separates them from the fair-weather followers of the team."
Brody believes many fans truly enjoy the ritual of going to the ballpark, smelling the hot dogs, looking down on a geometrically pleasing clean field of green, and hearing the buzz of the grandstands and the infield chatter. For some TV viewers, ending the workday by slipping into an Orioles telecast at home can serve the same purpose as a cool beer or a glass of wine, helping them relax.
It can even help transport them back to their youthful playing days — or simply to a less harried, more pleasant place than the one filled with demanding bosses, dirty dishes or bumper-to-bumper Beltway traffic.
"That's not about winning and losing," Brody says. "That's about simply enjoying the baseball experience."
Just because they still follow the team doesn't mean the fans aren't frustrated.
The die-hards, it seems, have earned the right to vent.
"I am 29 now, and for over a decade of losing I have lost faith in the 'brass,'" said Rick Dobson of Towson. "I think we need to deal with the facts — we are a bad team right now."
The Orioles franchise considers itself fortunate to be in a city with a rich baseball history. The club routinely draws on that history to help sustain it. This season, for example, it is staging fan events to celebrate the 40th anniversary of a 1970 World Series championship team that included Brooks Robinson, Jim Palmer, Frank Robinson, Boog Powell and others who remain local celebrities.
"There is still a huge passion for the Orioles and for baseball in this community," said Orioles spokesman Greg Bader.
Bader said the club doesn't take fan support for granted. "The team's performance over the second half will go a long way toward determining the final attendance," he said. "If the team continues to perform poorly, we will struggle to match last season's attendance. If the team — and particularly the young players — deliver, we could have a very strong second-half finish."
Just like the fans, area advertisers seem to be sticking with the Orioles this season. MASN's McGuinness said advertising dollars are "up double digits" for telecasts this year compared to last.
Kevin Kempske, a partner in Baltimore's GKV Communications, has several of his company's clients buying time on MASN and with the Orioles: Maryland Physicians Care, Union Memorial Hospital, the Maryland State Lottery and Baltimore County Golf.
"It doesn't surprise me that the TV ratings are up despite the team's record," he said. "These are the hard-core fans who have enjoyed the team since they were kids going to Memorial Stadium. There's a whole town of people here who grew up with the Orioles and don't want to give up on them — a whole town of very loyal fans."
The Orioles rely on attendance and television dollars to try to keep pace with their rivals.
"The huge disparity in revenues among baseball teams is largely the result of some teams — the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, Dodgers, etc. — generating an enormous stream of revenue from their cable networks and local broadcasts while other teams, especially those from the small media markets, are unable to do so," UMBC sports economist Dennis Coates said.
MASN, Coates said, "is a big source of revenue for the Orioles, though not as big as the YES Network is for the Yankees."
"The mission of MASN continues to be about promoting the Orioles, Nationals and Major League Baseball throughout the Mid-Atlantic," says MASN spokesman Todd Webster. "The increased interest in Stephen Strasburg has helped us reach the casual fan and to drive interest in both teams. This rising tide is lifting all boats."
MASN is owned primarily by the Orioles, with the Nationals having a minority stake. The recent hype surrounding Strasburg's major league debut aids the Orioles by strengthening the TV network. But it also may pull some fans — even those who grew up steeped in Orioles orange and black — in Washington's direction.
"I'm a Washington Nationals fan," said Lease, who also follows the Orioles. "I probably wouldn't have said that two weeks ago."
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