Inside Baltimore Orioles' $188,000,000 Camden Yards stadium that celebrates early 20th-century ballpark aesthetics

Oriole Park at Camden Yards is considered a modern-day architectural stadium marvel. It is unique and is considered the ballpark that paved the way for retro-style baseball stadiums based on 20th-century construction.

The Orioles and the city of Baltimore started building Camden Yards Stadium in 1989, with construction taking 33 months and around $188 million at the time. The ballpark was opened in 1992 with signature architecture. It replaced the old Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, which was a multi-purpose facility that hosted MLB and NFL games.

The Orioles' Camden Yards stadium pays homage to 20th-century ballparks like Ebbets Field and Fenway Park.

The stadium has brick walls on the exterior and ironwork to support itself. The B&O Warehouse sits right beside the right field, adding a historic element to the already aesthetic field.

Camden Yards Field

B&O Warehouse near Camden Yards

Camden Yards exterior

Before Camden Yards Stadium, most of the ballparks that were being built for expansion teams or former teams in the MLB were multi-purpose stadiums that looked to host more than one sport. This took the aesthetics out of the stadium, as it had to be built in a specific style to incorporate multiple sports.

Camden Yards Stadium was built to keep the Orioles in Baltimore

For years, Memorial Stadium in Baltimore hosted the Orioles and the then-Baltimore Colts. The former, being the NFL team, wanted to replace the old stadium with a football stadium. But the State of Maryland refused to build it, and the Colts moved their franchise to Indianapolis.

However, the state of Maryland was desperate to keep at least one sports team in the city. So they sanctioned the building of a new ballpark in downtown Baltimore in an attempt to elevate social engagement in the area and also boost the economy in and around the stadium. Thus, the Camden Yards stadium was built, which has now inspired other ballparks like Wrigley Field.