Oriole Park at Camden Yards

The B&O Warehouse — 1,116 feet of brick, eight stories, the longest brick building east of the Mississippi — was supposed to come down. It sat on the land Baltimore had chosen for a new ballpark, widely seen as an obstacle blocking views of the harbor and standing in the way of progress. Designers realized it could sit perpendicular to the field and serve as a natural backdrop. The thing that was in the way became the defining element of the whole concept.

That decision fixed the orientation of everything around it. The field was sunk below street level so the park would not tower over the rowhouses of Otterbein, Ridgely's Delight, and Pigtown. The site sits two blocks from the birthplace of Babe Ruth and roughly 12 minutes west of Baltimore's Inner Harbor, on ground that had been a railroad center.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened on April 6, 1992 — Rick Sutcliffe pitching a complete-game shutout in a 2-0 Orioles win over Cleveland before a sellout crowd of 44,568. The dimensions run 333 down the left-field line, 363 to left, 376 to left-center, 410 to center, 373 to right-center, 318 to right. The warehouse stands beyond right field, incorporated into the park as backdrop.

During the 1993 All-Star Home Run Derby, Ken Griffey Jr. became the first and only player to hit the warehouse with a batted ball during competition, from approximately 430 feet away. The park had hosted the All-Star Game that same summer.

September 6, 1995. Cal Ripken Jr. played his 2,131st consecutive game, breaking Lou Gehrig's streak, and homered. The sellout crowd included President Bill Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, Joe DiMaggio, and Cal Ripken Sr. In 1996, Eddie Murray hit his 500th career home run; an orange seat in Section 96, Row 7, Seat 23 in the right-center field bleachers marks the landing spot.

The Orioles have been the only club to play there, and the warehouse still stands.

Reporting: Baltimore Magazine, USA Today, SI.com, SABR, Wikipedia. Park data: MLB StatsAPI and Retrosheet, via the Fever engine.