The past week has been one of change, reflection and rebuilding in Baltimore City. It has given people a lot of time to focus on their own lives, and how the actions of others have affected a city of great people. However, there is one man that wants to bring a little sense of normalcy back into the lives of Orioles fans for one special day.
His name is Sam Angell, and he has brought forth an idea with the help of his friends Andrew Ellington, Mike Finazzo, Jonathan Helfman and Jimmy Johnston that will welcome the Orioles back home to the city. Along with open arms by the fans, this idea will also help support local businesses in the city that have suffered due to lack of tourism and the lack of baseball games this past weekend.
Their idea is “ReOpening Day”, and the motivation stems from MLB’s decision to make last Wednesday’s game closed to the public. Sam said, “I was ticked at the MLB for how they ‘cheated’ the fans and the team out of three home games.” However, he came to a realization that life is more than baseball, as he said, “I realized how dumb it was to be upset about that with everything going on.” Angell, like so many of us, was confused and sad about everything that has happened in Baltimore. However, he brought together an idea that he hopes will help bring some positivity to a city that needs a tiny bit of relief after last week’s events.
The plan for ReOpening Day is to welcome the Baltimore Orioles back home after their road trip on Monday, May 11th when they face the Toronto Blue Jays in a three-game series.
“We encourage people to approach the Orioles’ return home on May 11th with the same optimism and enthusiasm that they’ve brought to every Opening Day since 1954,” Angell explained. “Wear orange all day, and come down to the ballpark area as early as you can.”
Sam wants a welcoming Oriole Park at Camden Yards for the fans of a team that has been caught up in this great struggle.
[Discuss this on our forums – sign up FREE & tell us where you’re sitting!]
Angell also has another group of people in mind – the local business owners that have been impacted by the curfew and the loss of home games.
“We have seen how so many of the locally-owned businesses in Baltimore have been impacted by things going on,” he said. “Whether by the rescheduling of games or the implementation of the curfew or the protests themselves.”
Angell, with the help of his two friends Johnston and Finazzo, talked to local business owners around the city of Baltimore and his team wants people to help these businesses, even if attending ReOpening Day isn’t possible for them.
“I’d encourage any Baltimoreans,” Angell says, “who can’t make it to the game to try to go out of your way to patronize a local restaurant, bar or store in your area and let them know that we are all optimistic about the future.”
You’ve probably seen the logo, created by Helfman, for this event all over social media.
Ellington runs the Twitter account and other social media accounts helping being notice to this great event. This idea has been spread throughout social media, as Sam told me that over 3,600 invitations have been sent through its Facebook event page, and over 900 people have accepted the invite and plan to attend on May 11th.
They have reached out to local media, message boards and blogs alike in order to welcome the team and bring business back to Baltimore. Even some Orioles such as Kevin Gausman and our great manager Buck Showalter have been told about the event through various radio interviews. It has reached the Twitter accounts of MASN broadcasters Jim Hunter and Jim Palmer, who have tweeted their support of this event.
Does Angell think this event will help this city move on from the violence and protests? “I’d say that everyone involved with ReOpening Day understands that this alone won’t bring any meaningful change,” he said. “Even if we are able to get a significant charitable aspect, one day of fundraising won’t fix Baltimore’s problems. We just love our city and feel like this is an opportunity to instill a positive outlook and feeling of unity that will be a foundation for the real experts to bring about lasting change.”
Angell knows that the event will just a small ripple in the ocean of Baltimore’s issues, but he also hopes it will help lift the shadow that’s been hanging over Baltimore.
“We want to help the businesses in the area, support the Orioles, and show the world that Baltimore is still a really great to be. I wanted to welcome the team back with something that I think of as half 1988 Fantastic Fans Night and half 2013 Boston Red Sox post-[Boston Marathon tragedy] game.”
For more info on ReOpening day visit their Facebook or Twitter
One Response
We’ll be there to Back the Birds! Love this idea!