Paul Hill (Transcript)

Robby Incmikoski: We are recording with my man Paul Hill. All right, brother, let me ask you this: how long would you say you've been a fan of the Baltimore Orioles?

Paul Hill: It'll be 60 years in February.

Robby Incmikoski: So you have gone to games at the old Memorial Stadium, of course, right before Camden Yards?

Paul Hill: Yep.

Robby Incmikoski: The first big ballpark of this whole new wave was Toronto. Baltimore was second amongst this new wave. And for whatever reason, here we are, 32 years later, and that ballpark really is still a beautiful gem in North American sports. When that place opened, what was the vibe like around town and what was the talk amongst the fans to the best of your recollection?

Paul Hill: I do remember probably the first two or three years where every game was sold out. The access to the old park wasn't as good as this one. This one was right off I-95 where you could pull in. When people saw the warehouse and just the way it was set up, people were in love with it.

The team wasn't great in the early '90s. They were okay, middling, but it was more just something new. That's what I think people really liked about it.

Robby Incmikoski: How much life did that breathe into what already is a great baseball town in Baltimore? They had Cal Ripken when it opened - obviously a very enormous star in the game. How much did that change the vibe for baseball in Baltimore when Camden Yards was built? What were those first couple of years like?

Paul Hill: It was insane. Getting tickets was hard because everybody wanted to be there. We didn't have football at the time - the Colts had left. So it was a showplace. It was all we really had for a good while.

Robby Incmikoski: What was it like? Do you remember the first time you went in there? What was that experience like for you? What memories do you have of that day? Do you remember anything? It's okay if you don't.

Paul Hill: I don't even remember who we played. I know it wasn't long after the stadium opened that I started my 13-game plan. I did those for maybe 10 years or so, maybe a little longer. I remember my first game in Memorial Stadium - I remember who pitched and who we played, but at Camden, I don't.

I just remember it was really cool to see. With the wheelchair seating in Memorial, once you were in there, you were stuck - you couldn't even go to the bathroom. The way Camden was set up, man, it was just like a palace compared to Memorial.

Robby Incmikoski: How about dual complete games? Charles Nagy of the Cleveland Indians against Rick Sutcliffe. Rick Sutcliffe threw a complete game shutout in the first ever game in Camden Yards.

Paul Hill: Dual complete games will probably never happen again.

Robby Incmikoski: Ever. I would agree with that. I'm trying to see if there's anybody I could track down who played in that first game, and I don't see anybody that I know personally, but that doesn't mean I can't find someone.

Here's another one: I think people wonder why that ballpark - and you can't say this for every ballpark in baseball, in fact, probably can't say it for a lot of them - ballparks have come and gone. Texas, Atlanta, other places have built new ballparks and moved out of them already in the time that Camden Yards has been built, which is kind of unheard of. Franchises have come out of nowhere - Tampa, Miami. How has that ballpark stood the test of time and still remained a gem in baseball?

Paul Hill: I think part of it's the fan base. As long as you put a good product on the field, we go. I think that's a big part of it. But the stadium, the upkeep - they've done a very good job of keeping the stadium relevant. I haven't been to many other parks - I've only been to PNC and Memorial and here - but it seems like I hear people talk about how some stadiums feel like they're falling down. That place is always clean. Everything is just really well taken care of.

Robby Incmikoski: No question about it. Let's talk about the food a little bit - Boog's barbecue, crab cakes, all that. How good is the food at that place? It seems every time I go, the food is spectacular.

Paul Hill: I don't eat there like I used to because of the prices. But I had Boog's this year. I made it after one game with a buddy of mine, and I haven't had one in a couple years, and it's as good as it ever was.

Part of the problem that I have with it now is the cashless stuff, which I'm not crazy about. But that's one thing a lot of people talk about - how good the food is. Boog's is always a go-to for me.

Robby Incmikoski: It's amazing.

Paul Hill: Before my dad got sick, every time Dad and I would go, we'd walk to Boog's before we went to the game.

Robby Incmikoski: You'd go to Boog's before the game?

Paul Hill: Oh yeah. My dad had to have his Boog's.

Robby Incmikoski: So good. It's delicious. Tell me what you remember about the night Cal broke the record, and what was it like around Baltimore the night he did that?

Paul Hill: I wasn't there. I was there the night he retired.

Robby Incmikoski: Okay, we'll get to that in a minute.

Paul Hill: I think everybody's attention was there. If you weren't at the game, you were watching on TV. The news coverage was insane. It was big. Cal's up there with Brooks and Johnny U and Frank. It seemed like for a while, everything Cal did was top of the news.

Robby Incmikoski: How big is he? Is it a dumb question - is he the greatest player in Orioles history?

Paul Hill: In my opinion, it's Brooks. But Cal's up there. I think he's the most loved player in Orioles history. Those of us that remember Brooks are dying off. I think Cal, around here now, is really the most well thought of.

Robby Incmikoski: Having Cal - hometown guy, Aberdeen guy - what was it like for a fan like you to have a hometown guy not only play as long as he did for that franchise, but to have a Hall of Fame career and be one of the best shortstops to ever play the game? How cool is that to have a hometown guy as the premier face of your franchise, along with Brooks?

Paul Hill: What amazed me about him is he could have left. He could have got a lot of money somewhere else, but he stayed loyal. He stayed loyal to the team, and that was impressive. He could have gone out to LA or New York and been the guy, and with that streak, he could have made insane money for the time. But he stayed loyal, and that means something, because Brooks, Robin Yount, Cal - there's not many of them that spent their whole career with one team.

Robby Incmikoski: How does that resonate with the fan, when you see a guy that could go for a money grab, but doesn't? Does that make you appreciate that as a fan - a guy in one uniform?

Paul Hill: A lot, because now, when you look at the team, you think, "Okay, we have a five or six-year window, and then Gunnar's gone, Adley's gone, and you gotta start over." I mean, look at the Pirates - McCutchen. Every time it seemed like they were on a roll, they would lose everybody.

It means something for a guy to want to stay in the community. Cal didn't move out of the area until he retired. He lived up I-83 for his whole career. He didn't move out of Baltimore until he retired.

Robby Incmikoski: How cool is that?

Paul Hill: It's just... I never got to meet him. All the autograph stuff, you know I do - I've never gotten to meet him. But he was around, and he was good with that kind of stuff. He was good to the fans until he got so big he couldn't be anymore.

Robby Incmikoski: No doubt. Now, tell me about how you were at his final game of his career. Was it the last game, or was it the last home game? I could look that up.

Paul Hill: I think it might have been the last game. I think the last game might have been a home game, but I can't recall. But that was something else to see.

I was there the night he broke the streak, and we didn't know that was going to happen. We didn't know he was going to sit. My buddies and I went out to eat, and then we got to the stadium, and Cal wasn't out playing catch like he usually is. Then the starting lineup came out on the board, and Ryan Minor was playing third base.

The whole Yankee team got up by the rail. They gave that man a standing ovation when they realized he wasn't playing. Jeter was on the Yankees then.

Robby Incmikoski: So you were there both the night the streak ended and the last game? His last game was against the Boston Red Sox, let me double-check that. He played that day, I'm assuming?

Paul Hill: Yeah, another loss. What happened that night was we were losing by enough runs that we were going to lose the game.

Robby Incmikoski: They were up one-nothing, and down four-to-one until the ninth.

Paul Hill: We had, I think, a man on first base, and Cal was on deck, and Brady Anderson was up, and Joe Kerrigan was the Red Sox manager. Everybody wanted Joe Kerrigan to intentionally walk Brady so Cal could have one more at-bat. On a 3-2 count, Brady swung at a ball over his head and struck out. Cal ended his career standing in the on-deck circle. That was... I mean, people in the stadium were hot at Joe Kerrigan because the game meant nothing to us or Boston. They were like, "Go ahead and walk him. Let Cal have one more at-bat." He struck Brady out on a high fastball over his head.

Robby Incmikoski: How does that rank as a baseball memory for you - to watch Cal's career end on the on-deck circle, as opposed to at least getting another chance to swing the bat?

Paul Hill: I didn't blame Kerrigan, because I don't care who it is, you're managing to win every game. What could have happened? Brady walks, Cal hits a three-run homer, all of a sudden the Orioles are back in the game. You've got to win every game you play.

Robby Incmikoski: Let me confirm. Line out - Jeff Conine. Line out. Chris Richard - double. Tony Batista - strikeout. Brady Anderson - strikeout. How about that?

Paul Hill: So Chris Richard was on second base, and Chris Richard was Tracy's boy. She loved him. And he gets a double, and then two strikeouts and the game's over.

Robby Incmikoski: I remember when he was there. That was when I was with the Bowie Baysox that first year.

Paul Hill: Yeah, because he was on rehab at Bowie that year. I remember going down to Bowie.

Robby Incmikoski: I remember Chris Richard. I just looked up his stats.

So tell me about the night the streak ended. What was the vibe like in the ballpark, and when did people realize what was happening?

Paul Hill: My best friend - you never met him, he's another guy in a wheelchair. His name's Lynn. It was me, him, and Kevin. Lynn realized right away Cal wasn't playing because he wasn't on the field warming up. Lynn was yelling and screaming to people around us, "He's not out there!" We didn't comprehend it until the game started, but it was surreal to be there because you didn't know when the streak was going to end.

He could have done that until the end of his career if he wanted to, and they would have let him do it. No manager was going to tell Cal he had to sit. That was going to be Cal's decision. Cal went to the manager at the time and said, "Tonight's the night," and he sat down.

Robby Incmikoski: What was it like watching a game in person, and number 8 is not standing there?

Paul Hill: Weird. But by then, he was playing third. Ryan Minor was the third baseman who was supposed to be our next big star. God rest his soul, because he passed last year. He just never translated what he did in the minors to the big leagues.

Robby Incmikoski: He died December 20. He died three days before Christmas.

Paul Hill: And he was only in his late 40s, I believe.

Robby Incmikoski: 49. Wow. My age. Was there talk amongst the fans? Was there chatter in the stands about Cal not playing? When did you find out when you were at the game? Were there rumors?

Paul Hill: No, there were no rumors or anything. I forgot who the Oriole manager was that year, but whoever the manager was said after the game that Cal came to him before warm-ups and said, "I'm not playing tonight. Tonight's the end."

Robby Incmikoski: I'm going to look that up. I can find that.

Paul Hill: He broke the record in '96.

Robby Incmikoski: So might have been '98 you were thinking about? September 20, 1998. Okay, so you're right in the ballpark. It was Ray Miller, and Gillick was the GM.

Paul Hill: He went to Miller and told him, "Tonight's the night."

Robby Incmikoski: And he affected careers, because they made a trade with the Dodgers and got a shortstop. They were bringing this kid in, he was going to be the next big star, and he was going to take Cal's position, but he never made it. I think it was just that specter of replacing Ripken - it was hard on him.

Robby Incmikoski: That is crazy. How about another name from the past? Sidney Ponson. That dude was an 11-WAR player, which is crazy. He was a nut job, but he was good.

If a fan were going to Camden Yards who's never been there before, what would you say to them about what the experience might be like?

Paul Hill: Once you get into the ballpark, the experience would be great. Honestly, other than the left field corner, which they don't usually sell tickets for, there's not a bad seat in that place. I've sat all over that stadium, and the worst seat I ever sat in was a skybox for my cousin's birthday. The skyboxes you can rent are in the outfield, and we didn't see anything. But other than that, there's no bad seats in that place.

Robby Incmikoski: I agree, man. That is wild.

Paul Hill: With the way they've changed things now, with getting parking and everything else, that's the deal.

Robby Incmikoski: It's a great place. It's always one of my favorite places to go. It just stands the test of time.

You get the hotels out behind left field, wide open bullpens, the Babe Ruth house beyond center, the warehouse in right, food all over the place. That crab cake mac and cheese, crab cake dog, crab fries, Old Bay fries - the food is unbelievable. And of course, you walk right to Sabatino's, either for lunch or after the game. It's just an amazing place for baseball.

Another thing too - from a fan's perspective, Babe Ruth's house is on the site of the old ballpark, right? Isn't it like on the site of the old...?

Paul Hill: The bar that Babe Ruth's father owned was in center field of Camden Yards. That's what it was. The Babe Ruth bar would have been in center field in Camden Yards. So there's ghosts there.

Robby Incmikoski: How cool is that, though, to have Babe Ruth born there? You mention Babe Ruth, everybody knows who Babe Ruth is. How cool is that to share a hometown with him?

Paul Hill: That's pretty awesome.

Robby Incmikoski: But tell me about it. What's it like? Babe Ruth and his house is right there in center field. What's that like for a fan walking by it?

Paul Hill: People don't talk about it like they would have years ago, because today's generation doesn't know enough about Babe Ruth, like they would about Jackie Robinson. But it's really cool to know that kind of history was in this town.

Robby Incmikoski: I don't know, it's baseball, but it's Babe Ruth. How cool is that? A baseball fan can go there. They're going to see not only a great ballpark, but they can go to Babe Ruth's house. How cool is that?

Paul Hill: And we used to have a Sports Legends Museum, but it closed. That was basically the history of Baltimore sports. They had a lot of cool stuff in there too, but that was only open for two seasons, maybe.

Robby Incmikoski: Wow. All right, that's all I really got for you, man. I don't have much else. I just wanted to make sure we covered our bases.