"The true picture of the past flits by. The past can only be seized as an image which flashes up at the instant when it can be recognized and is never seen again.... For it is an irretrievable image of the past that threatens to disappear with every present that does not recognize itself as intended in it."
--Walter Benjamin

INTRODUCTION

Memorial Stadium opened in 1950 as renovation of the former Venable Stadium after the old Oriole Park burned down. Its owner was Baltimore City. Situated in the neighborhood of Waverly, it was built for $6.5 million. The Baltimore Orioles played baseball there from April 15, 1954 until September 30, 1991. A memorial for U.S. war veterans was constructed on the face of the stadium. The Baltimore Colts and Baltimore Ravens played football at Memorial Stadium with the last professional game that between the Ravens and Tennessee Oilers on December 14, 1997. Demolition began in November 2000 and is in its last stages as of March 2002.

The Baltimore Orioles and the Ravens moved into new stadiums near the Inner Harbor area along Russell Street. The residents of Waverly await the construction of a senior citizen living complex and a YMCA gym to be developed by the Govans Ecumenical Development Corporation, a nonprofit organization.

This photoessay provides images of the Baltimore stadiums as examples of urban destruction and reconstruction linking space, place, memory, and power.

For basic facts about the stadiums, see www.ballparks.com/baseball/american/memori.htm and www.ballparks.com/baseball/american/oriole.htm .