page_title: Memorial Stadium (Baltimore)
section_title: Later years
hierarchical_section_title: Memorial Stadium (Baltimore) / History / Later years
caption_attribution_description: English: Orioles playing one of the final major league baseball games at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium.
context_page_description: Memorial Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Baltimore, Maryland, that formerly stood on 33rd Street on an oversized block also bounded by Ellerslie Avenue, 36th Street, and Ednor Road. Two different stadiums were located here, a 1922 version known as Baltimore Stadium or Municipal Stadium, or sometimes Venable Stadium, and, for a time, Babe Ruth Stadium in reference to the then-recently deceased Baltimore native. The rebuilt multi-sport stadium, when reconstruction was completed in the summer of 1954, would become known as Memorial Stadium. The stadium was also known as The Old Gray Lady of 33rd Street, and also as The World's Largest Outdoor Insane Asylum.
context_section_description: In a most unusual move, Robert Irsay, then owner of Los Angeles Rams, and then-current Colts owner Carroll Rosenbloom swapped franchises in 1972. Under the new Irsay regime, the Colts' new general manager Joe Thomas made some daring and ultimately rewarding trades and drafts which again brought the Colts to prominence in the NFL. However, by the late '70s/early '80s, key injuries (especially to their franchise QB, Bert Jones, who ironically wound up going to the Rams) and ill-advised personnel moves by Irsay caused the team's fortunes to sag, and attendance in the modest stadium did as well.  Further, neither Irsay nor the city could agree to desperately-needed improvements to the aging and tattered stadium, so Irsay started visiting other cities, seeking to either motivate the city or woo another.  Finally, a quick travel stop with a B.W.I. Airport conference was held with City Mayor William Donald Schaefer, which also proved fruitless. Irsay then negotiated with Indiana officials and in Indianapolis with Mayor William H. Hudnut, III, and they stunned the sports world by transferring to Indianapolis, with Mayflower Moving Company moving vans trucking the club's equipment to Indiana in the middle of a snowy night on March 29, 1984, under the threat of a measure introduced into the state legislature to initiate condemnation proceedings for the city and state to assert "eminent domain" and take ownership of the franchise on behalf of the citizens and fans.  This event dramatically shifted the political establishment's view on how best to address the later continued stadium upgrade needs of the Orioles, the only remaining tenant.
caption: The Orioles playing one of the last major league home night games at the stadium, September 14, 1991
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