With David Rubenstein and Cal Ripken Jr., Orioles reclaim Washington for a night
WASHINGTON — For one night, the Orioles again held sway among the elite in Washington, which was the team’s exclusive territory until the Nationals arrived in 2005.
It felt like a home game for new Orioles owner David Rubenstein and team icon Cal Ripken Jr., who were greeted with enthusiastic applause as they were introduced to about 500 business people and other dignitaries in the ballroom of the Ritz-Carlton hotel in downtown Washington on Tuesday night.
The Orioles-New York Yankees game was showing on a TV monitor as guests arrived for dinner, followed by a question-and-answer session with Ripken and Rubenstein sponsored by the Washington Economic Club, of which Rubenstein is chairman.
Rubenstein took the occasion to invite the Washington crowd to attend his team’s games while acknowledging the challenge of having another franchise nearby. He said all teams face more obstacles to attracting fans than ever before with the advent of social media decades ago.
“It’s hard to go to people in this area and say, ‘Forget the Nationals and come to the Orioles,’” Rubenstein said.
But he said: “We have a great team. It only takes about 45 or 50 minutes to drive there. We have a historic stadium. We have better crab cakes than you’re going to find at home. We have a great fan base and excitement and also a team that is really a young and exciting team.”
The Orioles are averaging about 24,000 fans per home game this season, which Rubenstein said is about the same as this time a year ago.
“Even though we’ve got a great new owner of the team,” Rubenstein joked, “and Cal Ripken back we haven’t been able to dramatically increase attendance. Obviously it’s early in the season.”
Rubenstein is co-founder of the private equity firm Carlyle Group, a billionaire and a philanthropist. A 1966 alumnus of Baltimore City College, he bought the team with a partnership group that incudes Ripken. Major League Baseball approved the sale in March.
Rubenstein and Ripken could have felt right at home in the swanky Washington ballroom. The Economic Club’s staff wore lapel pins featuring the Oriole bird. Many diners shouted “O” during the national anthem, as they do at Camden Yards.
It could have been 25 years ago when the Orioles were popular enough in the nation’s capital to operate a retail store at Farragut Square, near the White House. The store closed in 2006, but the Orioles’ television rights — shared with the Nationals — still stretch from southern Pennsylvania to North Carolina and include Washington.
Here are other highlights of Rubenstein’s and Ripken’s remarks:
• Rubenstein said determining how much to spend on players is complicated. The Orioles ranked among the bottom five in payroll in each of the past five seasons and entered this year 26th of 30 MLB teams with a mark of $92.9 million, according to Cot’s Contracts. “It’s not easy to figure out how much money you put in,” he said. “It’s a complicated mixture of things that have to come together. You have to figure out how to keep your players happy. You want them to stay with you. I’m going to try to do the best I can.”
• Ripken, the Hall of Famer, said he never wanted to be part of another organization. “There was a few opportunities to manage in another place. But I couldn’t stand the thought of not having an Oriole uniform,” he said. This season, he said: “I’m watching every pitch. I’m into it. The baseball team is in really good shape. As a matter of fact, we might have too much talent in the minor leagues and have to make some tough choices.”
• As a player, Ripken said he negotiated a no-trade clause from Larry Lucchino, who was team president from 1988 to 1993, and was told the team had never granted one. He received one anyway.
Ripken also requested written permission to be able to continue to play basketball recreationally while an Oriole. “I got that, too,” he said.