MLB.com - USA - Wearing their road grays, the Aberdeen IronBirds laid a quick and easy claim to the home crowd's loyalties on Saturday afternoon.
All it took to get the 9,000 fans who packed Doubleday Field on their feet, roaring and whooping and clapping, was for the IronBirds' owner to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before Aberdeen played the Oneonta Tigers.
Cal Ripken Jr. has had that effect on people before, and he did so again on Saturday.
Ripken fired a perfect strike, while his wife,
Kelly, and teenage kids,
Rachel and
Ryan, also delivered pitches. Then Ripken, wearing a sharp navy suit over a dark shirt, waved his thanks. An equally fashion-conscious crowd chanted in unison -- "Thank you Cal!" -- while standing proud in a sea of Orioles orange and black.
Only a few lonely Tigers fans dotted the grandstand. One of them was
Timothy Kearney, who made the 20-mile drive north from Oneonta, N.Y., and sat a couple of dozen rows up from the backstop.
