Go Orioles! Opening Day, Baseball and Erin O’Doherty #campaignchronicles

It is Opening Day! Okay, yesterday was opening day but the Orioles open their season today. Yesterday didn’t count.

Baseball is an important part of my family’s Spring and Summer…and hopefully Fall.

I am an Orioles fan. I was raised in Maryland. I started following baseball shortly after the Orioles won the World Series in 1983. I grew up in the Cal Ripken era.

Shem (11) and I started following Major League Baseball together last year. Shem also plays in our city youth baseball league. It turned out that last year was a good year to tune back into baseball as the Orioles returned to the post-season for the first time since the 1996-1997. I missed those post-season years because I was serving my LDS mission during those seasons.

On the campaign, Shem shared his love for me and the Baltimore Orioles with anyone who would listen. When we canvassed in Laramie with the Albany County Democrats, Shem knocked doors with Albany County Chair Erin O’Doherty. Shem discovered that not only was Erin a baseball fan…she was an Orioles fan. Shem is not just a baseball fan, he is a baseball historian. So he was able to talk with Erin about Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, and Jim Palmer.

After we finished canvassing, Erin informed us that she had something for Shem…a pennant from the 1970 Orioles World Series Team. She met up with us later that day and gave Shem an amazing piece of baseball history. Shem cherishes it.

Erin (like some of the county chairs that I have profiled here and here) was amazing. She treated us like family. She found us housingfor the night before we canvassed.

We made the trip to Laramie regularly. Partially because it was a destination that we go travel to and back in one day (Sheridan was similarly a regular destination). Also, it was a place were we were received warmly. Much of that had to do with Erin.

Erin is no longer chair. However, she is part of the development team at Wyoming Public Radio. They are having a fund drive right now. Go support Erin and WPR!