Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland, often referred to simply as Camden Yards, opened in 1992 to much fanfare. The ballpark, probably one of the first “retro” major league ballparks constructed during 1990s and early 2000s, boasted a capacity of 45,971. A record attendance at Camden Yards (49,828) happened in July of 2005, but the ballpark saw a decline in attendance as the years went on.
Camden Yards celebrated its 20th anniversary during the 2012 season but attendance numbers hadn’t improved much. Though the ballpark had seen a great turnout for the late April/early May series’ against the Yankees and then the Red Sox (averaged 36,000+ in each game), by the time the Texas Rangers rolled into town on May 7th, attendance dipped down to 11,938 for the first game of the series.