My husband & I plan to visit Baltimore next weekend as part of a week long driving trip starting from upstate NY . He is particularly interested in seeing an Orioles game Friday, 8/18 - but since we'll be on the road starting Monday there is no time to buy tickets on line -this is a spur of the moment thing. What are our chances of getting in at the gate? Any advice on getting decent seats? Is there a less expensive way to get tickets? Also, any recommendations on hotels within a short walk appreciated. Finally, anything we must see - we'll be there 2 days. Thanks.

I doubt that you'll have much difficulty. When traveling on business we often take in games & usually scalp tickets, cheaply, & w/no problem. You could actually order them online now & pick them up at will call, but I seriously doubt that is necessary.

That's encouraging. Friday night games don't sell out?

Tickets available on the Orioles webpage for 8/18. Order now and select Will Call.

You can get tickets online at almost any baseball park that is not sold out and have them put on will call.

OR you get them through ticketmaster and print them out NOW, within about 1/2 hour tops. I do it all the time. I just did it for Detroit, and I was TOLD that it was sold out. Ticketmaster almost always has tickets that were sent "back" for resale or whatever by the season holders or box office of the stadium.

Cubs, SF, and Yankees are some harder exceptions, but I have never had trouble and did get Baltimore once this way. Looking at the stands of the games I viewed just two weeks ago, Baltimore had lots of empty seats.

Of course you can always buy a scalpers' ticket, but be careful as many of them in this digital age are great phonies.

Orioles games don't sell out any more. You can walk up to the ticket office or, better yet, go to the official "no scalp zone" outside of the stadium and buy from someone there (bring a seating chart to help choose seats). It's on the north side of the stadium and it's pretty easy to find. If you can't find it, just ask someone. It's all legal.

Since the Orioles have been aout of the pennant race since Memorial Day (or was it before that), tickets have been easy to buy at the gate on most occasions. The Orioles will remain an also-ran as long as its current owner, an ambulance chaser name Angelos, continues to plague the team.

Great - we'll just buy at the stadium. Now to find the hotel. Thanks, all.

Katie: just be careful about scalping tickets outside of the no-scalp zone. It is illegal (except in the no-scalp zone) and I know people who have been arrested for it. Murder, you could probably get away with, but our illustrious Mayor O'Malley does not stand for ticket scalping.

smetz, does Mayor O'Malley crack down on ticket scalping because the Orioles owner Peter Angelos makes financial contributions to O'Malley's political campaigns? Is this a payback from O'Malley to Angelos?

The ticket reselling area at Camden Yards is a great idea, one that I wish more stadiums would adopt. It's usually season ticket holders trying to dump their tickets. All the sellers are required to stand behind barriers, and you can just walk down the line of them to see who has the best seats for the best price. A lot of them even have printous of the stadium so you know where the section is. Another big perk of Camden is the food--some of the best of any ballpark I've ever been to. Enjoy your game!

Totally agree, MerryTravel, and it also greatly reduces the phoney ticket trade, not completely, but almost. And you don't get a 3rd party gouging between. I, as a fan coming in from out of town at any stadium, would prefer that system- even if a 3rd vendor was the person actually standing there "for" the season ticket holder.

Baltimore is coming up on my list next year.

GeorgeW - Although he can be blamed for everything else, I don't think we can hang this one on him. I'm pretty sure it pre-dated his ownership. When they first moved to Camden Yards, scalping was made illegal, but there was also not a no-scalp zone - obviously a way to promote box office ticket sales. But due to fan complaints they instituted the no-scalp zone while keeping all other scalping illegal, and I must say it works really well.