Bringing Down the Curtain in Baltimore : Baseball: The Orioles are leaving, but the memories will remain at Memorial Stadium.

Memorial Stadium, with its stained concrete, obstructed views and damp basement, will not be remembered for its beauty. But it will be remembered, long after it is reduced to rubble.

“This ballpark has a lot of memories, and they can’t take that away from you,” said Frank Robinson, who had his best years in Memorial Stadium. “I can drive by years from now and no matter what is here, I can say that right there was Memorial Stadium, and I played there. Boy, I bet you’ll be able to hear the cheers of the crowd when you’re driving by.”

The cheers will stop after Sunday’s game against the Detroit Tigers. The 37-year-old stadium will remain around for a few years, hosting some college football games and other events.

But starting next season, the Orioles will be across town in a new stadium that will feature skyboxes, state-of-the-art concession distribution and comfort-tested seats. Unlike Memorial Stadium, it will not have concrete poles in front of 4,337 seats or sloping entrance ramps that, when it rains, become downspouts that dump thousands of gallons of water onto the concourse level.

And one day, there will be something else standing on 33rd St. between Ellerslie and Ednor Avenues.

Robinson, who now works in the front office for the Orioles, was responsible for many Memorial Stadium memories, especially in 1966 when he won the Triple Crown, helped the Orioles win the World Series and became the first player to hit a fair ball out of the stadium. He’s still the only one to do it. But the longest home run in the history of the park came off the bat of Harmon Killebrew on May 24, 1964. The 471-foot drive off Milt Pappas cleared a formidable hedge that used to stand in center field.

“I think it was a broken-bat hit,” Killebrew said with a laugh earlier this year. “It was a fastball, away. Why it went out there, I don’t know. It didn’t feel any different than any other home run I hit.”

Killebrew, then with the Washington Senators, recalled the days when the white row houses behind the stadium proved to be an unwelcome distraction to batters. The small trees in front of those homes have since grown into giant oaks that now obscure the whitewash on the modest homes.

“This wasn’t the easiest park to hit in,” Killebrew said. “It was tough to hit in the daytime, with those houses back there, and at night the lights were among the worst in the league.”

Robinson’s homer carried 451 feet, over the left-field stands and into the parking lot beyond. It occurred 25 years ago, but Robinson remembers virtually every detail -- even though he never saw the ball leave the stadium.

“Harmon Killebrew used to stand there and admire his homers, but I used to hit ‘em and run because I was afraid they might not make it out,” Robinson said. “I knew it was a homer, and that’s all I needed to know. When they told me in the dugout that it went out, I didn’t believe it.”

For years, there was a flag at the spot where the ball left the stadium. It had one word on it: “Here.”

The whole 1966 season was one exciting moment after another for Robinson, who came over from the Cincinnati Reds during the offseason and promptly brought Baltimore its first World Championship.

“When I look out at the field, I still think about my first at bat here in 1966, the season as a whole, then the World Series that we weren’t supposed to win but ended up beating the Dodgers four straight,” Robinson said. “My greatest moment here was when we won that fourth game. Not because my homer won it, but because we wrapped up a world title.”

Robinson also hit his 500th homer at Memorial Stadium in 1971, one year after another Robinson, Brooks, was brilliant at third base in leading Baltimore to a World Series victory over Cincinnati. In 1971, though, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Roberto Clemente beat Baltimore in seven games.

The Pirates did it again in 1979, when Willie Stargell and Dave Parker led Pittsburgh back from a 3-1 deficit in games.

Parker will never forget it. Earlier this year, as he suited up in the visitors’ clubhouse as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers, Parker vividly recalled the feeling he had after the Pirates captured the title.

“Everytime I come here I think about that World Series, the guys rejoicing right in this room,” he said. “There were a lot of emotions -- some guys hugging each other, some crying. I remember it like it was yesterday.

“A lot of people who haven’t achieved anything at this ballpark might look at this place differently. But to me, it will always be someplace special.”

Tom Cheney can say the same thing. The Washington Senators’ right-hander won only 19 games in the big leagues, but one of them was on Sept. 12, 1962, when he struck out 21 batters, a record that may never be broken.

Cheney threw 228 pitches over 16 innings, unheard of totals in today’s game.

“You didn’t have bullpen specialists back then,” Cheney said. “Most of the guys in the bullpen were players on their way down.”

In the 12th inning, manager Mickey Vernon came to the mound and asked Cheney if he was ready to call it a night.

“I want to stay in and win it or lose it,” Cheney replied, and he stuck around until the Senators finally pushed across the winning run in the top of the 16th. Then he wrapped up things in the last of the inning.

“Having won only 19 games, I appreciate what happened that night,” Cheney said. “Heck, I always felt fortunate to be in the major leagues in the first place.”

Tippy Martinez is another pitcher whose name will never be on a Hall of Fame ballot, but he got his own slice of fame on Aug. 23, 1983 when he set a record that won’t be topped: three pickoffs in one inning.

The Orioles had tied the game in the ninth, and the series of offensive moves in that inning forced them to use shortstop Lenn Sakata at catcher in the 10th. No matter, because Martinez picked off Barry Bonnell, Jesse Barfield and Willie Upshaw.

“It was something I never really dreamed of doing,” Martinez said. “I’ve got to give the credit to Lenny, because they wanted to run on him so badly that were all leaning the wrong way. I just used my best balk move, and it worked -- three times in a row.”

The Orioles won the game on Sakata’s homer in the bottom of the 10th and went on to win the World Series, their last appearance in the October classic as Memorial Stadium tenants.

There were hundreds of other highlights at the stadium, including six no-hitters. Jim Palmer had one of them, but so did no-names Tom Phoebus and Wilson Alvarez.

Not all the memorable moments occurred in the summertime. Remember Baltimore Colts quarterback John Unitas, in his black hightops, nimbly fading back to throw a pass to Raymond Berry? Or the airplane that crashed into the stands in 1976 shortly after a Colts-Steelers playoff game? No one was hurt, because the game was a rout and virtually everyone had left by then.

Now, there are new memories to be made at another park. But they won’t erase the magical moments that occurred on 33rd Street.