This winter, Baltimore Magazine dedicated its cover to the comeback of our hometown and the whys and stories of its improvement that might be less visible to those of us in on it. Senior Editor (and baseball historian) Ron Cassie discusses the Renaissance dreams for downtown that so many shared with him and ways these Orioles summer nights impact the Inner Harbor and its future investment from Faidley’s in Lexington Market on the Maryland Crab Cake Tour.
Nestor Aparicio and Ron Cassie of Baltimore Magazine discuss the city’s renaissance, focusing on its revitalization efforts and the impact of new ownership on the Orioles. They highlight the city’s reduced homicide rate, with a 22% drop in 2023 and 23% in 2024, and the progress in addressing vacant housing, reducing 5,000 vacant buildings. They mention the importance of public safety, economic activities, and the role of sports teams in boosting the city’s image. They also touch on the challenges of streaming Orioles games and the need for transparency in team ownership. The conversation includes personal anecdotes and a commitment to supporting local businesses and community initiatives.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Baltimore Renaissance, downtown revitalization, Orioles baseball, crab cakes, Lexington Market, public safety, vacant housing, city council, federal funding cuts, NIH research, Camden Yards renovation, live work play, city image, local philanthropy, community engagement.
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Ron Cassie
Nestor Aparicio 00:00
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T am 1570 tasks in Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. We are positively here in beautiful faith Lee’s. We’re Lexington market. It’s all brought to you by our friends at the Maryland lottery. I have the magic eight ball scratch offs. My guest, Ron Cassie of Baltimore magazine, will be getting one before we depart here today. We’ve already had some crab cakes. We’re gonna be down here a lot during baseball season. We’re here before the Orioles Red Sox game, if you’re listening to this on the back end, we’re gonna be doing the crab cake tour next Friday at Costas. We’re gonna be at Beaumont on the 17th. We’re gonna be on the 23rd we’re gonna be in at Cooper’s north up in Timonium, and then on the 30th, at Coco’s pub in lauraville. This guy has joined me at Coco’s pub. He’s also joined me at State Fair, amongst other places. I dragged him right down here in the heart of the city that he loves so much that he’s written about. He is an outsider who has become an insider. What’s your official titles? Editor side? Don’t, don’t get me Max mad at me. What are you Senior Editor? Senior Editor. And she is the editor in chief, but not the publisher. No, that’s Steve, Jeff. All right, just, I’m just making sure I get all of this right, because Don’s not here holding up magazines and doing all that cusp of Renaissance greatness. But I ran into you honest dude opening day. I’m by the ticket box office where my buddy John Volpe used to work and up on the bike rides Ron Cassie and I see him. Hey, what’s up? You’re going to the game. He has a press credential. I do not have a press credential. So we had a moment about that, and I said, Hey, dude, I’m doing a show at fake Lee’s on Wednesday. You’ve been to fadelies lately, and you said
Ron Cassie 01:36
I hadn’t been since they moved over to the new Lexington market. But you have been
Nestor Aparicio 01:39
in the new market. Yes, all right, you mean you’re like a guy rides a bike. You’re a legitimate crunchy granola athletic, you know, sort of dude that likes your bike. And you rode your bike here, you ride your bike to the city. So I figured you had been here your city guy. I see you as a real Baltimore City guy.
Ron Cassie 01:57
I at the other I do ride on a bike. That’s how I get around town. And at the other failies location, I stopped there all the time on my bike. Just lock it up quick. You could just walk in. So this was not your first faithless crap. Oh no, many times. All right, so, and when the new one opened up, I just ducked in and walked around. Did that a couple times. This your first kick in a year, or more than a year. Yeah, that’s true. All right. And how we do we’re doing alright. They’re undefeated. What can we say? Well, defeated, yeah. I mean, I mean, if you like Cocos, that’s my on the other side of town, that’s like, you’re
Nestor Aparicio 02:27
allowed to love Coke. You’re allowed to love them all. I tell everybody, go to all of my crab cake places. They’re all beautiful. Local families, local people. We lost Mr. Costas last week, and, you know, and the first person I saw a paying trip to Mr. Costas was the Pappas family. You didn’t mean so it’s Baltimore, you know? And people ask me all the time, like competing on crab cakes. They all ship, they all deliver. They’re all delicious, they’re all local, they’re all authentic, and they all have unique charm. This crab cake here has a mustardy sort of base to it. It’s delicious. It’s iconic. 1887 you didn’t even know that, right? I had
Ron Cassie 03:02
forgotten. They’ve been here a while, right? I said something like 80 or 90 years. But yes, it’s like 100 and
Nestor Aparicio 03:08
125 38 Yeah, 38 years. Well, tomorrow, Miss Nancy Devine here, the lovely lady that is credited with inventing the jumbo lump crab cake, because she’s the first one to use jumbo lump crab me 40 years ago, over 40 years ago, she’s going to be honored by NBC as part of the 250th anniversary of America next year, and they’re getting out in front of this big it’s not sesquitania. What the hell is sesquited? Yeah, I don’t know what this is, but 250 so they are an iconic American family, as much as an iconic American tradition that has moved and I think I’m proud of my association. But more than that, you said to me, you’re a baseball head, one of the reasons I invite us all you know, every day we get that honest, we’re gonna talk about the city and the city’s Renaissance. But being a baseball head, you always say, how many out of town Oriole fans think of this as the this is the place they’ve got to get a crab cake when they walk to a gate. Yeah.
Ron Cassie 04:09
I mean, whether just on social media or wherever, when I stopped by at the old location, you know, before a game, I mean, I’m not as young as I used to be. I’m not going to pickles for hours before a game anymore, or sitting out ready beer here and it’s a little more quiet, or sitting out rain delays for hours of pickles, but more civil. Yeah, right, but yeah, so many people come here to eat before the game. The out of town is like, I’m impressed that they know to come here. You know, they know the spot. Well, we’re
Nestor Aparicio 04:35
here. Ron Cassie is here. He is the Executive Editor. Is that right? Senior
Ron Cassie 04:39
Editor? God, she you want to give me a promotion. She’s editor chief, right? I’m
Nestor Aparicio 04:46
never gonna confuse you with the chief. I mean, look at you. She’s the Chief. We’ll get max at some point. She turned me down last month. Coco, so I got Ron, but you’re a baseball guy, and you’re doing this renaissance of Baltimore. Cover piece, I would say, hand in hand, I am inking a letter to Katie Griggs about why you have a press credential, and I don’t. But part of it is the importance of the baseball team of harbor place. I talked to five people on opening day up on the club level. But what’s important? What’s going on? They all said, harbor place. Harbor place. Harbor place. What’s in the market was on that docket 10 years ago. Right, the Hippodrome was on that docket 20 years ago. Right, the beaten down Baltimore Civic Center that my dear friend Phil Jackman called the municipal ruins has been, you know, rectified, fixed, re erected, and big bands play there. We got a football team that wins. We got a baseball team that’s going to win. There are things I see skyscrapers over at Hopkins, right? I mean, there are things happening in this city boiling up, other than just the murder rate, which I got this morning as well, right? You come today talk, and we talked at length, before the plague, during the plague, and now after the plague. And you’ve been a recurring figure here about raising this city and things like Baltimore magazine a Baltimore positive in media and people and vested anchor institutions in this city trying to lift the city. Man,
Ron Cassie 06:13
yeah. I mean, I I appreciate all the conversations we’ve had. I mean, we’re not pollyannish, you know, we did a cover story about, you know, the corruption in the city a couple years ago, after we had another Mayor get charged, the crime go to jail, and our state’s attorney then, you know, as well, was had been indicted, and the city council was under investigation. And there was kind of this long history, and at that time, the the murder in the city was still climbing. And I think, you know, people felt like we were at this, like impasse or something. Well, Freddie Gray was a tough that was a tough time, right? That’s right. So we knew the morning after that it was going to be right. And we had, this week, literally, we had been trending as far as the homicide in a good direction, previous to Freddie Gray this month, yes. But I mean, in 2012 1314, prior, Freddie Gray’s death, the homicide rate had been going down in the city. We had making progress, and then 10 years we went back up. And now, you know, it’s really one of the best stories in America. I mean, in terms of public safety, 20% reductions in homicide rate like 22 and 2023 23% last year on top of that, and now this year, in the first three months, January of March, we had the lowest number of homicides, 39 since 1970 now the population is down, but it’s not just a homicide rate that’s That’s enormous. I think that’s up front and center on all of us to live in the city, on our minds, but also, like the city has made a great effort and with this, and with, you know, we have a Baltimore in Annapolis to get after the vacant housing problem, which is a real issue for investors in the city and people wanting to move into the city and retaining residents. You can’t underestimate the damage, the broken window psychological, but like 17,000 vacant buildings, it’s hard to get a ground Swan, and they’ve knocked that down by like 5000 and there’s plans and stuff to keep driving that number down. And that’s the first progress in vacant houses like, I think, since I’ve been here, since the mid 80s,
Nestor Aparicio 08:22
well, we saw Detroit do this 2025, years ago, right? Like this, come in. I remember going to Detroit to seeing long stretches of just dirt, and some of that has been parkland, some of that has been food to table. You know, just all sorts of modern against all odds with these creeps trying to run the federal government right. We’ll get into that and how that affects things. But good ideas, there are modern ideas to modernize, not just Lexington market or what the football stadiums are going to be, but what harbor place is going to be, but what cities need to be to be successful. And that’s something being studied all over the world, quite frankly, that if you’re the most recent to remodel, and we were in the 80s, that you really drink the benefit of that right when you get out in front of it, the way maybe Austin, Texas or Nashville, some of the American cities have, but also success stories all around the world, like Medellin and well, cities that have risen from nothing.
Ron Cassie 09:18
I think one of the things, things psychologically that has hurt us kind of is, is the mindset that Baltimore is, is, you know, unique in this, in the crisis and challenges facing cities since, really, like, you know, the 70s and 80s, all the teams in a all the cities in AFC, North Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, all lost a greater share of their population in Baltimore, Pittsburgh all lost a greater share of their pocket allowed. I like saying that. All right, all of our rival cities in AFC, North Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Cleveland, all lost a greater share of their peak population than Baltimore, dead and of course, there’s many other cities as well. So it’s not this is not just unique to us. We coming back. Ron Cassie, we’re coming back. Well, I mean, unfortunately, I think you alluded to it. There’s like, you know, there could be a looming recession, right? I mean, people would say there’s a looming recession on board. Now there’s massive cuts to the NIH funding. That doesn’t just affect Hopkins, affects the University of Maryland and affects Morgan State, whose research and development arm has been booming. They had set a record in 2023 for the most patents awarded to an HBCU like 13. And they they get like five, $70 million a year in research grants as well each year. So the cuts to the Social Security to all the administrate federal offices, and,
Nestor Aparicio 10:42
well, the federal workers in the state, I’m sorry, we have more federal 5.3% of the federal workforce is in the state of Maryland. That’s number one in the country, right?
Ron Cassie 10:52
And then we see all the cuts to like NIH funding, all the research grants, all the all the arts and culture programming, you know, I think you know, historically, you mentioned the Inner Harbor, you know, right after that was built, Reagan went through with massive cuts to the cities, massive cuts to passes tax increases. And then we saw the 90s. We have, you know, a crack academic that reaches Baltimore and causes a lot of harm. And and then we have the housing crash in 2000 70,008 COVID. So there’s always seems to be, you know, once you get our
Nestor Aparicio 11:27
feet, one step back or one step forward, two steps back. I don’t know which one we’re gonna go with. Yeah, yeah. I’d settle for two forward, one back. You know, hopefully,
Ron Cassie 11:38
that’s it. I mean, hopefully, you know, the midterms coming. Hopefully, I’m not
Nestor Aparicio 11:41
talking about the baseball team with two years forward and one year, but the you
Ron Cassie 11:46
mentioned CFT Bank Arena, which we talked about, we did this story before that even opened up, it’s been, it’s great to
Nestor Aparicio 11:51
remember relievable. Yeah. I mean, how many, how many millions of people is it brought downtown, right? Two years? Yeah. And it’s
Ron Cassie 11:56
incredible. A listers coming, I think changes a little bit of the face of the city and the reputation. When you have all these A listers coming, and I think you mentioned the Ravens of Baltimore being playoff teams, we’ll say playoff caliber playoff teams. There’s $600 million in investments that are going to improve to renovate Camden Yards at M and T Bank Stadium, which is a massive influx of investment to essentially that neighborhood, right? They want to. The idea is to make the area around canon hard live more of a work, sure, right? Live, work, play, live, workplace, place. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 12:30
I had Megan McCorkle here, uh, maybe two months ago when she made the move from Enoch Pratt to live Baltimore, and really educated me on what I thought was just a nice shirt. You know what I mean? Like, literally, what the city is trying to do to recruit people like me that live in the county, that would want to come I love the city, right? I lived in the city for 19 years. I didn’t leave the city because I was angry at the city. I left the city because my place sold, and I just found a different situation. We didn’t really want to leave the city. As I sit here and broadcast today, I was here having a crab cake over there on Monday, I ran into you four blocks from your Monday. 48 hours later, I’m here. I’ll be back here this weekend. I mean, I’m in the city, two, three days a week, kind of routinely, and I don’t have an office here. I just have a life here. It’s where I want to go and get things. It’s where my cat goes for her vet. It’s where my restaurants are. It’s where when it’s nice out and I want to go for a walk, I come down here and walk the Inner Harbor, you know, like that. Still do that part
Ron Cassie 13:28
of the this was our February cover story, which we talked about on opening day, which was asking the question, is the city on the cusp of a renaissance? In the parentheses, you know, the mayor thinks so. But one thing we’ll say is we just re elected our first mayor in 20 years, which is a big point. It’s a big deal because, you know, as part of that story, talk to Shane so sauce, the Baltimore community foundation, the biggest, like, or, I believe it’s the biggest philanthropic arm in the city. They have like, over $300 million in assets. You know, she made the point to me in our conversation, you can find this story online about the Baltimore Renaissance, that philanthropic organizations city want to align with, what with what the mayor and the administration is doing, right? They’re setting policies, they’re setting agendas, they’re spending money in places, and they want to build and collaborate right with that.
Nestor Aparicio 14:17
Well, these problems are all local. They’re all within six miles of where we’re standing right now. And they’re obvious, and they’re evident, from education to homeless. If
Ron Cassie 14:26
you go through, when we go through four or five mayors in in a they never get a grip on whoever get a grip on it. And then the philosophers, the police chief and the fire just all everything down, let alone city council, so that the actors, private and public, like like, philanthropic groups that want to get it work with the administration, they can’t really, so they’re having to change their agenda. So that that was, you know, one part of the conversation that was, you know, you know, interesting as part of this story, there’s a lot happening at Penn Station to the investment there and Perkins. Homes over in Fells Point that’s now going up, you know, which is a great affordable housing neighborhood, or will be soon, right by Harbor East little lily Fells Point City Hall. It’s a wonderful they
Nestor Aparicio 15:11
build the whole city that in Port Covington, that at some point is, well, I mean, I know nobody’s there now, but it’s not going to sit there and be ghost town forever. It’s not, I don’t, I don’t know. Wonder what circumstance that could even be possible. What I’m just saying, slow going, obvious right,
Ron Cassie 15:30
right before I forget. There’s one other person we spoke to in the story. We talked to a number of people, Carol obern, arts and culture and Stephanie maroon is the mayor’s office on public safety works under the mayor’s administration. Talked to David Wilson, Morgan, state, Colin Tarbert the Baltimore Development Corporation, and talked, you know about with Mark Anthony Thomas, who’s head of the Greater Baltimore committee, and he helped in the planning of Pittsburgh revitalization in New York City and Los Angeles. Really, really, super bright guy, and he talked about pulling together a cohesive message that actually Baltimore City and Baltimore County not need to stop competing against each other and region, and you’re selling. You
Nestor Aparicio 16:19
know, Johnny oh and Stuart Pittman and Barry Glassman when he ran Harford County. And I’ll get Bob casley on at some point. I mean, Carroll County doesn’t have an executive, right? But Calvin Ball, when I’ve had him on, all of them have talked at length on this program about the importance of the city, that the city’s image becomes their problems don’t stop at the county line, like all of those things that those county executives, they understood that during the Hogan administration, right literally, but
Ron Cassie 16:50
So Mark Anthony Thomas has worked on these plans and cities to attract investments, and the wooing of investment right wing, bringing people in. It’s a lobby. You’re showing in the universities, the Federal Hill houses, right? You’re showing him failies, right? You’re taking them around to sell the assets of the city and the region. And it really has
Nestor Aparicio 17:13
my next job. That’s what I’m gonna do. When I’m done with all this, I’m gonna Viviano is here doing all the nice charity thing. I’m gonna be the guy that sells bald How do I get that gig? Mark Anthony, I’m gonna call me. Call me here. I’m here for you.
17:26
He’s a really great guy.
Nestor Aparicio 17:28
He is. He has an open invitation to show. I’ve never met him. I’ve never had him on the show. I’m assuming he’s really, really busy, but like, I’ve been trying to get him on for long. Very enlightening. I know I’ve talked about online, but I’ve never met it when
Ron Cassie 17:41
you talk, he talks about the metrics of the city compared to other places. And it’s not so much the city’s reputation outside the city that holds us back. It’s almost our own small thinking about ourselves that hold us back. Right
Nestor Aparicio 17:55
apart. Mark Viviana said people won’t come to the city that he’s you know, he lived in the city like I did for 20 years. I deal with that. You know, people that are in the city, maybe we’re all here, but trying to get some from someone from Bel Air down for a ball game, or for a Morgan wall in concert, or for whatever would be the reason they would want to come downtown, they have to feel like it’s a place they want to come and I and that has gone on for a long last 15 years. People have used that as a crutch that I don’t want to go downtown, and
Ron Cassie 18:26
I do, honestly, I think it is a crutch, an excuse, and I think you’re not gonna get everybody from Bel Air, and that’s fine. On opening day, we saw 45,000
Nestor Aparicio 18:34
I saw tons of people from Bel Air down here on Monday,
Ron Cassie 18:37
you go to concert at CFC back arena. You see people from all over. I mean, you can see people out of state who come to see those bands, sure, and those artists, right? And they come to fates for a crab cake. And you mentioned they fill up hotel rooms, they do all those things we want them to do. And you mentioned the redevelopment of the Inner Harbor. I mean, Harvard place is Inner Harbor is still packed. I mean, it’s an unbelievable amenity. The seven and a half mile walk along the water’s edge from Canton to Locust Point. And if you want, you can extend it a little bit and go to Fort McHenry. And most people are going to do the whole thing.
Nestor Aparicio 19:10
Really unprecedented anywhere else in the city that you can do that kind of walk, incredible, beautiful walk place. Maybe you can do it. That’s about it. New York City. You can get some waterfront. But if you just want to take a waterfront walk, this city’s got that, you can
Ron Cassie 19:23
bring your dog with. You can sit outside neat. You did it a million times, right? Yeah, real cherry blossoms right now. And Fort McHenry blossom, you could do. They have cherry blossom in front
Nestor Aparicio 19:33
of Camden Yards. Did you know that right where I met you, 50 feet away, if right where the the Hilton is, and where that sub shop, where the guy shoots elephants, that sub shop, you know, I’m talking about on the corner. They’re unbelievable, right in front of the sports legends Museum, right across from the they, I have pictures, you would think I’m in in Japan, like, literally,
Ron Cassie 19:55
so, you know, the right, I mean, it’s beautiful. There’s, you know, balls was a one. Wonderful. Obviously, you’ve written about it. So I talked to Colin Tarbert, the Baltimore development career. He’s stepping down, and he they coordinate the big kind of private I attended
Nestor Aparicio 20:11
his event up at the center stage back in October. Was great event, great event. I came in the name off top my head. But people should go that every year it was a gathering of panels,
Ron Cassie 20:22
yeah, yeah. Great panel discussion, yeah. I met Trevor price there and did a story about his. I saw Innovation Studio. I saw that’s where I got that so, but he talks about, do you just do stories of sports guys? Is that where you are possible any Okay, all right, just, I saw your Jim Palmer thing. So, but he talks about how the Renaissance side. He doesn’t really believe in it that, you know, places like Harbor East or Harbor Point. I mean, these developments are began, Harbor East began under like smoke, essentially, right? And, and Schaefer even talking to Lou Grasmick about building some residential condos down by the water in Canton, you know. I mean, these go so it can seem the Penn Station redevelopment, or the Camden Yards, you know, stuff like the live work play, but these things are in the works for a long time. It just seems with with a lot of things coming to fruition at once, out of COVID, and I think that the mayor used a lot of the ARPA money. We got to write like six, $40 million almost $700 million the city got, think he spent it well on some small projects in like Edmonton village and Park Heights and other I mean, Lexington market was finished. All the markets with part of that benefited, sure, right? So I think Hollins, Holland’s Mark too, and I think the mayor’s and I’m not showing for the member, I think his focus on the city’s youth like building rec centers. After years of taking rec centers down, which, you know, a really important Baltimore City, and having the pools open, having summer jobs programs like really kind of nuts and bolts stuff about building a city from the ground, we spent a long time
Nestor Aparicio 21:52
talking about those pools being closed and what kids are going to do in the city, and why kids are turning the crime and have idle time and the schools, the schools, the schools, right? And now we got DC trying to dismantle education in the whole country,
Ron Cassie 22:07
right? So I think there’s a lot you know is for the progress we’ve made in the homicide rate, in the vacant homes, and a lot of good economic activities going on, or teens reaching to playoffs. There’s always headwinds. There’s always challenges. I mean, the opioid epidemic, the number of overdoses, we’re making progress on the city, finally. But you know, it’s, it’s been a horror show, you know, for a decade with fentanyl, a decade plus. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 22:33
the Renaissance at Baltimore magazine was last month. You could check it out online. Ron Cassie is the Associate Editor. Is that right? They say, right? Senior senior editor, I don’t know what you are. I didn’t write this thing
Ron Cassie 22:43
as a senior Golf Tour. I’m old enough. I’d be too old when I don’t have
Nestor Aparicio 22:47
producer putting up on the glass. Senior Editor, Ron Cassie, I just know use my pal for Baltimore magazine more of a sporty guy than just a civic leader and a writer and all that. He’s written a book on his love of Baltimore. And you are a jersey in Right, correct? From originally,
8Ron Cassie 23:04
proud, proud, born New Jersey native, yes, swamps of Jersey, North Jersey, all right, not far from sarahville. My dirty secret is, I was, I was born and still remain Nash league Mets fan. How’s that
Nestor Aparicio 23:17
going for you? Listen,
Ron Cassie 23:19
they made a great run to the playoffs last year, and they beat Philadelphia. That was a fun year. So I still go, my brothers and a lot of families still in Jersey. So last year the playoffs went up. Watch them. You don’t like the Yankees. If you don’t like the Yankees, we have a common enemy. We can, we can get along, right? That’s how
Nestor Aparicio 23:36
this whole thing works. What do you make of the baseball thing here and where the Orioles are in pitching at this point. I mean, I know you’re a huge fan and had you on with various people. I was hoping to get you to sit in with Luke, but Luke had to go to the ballpark. We’re down to fadelies, new ownership. I thought I would have a press credential tonight. I really did. I’m gonna be writing about that. My own personal disappointment is also sort of complicated by the fact of who’s going to ask the tough questions and what their responsibility is in this renaissance, right? Like, to me, you’ve already mentioned that they’re getting $600 million I mentioned that all the time. I was here when the first stadium got built, right? So first time around, ownership was different. I saw 30 years of the Angelos thing and how it really my free. The birds thing wasn’t like, I hate Peter Angelo’s my free. The birds thing was like, Dude, if you’re gonna F this up and screw the city up, sell the team. You know, same thing that the fans are saying in Tampa down there, chanting, sell the team if you’re you know, if you’re not in it. So I spent 20 years waiting for Mr. Rubenstein to come and buy $15 million remnant 41 year old pitchers, because you know what I mean, like and buy five and a half million dollars worth of Kyle Gibson, because Grayson Rodriguez, his arms gonna fall off and invest in the team, invest in the city. Walk the walk. Talk the talk. He does have a bobble head later this month. Ron i.
Ron Cassie 25:01
Yeah. Well, I think there’s a question may have been about pitching it, yes, right? I listen. It’s just pitching spend,
Nestor Aparicio 25:07
how much money he’s going to spend on it. It’s really that, when it comes to that, right? You know, the
Ron Cassie 25:12
payroll has gone up dramatically since he took over, almost all part of his the players just maturing a young team. But, I mean, everybody’s disappointed. Of course, they didn’t pick up a front line star to go with Elyn, really proven guy. I think, I think Dean Kramer will have a solid year and two of innings. I think you know the books out on Gibson and Chicana, who looked good, he settled down a little bit for his hand cramped up, but more
Nestor Aparicio 25:44
Luke can say that because Luke’s like 40 the guy Jamie Moyer. Jamie Moyer. So I met Jamie Moyer at Spring training in 1993 in what was then al Lang stadium, and they practiced at huggin Stengel Park. Stengel like Casey. And this is in St Petersburg, 1993 no prayer that they’re gonna get a baseball team for that blimp that they built for the White Sox and the Giants down there. And Jamie Moyer built like me and you, I mean, just built like a regular guy. He was married to digger Phelps, his daughter. Okay, so digger Phelps is hanging around Oriole camp, and I’m wondering why, and digger Phelps is on ESPN every night at that point, you know, former digger Phelps fell in love with me sitting in the stands watching fungos, and I got to know digger Phelps because his son in law, he said, Ah, my son in law is trying to make the team, and I’m trying to make the team. It’s 1993 Jamie Moyer was washed up at that point, right? He had been a starter, reliever. He’d failed. He’d been the miners. I think he pitched in Mexico, Venezuela, a bunch plays cubs, I believe his cardinals, before that White Sox, even he showed up, it was like his career was on complete fumes, nowhere near where Dean Kramer, any of these guys are, and he pitched like another 15 years, like he had the most unbelievable career.
Ron Cassie 27:16
Think he would have intimidated American Legion hitter do what I mean. He
Nestor Aparicio 27:21
and a great guy, Jamie Moore, just a great guy. And and his wife had my get nasty shirt, wow. And he came up to me one time because it gets a get nasty on it, and his wife said to me, I wear your shirt to bed every night. It pisses my husband off. That’s so this is 32 years ago, and Jamie Moore is a bit of a legend, right? Bit of a legend. We’re all trying to find a little Jamie Moyer to me, You know what? I mean, I thought Albert Suarez might be that guy. He
Speaker 1 27:48
was last year. Well, he’s Venezuela, and I love he was last year, yeah? But
Nestor Aparicio 27:51
as we sit here, he’s the, you know, he’s, I see San, D, L, I L, whatever, nice.
Ron Cassie 27:55
Well, he’s, like, he’s her five years old, right? I mean, yeah, I like to break down.
Nestor Aparicio 28:00
You said the first thing, man, and like, you’re not even an Orio fan, but you’re an oil sympathizer, right?
Ron Cassie 28:05
I’m a huge oils fan, but you’re Mets fans. Who you root for? I’ve been here since. Who you rooting for? I will for Baltimore because I’m here, because I’m here for Baltimore. I’m here,
Nestor Aparicio 28:19
don’t you’re not going to root against the Mets in game seven. You’re not so because you’re a mess.
Ron Cassie 28:23
I want to see the city happy to us. I want to go to the parade. Not going to be going to the parade in Manhattan. I’m going to be going to the parade here. You will go to a Mets parade. I never met Tom Seaver and Cleon Jones, but I have met boo Powell and Jim Palmer and Brooks Robinson all this guy said I did meet Tom see I will. I will totally be on board with the Orioles all the way I can root for a team in National League and hope they meet. That would be great. My dad was still Bona you know, after I’ll talk to Ron swamo. I mean, he tells a great story, because he grew up a Brooks Robinson that was his favorite player ever. And He robs Brooks Robinson, you know, of a double that,
Nestor Aparicio 29:00
and he still has no conscience about it, 50 years later, I bet you know, not at all. Great guy, Ronson, oh, man, I know. But like he, you know, my dad was mad at him, but I would say, for the Orioles, you said you began the whole thing by saying, Well, of course, I was disappointed they didn’t get a number one star, yeah. And I’m like, man, if your first statement about the new ownership and everything, and they’re all first off season is, of course, I was disappointed about the pitching, and then pitchers are getting hurt. Dude. I’ve been doing this a long time. Unless somebody is Jamie Moyer, right, unless Cade Povich steps up and becomes Jeff Ballard for a year becomes that guy. It’s really hard to win without pitching. That being said, Yankees are lost tough to start. The other injuries in other places don’t make me feel as bad about it, but it’s kind of like if you don’t have a starting quarterback, you can’t win. And I feel that way about their pitching now, first time in my lifetime that I’ve been able to sit here before a game and say they have prospects and money and a desire to win the old other old man. Even
Ron Cassie 30:00
want to ask you, I think the feeling is, and I don’t know if you’re hearing or feeling the same, thing is, Alliance is going to go get some if we’re in contention or in the wild card spot, and they better at the right as a trade deadline approach, they’ll make moves to add starting
Nestor Aparicio 30:19
pitch, I mean, and they got Corbin burns last year, when, you know the minute the Bradish looked like he wasn’t going to be able to pitch, and means broke down the Tommy John thing. I talked to the link with Dave shining about that a couple weeks ago, and Luke just how fragile pitching is. And then the money part of it, and the thing that, if I were to talk to Katie Griggs or David Rubenstein, and I don’t think he knows enough, I think she knows a lot. Where’s it all coming from? Where’s the you know, their money, revenue stream and stream. I was in Toronto Friday night. Nobody in the city can watch the game because it’s on Apple TV. Nobody here can watch a game Christmas tonight. So they need to rethink how they’re presenting things in their streaming package, in addition to where the money’s coming from, because the city’s not a fortune 500 like I saw all the people there Monday, and I see that there’ll be a whole lot less there tonight. And I keep thinking to myself, Where is the corporate money? And where are the fans who have big pockets? Well, that are going to be 10, $20,000 a year. Investors. I
Ron Cassie 31:16
don’t, I don’t know the I don’t. I try to read all the beat reporting, but I haven’t seen much conversation about this that, yeah, as a fan, I’ve got to look every day to find out where I’m gonna watch the game I’m gonna be able to stream on my MLB TV app to go to Apple TV. Does Madison have it? I got, like, that’s you have to do now, like, for every one
Nestor Aparicio 31:35
of three teams that doesn’t have an out of market streaming option. In market streaming option, I should say my, one of my dearest friends was a young, young boy who loved baseball. We celebrated his family’s lives on Sunday. He’s 40 now. He lives down in North Carolina, and this kid encyclopedia baseball, right? He’s 40 years old. Now, I say, you watching the orals? Ah, you know, I do. They don’t give me the games, and I can’t. I’m out of market in market, and North Carolina is tough. And I’m like, Dude, you’re a 40 year old guy with two kids. You love baseball, and they’re not even giving you a way to love Carolina.
Ron Cassie 32:09
Used to be a bit of Orioles fan base.
Nestor Aparicio 32:12
Oh, it was a massive right when I would walk in a bar in Nags Head in the 90s, the Orio game was almost they got baseball
Ron Cassie 32:17
8there. They got, like, the closest team, because the centers
Nestor Aparicio 32:21
weren’t even there for long. Richmond was already, yeah,
Ron Cassie 32:26
yeah. I mean, they’re, you know, I don’t know all the revenue streams. I know, but we you mentioned is right. They are going to, going to eventually reconfigure left field there. Are going to put some like luxury, more luxury boxes in somewhere. No idea
Nestor Aparicio 32:40
what they’re doing. I think they’re doing, I think they’re going to build a little club down there in left field bullpen. They have one of those in Toronto. Was sponsored by liquor company, right? It’s called the 354 car however, far away from home plate it is, you know, is what they named it in Toronto. Yeah, they’re going to make it a ball. They’re going
Ron Cassie 32:55
to make it a gun better. The attendance has taken big, average has taken big jumps the last couple years, right?
Nestor Aparicio 33:01
Yes, but the revenue part of who’s buying a $16 beer, and I keep going back to this, Ron, this is my big picture with baseball, is they need to take a soon to be 60 year old guy like me and say, Dude, you’re an oil fan. Here’s we got for you. Season is $259 for all the games for other thing. But if you do the $650 or $1,200 season ticket, we’ll give you the games on TV for free, because we’re already getting enough money from you. We know we’re going to suck you into the ballpark. We’re going to get you onto the app. We’re going to give you the $5 sodas and the load up your hot dogs, and we’re going to give you tickets in it all those niceties that they have. It’s going to be a club. It’s going to be a country club. It’s going to be a pay it’s going to you’re going to be a member, right? And part of the membership is going to include, I get the games anywhere I want them, anytime I want them, because that’s like Luke talks about paying for the WWE. He’s a wrestling fan. He subscribes every month. He gets all the content, right? That’s going to be what they’re going to have to do. And they’re going to have to tie it to tickets and come into the games. And if you come to enough games, they’re going to give you the games at home for free, because you’re giving them a lot of money, right? I mean, if you’re giving them two or three grand a year for a season ticket, what’s them throwing the games in on the television thing? If you’re only giving them 200 bucks that, you know, it’s $20 a month. Yeah, right. So it’s $120 a year. Here’s my problem. How does all that add up to $50 million for gunner Henderson? Like, where their old model was, your point seven states, $3 ahead for every when you flew over Virginia, everybody with cable television in that state was given Peter Angelo’s money. Clearly,
Ron Cassie 34:40
with the that’s over, right? The expense more expensive prices. This all the streaming services, and they will own mass and right? So they they have enough revenue even, or Angeles from the salaries were ridiculously low. But the massive revenues profitable baseball teams, you know, in the league, and the values of the franchise. Prices keep going up. So if you even just treading water, the value of your investment keeps going up. You know, it is different than what you know when we moved here 86 I’m living with a friend in Waverly and Boo and Fred Lynn and I can, I can be free before Freddie Lynn, I could walk over right to where, over to the ballpark, and sometimes you watch the game on TV, drinking any bow and be a close game, second, third ring, and you just walk over the ballpark and maybe get a ticket from a Dad and son were leaving early, or buy a ticket, just sit out in the bleachers and catch six or seven days baseball. And that’s what I grew up with. That’s what, listen, I’m still that kind of fan. I mean, I I bring a bottle of water and some pants in with me, you know, I mean, I filled my water bottle in the club entirely. The reason I saw you opening day is like, I want to go to opening day. I don’t want to spend the $100 in a ticket. I’ll apply for a press pass. I’ll write a story, you know, for the whole thing, we do a feature store in the magazine, a couple story. We do stories
Nestor Aparicio 35:57
8like, I mean, there was a beautiful day, man, I went home. My wife said, How did you do? Because my wife knows my mixed feelings when they’re letting you have a press pass and not me. I mean, I dedicate my life to it, you know? Yeah, so it pisses me off dramatically. But that being said, I went to the game Monday. Had the greatest day. I saw you and 1000 other friends. You’re here now because I went to opening. They didn’t run India, right? So the benefits of being there for me and loving it and seeing so many happy people on opening day. Opening Day was a beautiful thing, really, I mean, really, was great. And I think there is a renewed set. I was so stupid. I thought they were gonna give me a press pass like, literally, I thought new ownership really represented this thing that’s new, and I think a lot of fans are certainly buying into that. And that’s good. That’s good. That being said, they still about
Ron Cassie 36:49
our press pass, but we do do an opening day feature in the print magazine.
Nestor Aparicio 36:53
Throw when you under the bus, you deserve a press pass. You cover the team, and we do, and we go to all the I deserve one too. Line in line in front of you. I just should be next to you. That’s all I’m saying. That’s all I’m saying. That’s all I’m saying. You know, listen, I, you know, I do this professionally. That’s all I do. I come from an Irish and
Ron Cassie 37:11
Italian background, and I come from ancestors who can hold the grudge, including my mom, for a long time. And this, to me, is a really long, long grudge that they’re holding against you. I mean,
Nestor Aparicio 37:24
I have no grudge I paid to get in on Monday, right, right? The day to have that. After all, I flew to Toronto to get in last I went to another country last week to five
Ron Cassie 37:33
days. We talked about this too, but as they you know, these teams were talking about major league baseball and professional teams. They don’t need the print media in the way that they so much did before they could get
Nestor Aparicio 37:44
a lot of things in life. You don’t need that you’re still kind to Exactly. I agree. I mean, I didn’t need the guy walking up to me a little while ago asked me for $1 if I had one, but I was kind to him, right?
Ron Cassie 37:54
Yeah. I think this does, you know, play out a little different. I’ll make it. I’ll bring up another point so tangential, maybe, but I don’t know. They obviously can put the videos of Brandon heights, you know, interviews after the game, on their own website, the worlds, and do all that stuff, and they can get their word out, and they have their own social media feeds on reality TV. What I do think, actually, and like with Kevin Willard at the University of Maryland, right? Kevin Willard made over $4 million you’re paid by the state taxpayers, right? Highest Paid employee in the state, second to the locker the football coach. Oh, basketball is just brother right there. Yeah. And this is an unusual but the Orioles are getting, we built that stadium, taxpayers, the oils, are getting a $300 million investment from the taxpayers to renovate for a billion dollar owner and ball players who are going to make more money, you know, than almost anybody else in the state, and not
Nestor Aparicio 38:45
leave it here, and not leave it here, they go home with it, other than Trevor Bryson, if you BJ, sir, off a few
Ron Cassie 38:51
grudge like any of that. But I think they do in kind like you said, deserve more transparency to the people who are paying those salaries, you know, literally taxpayers. It’s not just like, you know, a private company. I
Nestor Aparicio 39:04
want to know what David Rubenstein is going to have a real press conference, not throwing out hats and hanging out with right? You know, Cal ripkens kid on the podcast. That’s
Ron Cassie 39:12
what we’re talking about. That’s because you’re actually like a city official or state official, when you’re taking that much taxpayer money and amenities that the city and state pays for it’s not just like you’re a private person, private enterprise, where you don’t have that same obligation that like, I think, like Willard did, to be honest in his press conferences with people, like you’re you’re being paid $4 million by the taxpayers of Maryland. You have some obligation to be transparent and forthright with people, right? I think, read, yes, the journal. I think the oils are the same thing. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 39:45
integrity is not for sale and not not in my department. You know what I mean, like you’re either telling the truth or you’re lying. And that’s my job as a journalist to call that, as a citizen, to call that,
Ron Cassie 39:55
and our feature in print was on David Rubenstein and Cory McLaughlin, or a freelance. Just did a great job this story, and Rubenstein was very generous and accessible. And the world, you know, almost always are, and their players are,
Nestor Aparicio 40:08
you know, all the things they’re not to me because I have questions too, like, I’m vested, I’m, you know, like the question should be answered when you’re a billionaire and you own the team. And that goes for Angelo’s Bucha Poland. You know, we’re talking about a half we’re talking about a half an hour to come here and do what you’re doing right now, and talk about your team, your intentions, your and then I hold you accountable to whatever that is
Ron Cassie 40:31
like, literally $300 million maybe from the city.
Nestor Aparicio 40:36
Well, yeah. I mean, they’re gonna move Luke out of the press by Did you enjoy the press box? They won’t be there two years from now, be there. It’s going up. No, it’s going out. It’ll be, it’ll be out left field before it’s all over with. Yeah, you think it’s going up? Yeah.
Ron Cassie 40:52
Jim Henning in there. How’s Jimmy? He’s made the spring training. You know he’s 9090, now,
Nestor Aparicio 41:00
is nine going well, he has to be. Yeah,
Ron Cassie 41:02
it’s great to see him. You know, he legend, man, legend, no, and nobody knows more loves the game more.
Nestor Aparicio 41:08
I work with him seven years. Yeah, it
Ron Cassie 41:12
was not really nice gesture from the Orioles to name the press box after him. I thought that when I went in and saw Jim, I didn’t know that that’s up. That’s appropriate. Yeah, yeah. They’ve got a plaque, and they after him, and they had a little ceremony with Jim last year, the year before. I think
Nestor Aparicio 41:27
I knew that, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I never remember that. Yeah. The other ones named after Kevin Byrne. So we spent $300 million in that stadium, throwing me out of the press box, telling me there’s no more space. And they put the Kevin Byrne press box. I call it the little house up in the corner. So I always say to Kevin Byrne, how’s it feel that I got banned from your press box? Nice night. This is my walk in life. Ron Cassie is here. I’m not going to run from it. He is the not the Associate Editor, not the publisher. He’s certainly not the chief. You are the senior editor, right?
Ron Cassie 41:58
You look old enough to be seen. Remember Senior PGA Tour. Think of that
Nestor Aparicio 42:02
makes you sound like you’re at the pasture. Makes you sound like you got some executive part time job. He’s covering all things that are beautiful about Baltimore. Baltimore magazine. What’s great about the magazine right now we got going on?
Ron Cassie 42:14
Well, best restaurants is out, and that’s, I think maybe, I don’t know if that our best of Baltimore in August is our most popular issues, but best restaurants is on the new stance now, which is always an amazing issue. And Janet Marion, our food editor, does an amazing job curating that whole thing, and that’s just something you keep around for the entire year. And I
Nestor Aparicio 42:31
need to know some good places. You have a new place you’ve been. I
Ron Cassie 42:36
want to know if you’ve been to little Donna’s on banks I know
Nestor Aparicio 42:39
about it. Do tell I haven’t been but sell me on it. Now, sell you want to flip
Ron Cassie 42:42
little Dimes is like a block and a half from my house. Yeah? Oh, we’re gonna go together then, yeah, all right, New York Times like, when best new recipe. I know about
Nestor Aparicio 42:51
the pizza that comes from Phoenix because I’ve had that pizza out in phase. It’s delicious. And there was chef there. I know about the pierogies because I’m married to a Polish girl. And I know they do pierogies there in a big way. And I was gonna get out and get a pizza and pierogies a couple weeks
Ron Cassie 43:06
ago, you know. And I don’t pretend to be the biggest, like, foodie in the world, you know, there’s always a line out the door. No, it’s very accessible. Like, I just, I’m going down there. I want to go,
Nestor Aparicio 43:18
Yeah, I’m in. I’m going to little Donna’s with you? Okay? Yeah, on behalf of my first girlfriend, Donna
Ron Cassie 43:23
Gerard, eating in a row house in Baltimore, like that. It’s just come on. Okay,
Nestor Aparicio 43:27
so here’s what I did. And I knew about this. Matt Gallagher and I had a little talk about whether we’re gonna do this or not. My wife and I, a month ago, went to Tokyo, you know, Tokyo underground, T O, K, I Tokyo. Been there yet? No, it’s green mountain, 28 just south of Pete’s grill. Man, I love Japan. I love everything about Japan, and I love ramen, and I love just all of it. We had a really, really great meal in Tokyo, underground. Yeah. So shout out arigato to our friends at Tokyo.
Ron Cassie 44:01
Hey, Renaissance, we have amazing city in terms of the diverse food, cuisines, cultures, happening, expanding in the city, right? You
Nestor Aparicio 44:12
know, you make me promote my own thing. You’re going to do this, right? My 27th anniversary is August 3. You have done 30 crab cakes during all that, right? This year I’m doing my 27 favorite things to eat in Baltimore. I’m gonna do 27 days in August of 27 favorite things, yeah, Baltimore, and one of them’s gonna be snowball. You know that, right? One of them’s gonna be an egg customer. Oh, I gotta, I can’t tell you till August. Everybody knows my favorite place is ICD. Everybody knows about ICD around town, so, but I I’ve got dishes and I have because my heart’s broken about things I can’t eat anymore, like Burke’s onion rings gone, the Angelina’s crab cake gone.
Ron Cassie 44:55
You know, real farms on top of where, how about right?
Nestor Aparicio 44:59
It is a. Weird. It’s hard. How about Nacho mamas and their salsa? I mean, you know, so there are some things you can’t get anymore, but I’m with you and your magazine and featuring great local places doing great things that you can only get here. You can only get a lot of things here in Maryland, we have indigenous things here, right here, fatales, you only get a fatales, crab cake, right here? Well,
Ron Cassie 45:21
listen the crab five, right? I mean, yeah, we have some iconic cuisine from the Chesapeake Bay. But now we also have, I think, a little, you know, richer, new, different ethnic groups, like Latino groups have been in and and, like me, Asian, right? And we have some great stuff happen in terms of the cities. Get rid all the venezuean why you love living the city, right? Is you have can do new things. And one of my favorite things
Nestor Aparicio 45:45
to do is to go up right across from Penn Station to go to Alma. You know, Alma cafe, Alma. She’s Venezuela, right? So she has Venezuelan beer. There’s only one other place in America Venezuelan beer, South Florida, like you can get in Orlando. My brother lives in Kissimmee. They have in Florida, but polarisa, this is
Ron Cassie 46:06
qualities for me. Get the little things from Italy you can do too.
Nestor Aparicio 46:12
No, I’m gonna meet him at little Donna’s. He is the big editor, not that He’s the senior editor at Baltimore magazine. He’s Ron Cassie. He is a sportsman, a Mets fan, an Oriole sympathizer, and a chronicler of what makes our city great. One of the things that makes our city great is the Maryland Zoo, and they’re putting the lights on out there for me and my wife in the old section. I learned about this. My wife and I went out we tried to pet the leopard here. Kitty, kitty, kitty. The Leopard didn’t want but the leopard was eating some things. The zoo is great. There’s all talk about construction, and there’s a big construction project going on, yeah, that was
Ron Cassie 46:46
one of the things we highlighted in the Baltimore Renaissance story. Is there’s, you know, new pool at through Hill Park, and the whole lake is getting a big, massive overhaul, and should be opening up soon. And, you know, that’s an enormous, beautiful amenity to help you get lost in there.
Nestor Aparicio 47:05
My wife and I pulled out of the zoo two weeks ago. We were over there with Kirby Shannon, Bill Cole from cole roofing had a big soiree at the mansion house there, which I love a lot of history. We had armadillos. We had penguins. I met which I think my penguins name, I’ll look it back up. Had a little penguin, little armadillo, and we’re leaving and there’s deer everywhere. And my wife is, like, they’re deer in Druid Hill Park. I’m like, sure they’re deer in Druid Hill Park, right? It’s like, too many. There’s a lot of my guy from his ears, like, yeah, they’re in herring run. But she had no idea there were,
Ron Cassie 47:41
like, that runners, but they’re over there too. Yeah, I hate to imagine, but they’re may have to, like, call them Fox in
Nestor Aparicio 47:49
the city too. Yeah, fox, fox running wild. We do. They’re Fox in the city.
Ron Cassie 47:54
There’s listen the Inner Harbor. You know, they built some new wetlands around and by the aquarium, right? And you have turtles on their back, snakes, turtles, yeah, snakes, eels. I mean, it’s, you know, and crabs
Nestor Aparicio 48:09
that we put in the steamer right back here at Faith leaves, and we eat them up, delicious crab cakes. Ron Cassie, make sure you’re subscribing to Baltimore magazine, supporting the city. My man, Mike, title, bomb, Steve, Jeff. I’ve seen Jeff be online and offline. He was an opening I haven’t been to a game with Steve in a while. Everybody knows of my affinity, my deep love of Steve jeppy, going back to when he had Jeff bez comic world right next to Anna’s fried dough and to Swensons ice cream down in a light tree pavilion. Ron, I love you. You already had a crab cake. So I’ve already, you know, I’m surprised you stayed after I gave you the crab cake. You’re an honorable man. A lot of people just would have eaten and gone enjoy Baltimore magazine. I always enjoy my chats with Ron Cassie. It was serendipity running into him at Oriole Park at Camden Yards opening day. I run into everybody in opening day. I told my wife when I went home, she like, do you have fun? I’m like, all I did was see people I love and people who love me.
Ron Cassie 48:58
Yeah, that’s like half the city council there too.
Nestor Aparicio 49:01
I saw half the city council there too. I did. I saw former city council speaking of Bill COVID, the other bill Cole I spent time with him. I saw Zeke Cohen at length. He was trying to join me here today, but we’re gonna get Zeke Cohen on city council president as well. So we got politics, sports. Good news on the city, the renaissance of the city. You can read about it, as told by the mayor and Baltimore magazine. You can do that at bmag. We’re down here fates. We’re doing it all on behalf of our friends at the Maryland lottery. I have the scratch offs of the Maryland lottery. The lucky magic eight bought a couple of winners already here at fates today, we’re gonna be doing this next Friday at Costas in where we will be paying tribute to the late great Costas three and tophalus. I know I’m mispronouncing that, but I’m trying to not turn it all into Scott TA and he would appreciate that. We’re failies. We’re going to talk about the Maryland Zoo and the bright lights you will see after dark down in Drude Park. You mean, say it right, drew the park. That’s
Ron Cassie 49:57
what gives me away, is not being a native Baltimore. Is, man, I don’t have the accent.
Nestor Aparicio 50:02
If you go to that place up in I can say Holland town, and you just did that’s good. There ain’t no Holland town. It’s upper Canton hunt.
50:11
And I can say lumber Street.
Nestor Aparicio 50:14
I can say Belair or Blair road. Blair road. We’re down here on Utah and packa. We’re Lexington market, keeping it real. We’re Baltimore positive. Stay with us. You.
