Built for baseball and football (the Orioles came from St. Louis three years after it was opened), the park could have had easily been renamed
Memorable Stadium for its various (albeit occasionally) football exploits. It was the home of the man who held most of the passing records in the 1950s and 60s (Johnny Unitas). It was the scene of one of the oddest occurrences ever at a sporting event when a plane crashed into the upper deck late in a playoff game. It housed a
Canadian Football League team (that drew surprisingly well) for two seasons. And, when a fan tried to run across the field, LB Mike Curtis showed the form he used on quarterbacks and flattened the intruder with a forearm shiver. Although the team later fell on hard times and eventually moved to Indianapolis, the NFL Colts were so beloved (and the Memorial Stadium fans were so loud), the place was once referred to as “The World’s Largest Outdoor Insane Asylum.”
We profile Memorial Stadium, the former home of the Baltimore Colts.