BALTIMORE — Baseball fans aren't the only ones excited for the orioles return to Birdland for the Orioles home opener.
Camden Yards is surrounded by many bars, restaurants, and hotels which also count on the Orioles to bring in the crowds during the baseball season.
Pickles Pub has been a fixture in Baltimore for more than 30 years.
It pre-dates Oriole Park by just a few years.
The bar opened on St. Patrick's Day 1988, then the Orioles took the field for the first time in 1992. They've gone together like hand in glove ever since.
Just a few hundred feet from home plate at Oriole Park is Pickles Pub. more than a sports bar, it's a Baltimore tradition.
In a year in which the date of opening day was up in the air, the pub’s marquee clears any doubt baseball is back. Pickles Pub general manager Tom Leonard couldn’t be happier.
“Stoked! It's finally happening. I mean, we had an opening day last year, but you know it wasn’t the same. Seated service only, a limited number of people inside the stadium… So, now it’s real you know. Now, it’s like good old days, you know, back to the gloriousness,” Leonard said.
Leonard, also known as “the Big Pickle,” is anxious and excited for the return of baseball and opening day crowds.
“After the last two lean years it’s even more important. Just going forward, its just something that creates that cushion. Especially for us, we’re lucky enough to have it you know,” Leonard said.
“We’re not just in the middle of nowhere or competing with 12 other establishments right next to us for a crowd, you know, the games happen people come here. So, it’s like season starts and it’s like alright cool. We’re good, you know,” Leonard added.
From Covid lockdowns to a player lockout, Leonard wears a T-shirt, which shows he was prepared for what ever curve ball the 2022 baseball season might throw at him.
“Since the pandemic and stuff like that, it’s not like ‘oh my God.” Whatever. It was more like all right, so here’s what we’re gonna do if it doesn’t happen for X amount, or if it doesn’t happen until the All-Star Break,” Leonard said.
Too busy to stress, Leonard had to think about when to open, when to close, promoting the pub, and hiring staff. During a typical baseball season Pickles Pub hires 40-60 part-time employees.
“I have a plethora of people that want to work here during the season that are very capable and good and have worked with us in the past. So, it’s more just like getting in their hours you know. They’re grad students, they’re teachers, they’re their single parents, making sure they get their supplemental income. So, if there was still the lockout a lot of them would not be getting shifts,” Leonard said.
With the lockout over and opening day now here, Pickles Pub is staffed and ready to go.
“They’re on me about like what time am I showing up on Monday where am I at, and you know, those emails have been sent, so,” Leonard said.
“Now it's here and it's happening,” Leonard quipped.
Pickles Pub is offering drink specials and a free breakfast buffet to celebrate the return of the orioles to Birdland.
