Inside Baltimore's backyard ballpark that once hosted Babe Ruth — before it burned

The old Oriole Park, which hosted the team from 1916 until it burned in 1944, sat where Waverly, Charles Village, Abell and Harwood meet.There was a time in Baltimore when a functioning ballpark once fit into two neighborhood blocks.

The old Oriole Park, which hosted the team from 1916 until it burned in 1944, sat where Waverly, Charles Village, Abell and Harwood meet. Baltimore had the dropped down to the minor leagues and competed against teams from Reading, Pa., Jersey City, N.J., Buffalo and Rochester, N.Y., and Toronto.

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Even more unlikely than the park’s location was home plate’s. It was halfway up a hill, in the 2900 block of Barclay Street,…