Orioles Fans Gear Up For 2017 Baseball Season At FanFest
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A day of fans, fun, and a full convention center. Orioles FanFest took over Downtown Baltimore Saturday, as fans got a chance to get up close and personally meet some of their favorite players during the annual event.
"Oh goodness, we've been to FanFest for 15 years at least," says Orioles fan Frank lhotsky.
"In our family, we say there are only two seasons: baseball and winter," he says.
Generations of excited fans came with a line the lead up to the Baltimore Convention Center for Orioles FanFest, where a fan could get a chance to see a little of everything -- and lots of it in orange and black.
Including a suit worn by diehard O's fan Ryan King.
"A lot of orange, I love to see that," says King.
He's wearing a bright orange suit, complete with orange top hat.
"Only a few occasions I bring it out, it's for formal wear: FanFest, opening day, and god willing, post-season," he says.
While as eye-catching as it is, the day was not about decked-out fans, but the Orioles players too. And everywhere you looked you saw fans getting a chance to meet the players they to root for all season.
Those same fans also got to see some of the faces they see every day on WJZ. As part of our continuing community commitment, many of WJZ's on-air staff, like Rick Ritter, Bob Turk, Devin Bartolotta and Tim Williams took pictures with O's fans.
FanFest is a day that many wait for all year.
"And get a lot of free stuff too, which is good." says Ihotsky.
Orioles FanFest has been around since 1988. Since 2011, there has been an autograph policy, where the money collected goes towards OriolesREACH, which has raised $700,000 dollars for the foundation's charities.
F0r more information about FanFest CLICK HERE. To see photos and tweets from FanFest from WJZ reporters and anchors CLICK HERE.
Follow @CBSBaltimore on Twitter and like WJZ-TV | CBS Baltimore on Facebook
