Priest struggles with Orioles-Nationals rivalry

For someone who grew up across the street from Memorial Stadium and who spent his summers trying to emulate Brooks Robinson at third base, Monsignor Michael Fisher must be stuck in a kind of baseball purgatory.

A priest of the Washington archdiocese for 16 years who now serves as vicar general for that neighboring archdiocese to the south, Monsignor Fisher is daily subjected to scores of Washington Nationals fans.

He doesn’t let it bother him, though. While he deeply loves the city he serves, when it comes to baseball nothing can replace his beloved Baltimore Orioles.

“I love the Orioles, and I continue that now,” said Monsignor Fisher, who was baptized at St. Anthony of Padua, Baltimore, and later attended the Church of the Annunciation, Rosedale.

“The one good thing about the Nationals is that they are run by one of the greatest Orioles of all time, Frank Robinson,” he said with a laugh.

When the Washington Nationals come to Baltimore for a June 23-26 series, an emerging beltway rivalry will be on full display. For many Catholics, devotion to the O’s will mean little mercy for the Nats.

“We are in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, and when it comes to sports, Washington is an afterthought,” said Father Jeffrey Dauses, pastor of Church of the Holy Apostles in Gambrills and a former eighth-grade hot dog vendor at Memorial Stadium.

While there are probably more than a few Nationals fans in his Anne Arundel County parish, Father Dauses refused to acknowledge their existence.

“If they are Nationals fans, they have the good sense not to tell us,” he said, chuckling.

Although she is a native Washingtonian, there’s no way Sister Michael Kathleen Deane, O.S.F., will ever root for the Nats.

“I have lived in Baltimore longer than in my hometown,” said Sister Michael, a former principal of St. Clement Mary Hofbauer School in Rosedale who currently works as a library volunteer at The Catholic High School of Baltimore.

“I’m glad they got a team back,” said Sister Michael, noting that she is even more fanatical about the Baltimore Ravens. “Rivalry is a good thing. It keeps everyone on their toes, striving to be their best.”

All the Sisters are “diehard” Orioles fans at the convent where Sister Kathleen lives at St. Anthony, Baltimore.

Joan Ruppenkamp, parish manager of St. Mary in Cumberland, said her entire faith community is devoted to the Orioles. It could be no other way for the home parish of Orioles’ skipper Sam Perlozzo, she said.

“Having Sammy as the manager is one of the greatest things that’s ever happened to Cumberland,” said Ms. Ruppenkamp. “It really put us on the map.”

Sister Rea McDonnell, S.S.N.D., a part-time teacher at Sisters Academy of Baltimore, Lansdowne, who lives and ministers in Silver Spring, said the Orioles long ago won her heart along with the Boston Red Sox.

Many people in Silver Spring have remained loyal to the O’s even after the Nats came to town, she said.

“I’m an American League person,” she said. “I hate taking pitchers out just because they need a pinch hit.”

While he continues rooting for the Orioles, Monsignor Fisher said he doesn’t mind following the Nationals. But if it comes down to a choice between the two teams, Baltimore wins.

“I think in a few more years, it’s going to be a great and fun rivalry,” he said.

Email George Matysek at gmatysek@CatholicReview.org

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