On a low foundation of a long-collapsed paint factory, Carroway Field lies along the Patapsco River’s inner harbor near downtown Baltimore. Named for its founding owner, painting supply magnate Edward Carroway, the elegant ballpark sports grandiose and iconic “witch’s hat” grandstands overlooking the Inner Harbor.
Like the high-sailed and fast-paced ships for which they are named, the Baltimore Clippers are a hard-hitting and high-scoring ballclub at the junction of northern and southern baseball. This well-dressed and highly competitive team plays an aggressive and ostentatious form of offensive smallball, managed by the eccentric, volatile and foul-mouthed Catholic Priest, Father Thomas Carlow.
With a special dispensation from the Archdiocese of Baltimore to serve as the ballclub’s skipper and chaplain, Father Tom Carlow of County Fermanach can be heard uttering sharp, aggressive “Hail Marys” at opposing batters and leading the bullpen in lines from the Baltimore Catechism (as Father Tom was an attendant of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore and therefore wrote many of the lines). Father Tom runs a tight ship, forbidding facial hair, tobacco, and spirits of any kind but ecclesiastic. Easily agitated, quick to anger, and fiercely defensive of his players, rooters at Carroway Field adore old Father Tom and sing the Irish rebel melody Follow Me Up to Carlow upon every ballclub victory (and at each of Father Tom’s ejections, which are frequent).
Formed from several of the region’s best independent ballclubs, the Clippers sport an explosive batting order, with budding superstar Phil Winters leading the hard-hitting roster. Alongside Winters is fellow Baltimore native George Tonelli, an extra-base workhorse and celebrated slugger.
Aggressive, rowdy, yet well-kept and clean-cut, the Clippers are an exciting and unpredictable ballclub built on paradox and intense competition. Rooters that cannot fit into Carroway Field anchor their yachts and flatboats beyond center field and fight one another for one of Phil Winters’ or George Tonelli’s home run balls. A serious contender in the Liberty Division, rooters line the edges of Carroway Field and cheer their Clippers, self-assured (with good reason) that their ship has come in.