Meet the antique collector behind some iconic designs at Baltimore's Camden Yards.
When Oriole Park at Camden Yards was constructed in Baltimore in the early 1990s, the plan was for it to have an old-time ballpark feel.
The graphic design firm that was selected to help execute that vision was Ashton Design.
There was a recession at the time, and the head of the company, David Ashton, was down to just one worker when he beat out two major design firms for the job.
"I really, literally, did not know what to do, because my practice was mostly in print — graphics, brochures for colleges and universities, brochures for architects, those kinds of things," said Ashton.
He started sketching the day before he was set to turn in his proposal. One of those sketches was for the iconic clock.
"Those little sketches became the idea that got elaborated on," he said. "Like the clock was just, I'd just done a circle with hands on it."
He formed a staff of students from the Maryland Institute College of Art and refined the design.
"One of the students came up with the little curls on the side, and then The Sun paper," Ashton said. "It was brilliant, frankly."
Those sketches are now in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York.
Refurbishing the clock
The clock has kept time at Camden Yards since the ballpark opened on April 6, 1992.
"It's part of what gave Oriole Park its iconic nature and made it the ballpark that everyone wanted to emulate," said Orioles Team Historian Bill Stetka.
This year, the Orioles installed a new center field videoboard that's two and a half times larger than the previous one, and while doing so, decided to also refurbish the clock.
The iconic clock is 14 feet in diameter, with a 31-foot-long base, and it weighs 5,000 pounds, according to Stetka.
The clock got a new face, internal mechanism and lighting – switching from fluorescent to LED — and was returned just in time for Opening Day.
"It's going to be brighter," Stetka said. "Fans are going to love it."
Antiques adding to the old-time feel
"Our firm did anything that was graphic or needed a special touch," said Ashton.
Other elements that Ashton Design came up with for Camden Yards were inspired by antiques, like the large Coca-Cola poster on the back of the videoboard.
"I mean, full-size, huge Coke bottle," said Ashton. "That's all that was on there, and it was magnificent, and the reason, at that point in my life, I was collecting antique advertising stuff."
Now residing in Glen Rock, Pennsylvania, Ashton's home is adorned with antiques. He said it was his antique weathervane collection that inspired the Oriole weathervanes on the sides of the videoboard.
"I thought, I think I ought to put those on the corners, and then the batters can look at them and see which way the wind's going," he said. "So, I sold it that way, and they became one of the most popular parts of the park."
Another design success is the retired numbers. Ashton said he knew it would be.
"People will start taking pictures of themselves in front of those before you know it," he said. "Bingo. It happened the first day."
Ashton considers himself lucky.
"Being lucky is more important, I think, than anything else," Ashton laughed. "Talent is okay, but luck is better."
Iconic clock and weathervanes live on
"Everybody was going with digital clocks, we went back to the old-fashioned face clock," said Stetka.
As time moves on, some things are timeless.
"The designer wasn't sure that it was going to pass muster…and here it is, 35 years later," said Stetka.
