The City of Aberdeen once seemed inextricably tied to the Orioles franchise, but as of Friday that link has been severed.

Rooted in the Ripken family legacy, with the “Iron Man” enshrined at Aberdeen’s Ripken Stadium via the IronBirds baseball team and Ferrous the mascot, the stadium has been an integral part of Harford County life for more than two decades. The team spawned Orioles stars in the 2010s such as Manny Machado and Trey Mancini, and, more recently, Gunnar Henderson.

But now, the Orioles’ High-A affiliate is officially going to Frederick. Though the minor league team in Aberdeen will keep the IronBirds name, and the city won’t have to pay as much for the stadium’s upkeep, what is unknown is how losing an affiliation with the Orioles will affect fans and support for the stadium.

In 2026, Aberdeen will be home to the MLB Draft League team that formerly played in Frederick. Beyond next season, though, the status of a team in Aberdeen is uncertain, said Greg Baroni, CEO of Attain Sports, which owns the IronBirds, the Keys and the Orioles’ Double-A affiliate, the Chesapeake Baysox.

While local leaders have long had a fractious relationship with the Ripken Stadium, families from around the Baltimore area have flocked to the IronBirds’ home for a more casual, small-town experience than they might get at Camden Yards.

A 2007 Sun editorial called the city-funded project “the error in Aberdeen,” but also noted: “Ripken Stadium has been a great success.”

It’s not just about Aberdeen, as longtime baseball fan Dan Foster noted.

“In my mind, it’s really the Harford County IronBirds,” said Foster, a Philadelphia-area native who moved to Harford the same year as the team, in 2002.

He originally had season tickets, but now has four kids at home and goes to the stadium a few times a year.

“As my family grew, that kind of became too expensive,” Foster said, and he’s among those who have noticed attendance has “gone down quite a bit” from the frequent sellout crowds in the early 2000s, “which is too bad.”

At a recent game featuring fireworks, “it was less than half full,” he said.

The coronavirus pandemic took a big swing at minor league baseball as a whole. MLB cut dozens of teams in recent years, and attendance has been falling.

As baseball fan Michael Cox noted, Ripken Stadium hit the skids after the IronBirds became a High-A team in 2020. He thinks having the team play more regular games, instead of a short season, was its downfall.

But he’s among those who’ll be sad to lose the Orioles affiliation.

“It will definitely be sad to have that kind of tie” go, he said.

Ripken Stadium has been the site of a lot of memories for countless residents.

Cox moved back to his hometown of Bel Air in 2006, where he raised his son, now 19. His family rented a suite at Ripken Stadium for his son’s high school graduation last year.

“I think it’s been wonderful to have an affiliated, minor league team so close,” Cox said. “It’s just a fun, not-too-expensive, family-outing-type thing.”

Minor league stadiums do bring in millions of dollars for their communities. In 2022, Ripken Baseball — which includes more than the stadium — reported bringing in more than $47 million to Harford County. The new Ripken Experience at that time said it welcomed 20,000 participants and more than 90,000 visitors through 38 tournaments.

The Frederick Keys were estimated to have a $15 million impact on its city, both direct and indirect, according to the City of Frederick, in 2020.

Aberdeen leaders have long been anticipating an IronBirds departure, after the Ripkens pulled out most of their stake in the IronBirds last fall.

At his March “State of the City” address, Mayor Patrick McGrady barely mentioned the stadium and mostly focused on his ongoing push to revitalize and revamp the downtown.

“It’s reasonable to assume that this may be the last season of professional baseball the way we currently experience it at Ripken Stadium,” he said at the time.

He’s also focused on overall redevelopment, saying, “Aberdeen is in an enviable position, from a growth perspective” and the city’s financial situation “is strong.”

The loss of the Orioles affiliation comes at a time when the city’s longtime efforts to build up the stadium area are finally coming to fruition.

Eateries such as The Screaming Bean coffeehouse and All American Steakhouse have attracted residents and gotten good reviews in the new Blackstone Plaza shopping center straddling Centerfield Drive.

McGrady mentioned the newly completed Fieldside Grande housing complex. Aberdeen was a big leader in the push for the county to get a hotel tax, which finally materialized a decade ago. Ripken Stadium has been the big driver for Aberdeen hotels, but the hotel industry nationwide has struggled since the pandemic.

Bel Air’s Maggie Lorenz is with Allfirst Realty, which buys out 450 stadium seats for an annual family-and-friends outing.

“I think the stadium is a great stadium,” she said, citing amenities such as free parking. “When my kids were little, we took them all the time, because it was close, convenient. It was perfect.”

McGrady said in a statement that “the city remains committed to preserving baseball at Ripken Stadium” and “is actively engaging with experienced youth sports facility operators to diversify programming and to achieve the original vision of the Ripken Stadium area from the conception of the project in 2000, which will feature increased opportunities for entertainment, hospitality, and community engagement on the Ripken Stadium campus.”

Have a news tip? Contact Bryna Zumer at bzumer@baltsun.com, or on X as @brynazumer .