About 10 minutes before first pitch, Steve Melewski sat back in his chair in the press box and took a moment to enjoy the scene before him. The orange towels, the swell of noise, the nervous energy — there was postseason baseball in Baltimore.
Melewski, who finished 17 years as a reporter for Mid-Atlantic Sports Network last week, felt pride. He could’ve also pinched himself, just to make sure the moment was real. For an Orioles fan since he was 6 years old, when he first attended a game at Memorial Stadium, seeing Camden Yards come to life two Octobers in a row was exhilarating. And Melewski was sure glad to be sitting in that seat, to call this his job.
Melewski’s final day at MASN was last Friday after his contract with the organization wasn’t renewed, and the days since have been heavy. As Melewski ponders what comes next — for himself and for the Orioles — the thought of that rabid fanbase comes to him for two reasons.
One, seeing Baltimore alight with Orioles fandom reinforces the on-field momentum for the club, coming off two straight postseason trips (albeit without a win in either). And two, Melewski has felt that fanbase rally around him.
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“The outpouring from readers, fans, everywhere I go — it keeps blowing me away. It doesn’t stop,” Melewski said in a phone interview. “Not only does it fuel me, and not only am I so thankful that I have such a network of friends and family, but I have a bigger network of Orioles fans, some of which have never met me anywhere, but they support me. They’re telling me right now, ‘Steve, you need to keep going.’ And I said that before they said it, but I think the fact they’re saying it is really meaningful to me.”
So even though Melewski’s run with MASN is over, he’s looking forward to what comes next. Melewski said Tuesday he will chip in writing for the website BaltimoreBaseball.com, where he will focus heavily on the minor leagues, an area he enjoyed covering during his time at MASN. But it is not a full-time role.
“I think I would describe myself as equal parts excited and maybe terrified, both, by the future,” Melewski said, acknowledging that there’s a level of uncertainty in any job market, but particularly when covering baseball. No matter what’s to come, however, Melewski doesn’t plan to leave baseball. Not when baseball has given him so much.

Melewski first began covering the Orioles ahead of the 2008 season, and his all-time record while on the beat is 1,239-1,412 (.467). He hasn’t seen a win in the postseason since 2014. But through it all, Melewski found ways to keep fans, and himself, engaged.
It wasn’t always easy. He was the first writer hired at MASN, and the site originally had little traction in that first season. But once Roch Kubatko joined from The Baltimore Sun, Melewski said MASN grew to become a more mainstream outlet for readers.
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“He and I made a great team for a lot of years,” Melewski said, “and I think fans appreciated the coverage we had.”
Melewski said he has no ill will toward MASN for how things came to an end. He instead is grateful for having had the opportunity to work with the Orioles for so long, giving him the chance to brush shoulders with players such as Jim Palmer and Ben McDonald.
“To this day, I’ll sit across from Jim Palmer and say, ‘Hey, Jim Palmer, you realize how cool this is for me?’” Melewski said. “And Jim is like, ‘Steve, you’ve known me forever.’ And I’m like, ‘I know, and it’s never not cool.’”
Still, unrelated to Melewski’s departure, the television network and website could undergo wider change in the future as the Washington Nationals pursue legal action against the network in pursuit of $320 million in TV rights fees the Nationals feel they are owed. For regional sports networks in general, it’s a time of uncertainty. Longtime Orioles executive Greg Bader has moved into a role overseeing MASN.
Early in his time with the network, when the Orioles finished fifth in the American League East for four straight seasons, Melewski realized the breadth of stories available in the minor leagues. He kept his reporting of the minors active throughout a rebuild directed by general manager Mike Elias, which brought a wave of prospects through the farm system.
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“In the early days, when the Orioles were losing a lot, fans wanted hope,” Melewski said. “There have always been great stories. That’s how I first knew Buck Britton. Buck was maybe not even a regular player every day at Double-A Bowie. He probably played four or five times a week, but he was just a great guy and he was funny, and he was kind of the minor league version of Colton Cowser, if you will. He kept everybody loose.
“I gravitated toward guys like him and Caleb Joseph, who I saw play many, many games at Bowie over the years, and I started writing about and knowing those guys,” Melewski continued. “I love the minors. I love to watch kids on the way up.”
He remembers when Manny Machado first arrived in Baltimore as a 19-year-old in 2012. In a crowded clubhouse of cameras, Machado picked out Melewski as one of the few familiar faces.
“When you drive to Frederick 10 times a year, and you sit down with Manny a couple times a year, they get to know you,” Melewski said. “And that pays off.”
It also helped Orioles fans get to know a young player before the bright lights shine on him. During the more recent rebuilding years, Melewski’s focus on the minors helped to build excitement for what could come in a few years’ time, and the time has arrived where many of the most-hyped players are now in the majors.
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So his mind goes back to last October, when he soaked in the atmosphere before first pitch of a playoff game. In whatever role Melewski has going forward, he’ll be soaking in the joy Orioles baseball brings him and many others.
“I grew up when it [Baltimore] was Colts and Orioles crazy, and I think it’s Orioles and Ravens crazy now,” Melewski said. “I’m excited for the future of Orioles baseball. Obviously, I want to be involved in it, in some way, shape or form.”
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