{"id":13491,"date":"2014-04-11T05:01:41","date_gmt":"2014-04-11T11:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=13491"},"modified":"2014-04-11T08:31:58","modified_gmt":"2014-04-11T14:31:58","slug":"for-greeter-of-orioles-fans-stadium-post-is-a-gateway-to-happiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/for-greeter-of-orioles-fans-stadium-post-is-a-gateway-to-happiness\/","title":{"rendered":"For greeter of Orioles&#8217; fans, stadium post is a gateway to happiness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By HILLEL KUTTLER<\/p>\n<p>BALTIMORE (JTA) \u2013 Stationed at Gate H, behind the centerfield scoreboard at the northern end of the distinctive brick B&amp;O Warehouse, Robert Schapiro greets fans outside Oriole Park at Camden Yards with Hall of Fame-caliber vocal embraces.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWelcome! Thanks for coming,\u201d he tells a fan on a wet and chilly Thursday afternoon, the third game of the new baseball season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWelcome, everybody!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been here 23 years, and you\u2019ve been a big part of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_13509\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/3616-Joe-Vega-L-and-Robert-Schapiro-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13509\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13509 lazyload\" title=\"3616 Joe Vega L and Robert Schapiro (1)\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/3616-Joe-Vega-L-and-Robert-Schapiro-1-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/3616-Joe-Vega-L-and-Robert-Schapiro-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/3616-Joe-Vega-L-and-Robert-Schapiro-1-1024x682.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/200;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13509\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13509\" title=\"3616 Joe Vega L and Robert Schapiro (1)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/3616-Joe-Vega-L-and-Robert-Schapiro-1-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/3616-Joe-Vega-L-and-Robert-Schapiro-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/3616-Joe-Vega-L-and-Robert-Schapiro-1-1024x682.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-13509\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Joe Vega, left, says his colleague Robert Schapiro is &quot;fun to work with,&quot; April 3, 2014. (Hillel Kuttler<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>At 57, Schapiro remains a bundle of joy &#8212; a large presence, in girth and personality, for fans entering the ballpark where he has been employed since it opened in April 1992 as the home of the Baltimore Orioles. For the last 18 years, he has worked at Gate H.<\/p>\n<p>Whatever Schapiro\u2019s developmental disability \u2013 he says his condition includes obsessive-compulsive disorder, an inordinate worrying over relatively minor issues &#8212; or the restrictions it places on his life, the 81-games-a-year Camden Yards experience is clearly agreeable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love the job. It\u2019s an amazing job,\u201d Schapiro says just before the fans, many wearing the garb of the Orioles and the visiting Boston Red Sox, proceed past the turnstiles.<\/p>\n<p>He&#8217;s fond of the baseball team and loves sports. But above all it&#8217;s about the people.<\/p>\n<p>The work provides Schapiro with fulfillment and a social circle. Friends include his co-workers, such as ticket takers Bob Bennett, John Hagert and Renee Myles, and Joe Vega, who administers the adjacent cage where fans can leave items not allowed inside.<\/p>\n<p>Schapiro points to someone stationed at the far turnstile 40 feet away.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou see that little woman at the end? She got Employee of the Month,\u201d he says, evincing pride by association.<\/p>\n<p>Schapiro says he is &#8220;blessed\u201d to have the job.<\/p>\n<p>Colleagues and fans, along with those who know him in the Baltimore Jewish community, say Schapiro possesses an intelligence and a heart of gold that make him special, although they admit that his forthrightness and often-disheveled appearance can be off-putting at first.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_13510\" style=\"width: 210px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/3615-Robert-Schapiro-L-and-Sgt.-Nicholas-McCulley-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13510\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13510 lazyload\" title=\"3615 Robert Schapiro L and Sgt. Nicholas McCulley (1)\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/3615-Robert-Schapiro-L-and-Sgt.-Nicholas-McCulley-1-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/3615-Robert-Schapiro-L-and-Sgt.-Nicholas-McCulley-1-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/3615-Robert-Schapiro-L-and-Sgt.-Nicholas-McCulley-1-682x1024.jpg 682w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 200px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 200\/300;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13510\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13510 \" title=\"3615 Robert Schapiro L and Sgt. Nicholas McCulley (1)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/3615-Robert-Schapiro-L-and-Sgt.-Nicholas-McCulley-1-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/3615-Robert-Schapiro-L-and-Sgt.-Nicholas-McCulley-1-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/3615-Robert-Schapiro-L-and-Sgt.-Nicholas-McCulley-1-682x1024.jpg 682w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-13510\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Robert Schapiro, left, and Sgt. Nicholas McCulley, to whom he had given a ticket for the day&#39;s game, April 3, 2014. (Hillel Kuttler)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Some fans ignore Schapiro&#8217;s welcome. Others return the greeting and, like the members of a visiting youth hockey team from Boston, take pictures with him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s a comical fellow, always,&#8221; Vega says. &#8220;He\u2019s fun to work with. He always gives me stuff,\u201d including a book on Jewish baseball players.<\/p>\n<p>Schapiro is a regular caller to the weekly Baltimore radio show \u201cShalom U.S.A.,\u201d which he says provides his primary source of information on Jewish affairs. The interviews and announcements often alert Schapiro to the many lectures, film screenings and commemorations he attends.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cObviously he has challenges in his life, but he wants to learn, he wants to grow,\u201d says the show\u2019s host, Jay Bernstein. \u201cEvery time I see him, he thanks me for the program and all he gets out of it. It\u2019s nice to hear.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Four years ago, at 53, Schapiro celebrated his bar mitzvah. At a Sabbath afternoon service at Beth El Congregation, he chanted the Torah portion.<\/p>\n<p>One aliyah at the reading went to Neil Frater, his classmate at Pikesville High School who regularly joins Schapiro and the latter\u2019s brother, William, in the upper deck for Baltimore Ravens home football games.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI felt like I was helping a friend achieve something in his life,\u201d Frater says of the bar mitzvah. \u201cThis is a man who, despite his challenges, has succeeded in [attaining] some milestones.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The accomplishments include graduating from the University of Maryland with a degree in criminology. Schapiro held several jobs until a life-altering January 1991 interview at Memorial Stadium for positions at Camden Yards, which the Orioles were building downtown.<\/p>\n<p>Dave Shegan, then working for a local job-placement agency, \u201cwill always be my hero because he thought I\u2019d be good for this work, and he was right,\u201d Schapiro says.<\/p>\n<p>The agency, known as STEP (the Schapiro Training and Employment Program), was established by Schapiro\u2019s grandfather, Ben, a textile executive.<\/p>\n<p>Shegan says he knew that sending Schapiro for the Orioles interview would produce an ideal match. Previous jobs in offices, he explains, \u201cwere not really good for him\u201d because of workplace protocols that demand decorum.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been doing this kind of work close to 30 years, and Robert is somewhat of a unique case,\u201d Shegan says. \u201cHe has a lot of drive, and he\u2019s gregarious.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Those qualities come through in abundance at Gate H.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHave a great Passover,\u201d Schapiro calls to a young man wearing a kippah.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHappy birthday to you,\u201d he begins singing to Brian Jones, whose wife, Michelle, checks in three celebratory balloons at Vega\u2019s cage, where Schapiro retrieves a game program he\u2019d bought earlier. He presents it to Jones.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have all the respect in the world for you. I\u2019ll be thinking of you,\u201d he tells an acquaintance\u2019s son who will be leaving soon to serve in the Israeli army. Schapiro then turns to the father and says, \u201cThat is a classy young man.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thirty minutes earlier, U.S. Army Sgt. Nicholas McCulley, wearing fatigues, and his wife, Christine, came by. The McCulleys were paying for a purchase at a nearby sandwich shop that afternoon when Schapiro handed the cashier $4 toward their meal and gave McCulley a ticket to the game.<\/p>\n<p>Now the McCulleys are buying a second ticket.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was very kind of him,\u201d McCulley says.<\/p>\n<p>The men pose for a photograph; Schapiro asks that it accompany this article.<\/p>\n<p>The opening of Camden Yards revolutionized the architectural landscape of Major League Baseball. For Robert Schapiro, it gave him his place in life.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"For%20greeter%20of%20Orioles%27%20fans%2C%20stadium%20post%20is%20a%20gateway%20to%20happiness\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1491],"tags":[1022,8790,8795,8788,5277,5276],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13491"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13491"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13493,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13491\/revisions\/13493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}