What Baseball, Jewish Summer Camp and Fighting Antisemitism Have in Common
If you grew up in Baltimore, there’s a good chance baseball was part of your childhood. Maybe your dad took you to your first Orioles game. Maybe you remember watching Cal Ripken Jr. make history. Or cheering on the O’s alongside Wild Bill Hagy at Memorial Stadium.
For Mark Fine, chief marketing officer of the Baltimore Orioles, his love of baseball has never wavered.
“I grew up in Maryland when there was no NFL team. I’m part of the generation where baseball was it, Cal Ripken was it,” Mark says. “After having watched the games on TV, there is nothing like the feeling of when you walk through the tunnel and see that field of green for the first time.”
Mark’s love of baseball is about more than what’s happening on the field though. It’s about what happens in the stands, too: families making memories, fans from different backgrounds cheering side by side and a community coming together around something they love.
It’s also a big part of why Mark serves on the board of The Associated’s Center for Countering Antisemitism and Hate. Because the same power that makes sports special, bringing people together across differences, Mark believes can also help build understanding and challenge hate.
From spending 14 years at Jewish summer camp to working for some of the biggest names in professional sports to being an active member of Jewish Baltimore, Mark has a few stories to tell. Here are 8 things to know about him.
Jewish summer camp is where he met his wife.
Mark spent 14 years at Camp Airy, first as a camper for nine years and then as a counselor for five. And yes, he met his wife, Kim, at Camp Louise, Airy’s sister camp. They started dating when they were both counselors.
Their two children, Max and Mallory, have continued the tradition, each spending more than a decade at camp. Both will be counselors this upcoming season, Summer of 2027. Talk about a family camp legacy!
His career has taken him all over the sports world.
The Orioles were Mark’s dream internship when he was a college student. After graduating from American University, he began his career with the Frederick Keys, then moved on to roles with a Philadelphia arena, an arena in Norfolk, VA, the Harlem Globetrotters, the New York Mets, the Brooklyn Nets basketball team, professional lacrosse and Professional Bull Riding (PBR).
After all those moves, returning to the Orioles was a homecoming in more ways than one.
He believes education about antisemitism needs to start young.
Mark serves on the board of The Associated’s Center for Countering Antisemitism and Hate because he sees a need for greater understanding, especially among younger generations.
As a parent of two children who has navigated high school and now college, he has seen how much the world has changed since he was growing up as one of the few Jewish students in his school in Salisbury, Maryland.
“Education about Judaism, whether you’re Jewish or not, has to start and needs to start early,” he says. “And understanding antisemitism needs to start early.”
For Mark, education is an important step toward challenging misconceptions and helping young people understand Jewish history, identity and traditions.
He thinks sports can help bring people together.
Mark feels sports can play a role to help counter antisemitism and hate.
“Sports are the greatest unifier, I think, in our world right now,” he says. “A ballpark brings together people from different backgrounds who might not otherwise cross paths. They share an experience, cheer for the same team and, hopefully, learn something about one another along the way.”
That’s part of what makes the Orioles’ Jewish Heritage Night meaningful to him. It’s an opportunity for the Jewish community to celebrate its identity alongside the broader Baltimore-Washington community.
He’s a marketing guy who still loves teaching.
Even with a full-time job running marketing for a Major League Baseball team, Mark continues to teach as an adjunct professor. He’s been teaching since 2010 and enjoys helping students learn about sports marketing.
Subscribe to our newsletter
The Associated is a home for everyone in the Baltimore Jewish community. We offer several email lists to help people find a community, engage with their peers and support Jewish journeys around the world.
Join Our Mailing ListKeep Reading
Add Impact to Your Inbox
Sign up for our newsletter
Subscribe to our newsletter
The Associated is a home for everyone in the Baltimore Jewish community. We offer several email lists to help people find a community, engage with their peers and support Jewish journeys around the world.
Join Our Mailing List
Please Wait while we loading your video.