Why Maryland doesn’t have a Republican governor

Richard T. Webb of Parkton is absolutely correct that it would be great if Larry Hogan was our governor again (“Hogan back as governor?” May 31). If only Larry Hogan had been prescient enough to choose a successor who would have continued his sensible moderate policies under eight more years of Republican rule. Oh, that’s right, Hogan did. However, in 2022, Republican primary voters did not love Hogan as much as they do now. They loved Dan Cox. Any buyer’s remorse, Republicans?

— Glenn Gall, Bel Air

Memories of Orioles greatness

I have been reading letters to the editor lamenting the Orioles’ woes. Writers Patrick Lynch and George Hammerbacher have been explicit in their criticisms of the Orioles’ missteps. Certainly, 2025 has not been a banner year for David Rubenstein, the Orioles’ primary owner. Dismissed from the Kennedy Center by President Donald Trump, he now faces an Orioles team in freefall.

In the 1960s, I was a Junior Oriole, which, if my memory is not failing, entitled me to attend nine Orioles games a year. It also provided a coupon for a free Gino’s Giant and a coupon for discounts at Bacharach Rasin, a local sporting goods store. One vivid memory was attending a game with a friend. When the friend’s mother arrived in front of Memorial Stadium to pick us up, a man with a crew cut asked if she would give him and several other men a ride to the Holiday Inn downtown. They were Chicago White Sox players who had been tardy in meeting the team bus. My friend and I were ordered to sit in the rear cargo area of the station wagon. We passed around slips of paper, which the players signed. One signature, I remember, was Tommie Agee. Of course, I lost the signatures.

Later in 1983, I attended the civic celebration in front of City Hall to celebrate the Orioles’ World Championship. I don’t remember much of that day except the crowd was so huge and dense I found myself uncomfortable. The crowd was so thick you couldn’t control your position. What, I remember thinking, if some dope fires a gun in the air? A stampede, with people trampled, I concluded. I muscled my way out of the crowd.

Forty-two years later, I hunger for another World Series championship, though I doubt I’d attend another celebration. Idiots with guns are entirely too common now.

— Mark Plogman, Pikesville

Springsteen can take a hike

Yes, Bruce Springsteen should be running (“Is Springsteen born to run?”, May 31). He should be running away from angry mobs of patriots. It’s disgusting the way he embarrassed himself before that foreign audience in Europe. No greater proof of his irrelevance can be more eloquent than the anemic and sporadic applause he received during his anti-American tirade. The people were making it clear they were not impressed by his whining bloviation. Yes, Bruce, America is not the socialist utopia you wish it to be to cater to your pinko pipe dreams. We have a president who puts the people first and we’re showing criminal aliens and fraudsters the gate. Deal with it, bubbie.

President Donald Trump is not allowed to poke fun at this heckler by making a video spoof of knocking him down with a golf ball when he tripped over his own feet like a schlemiel? That’s an egregious violation of Springsteen’s First Amendment right to free speech? Really? President Trump is not allowed to say “shut up”? Springsteen has free speech but Trump does not? Oh, I forgot. We’re dealing with the tolerant and inclusive left. Speaking of videos, they should prescribe that video of Springsteen ranting, instead of Ambien. It would be more effective at putting people to sleep.

— Salvatore Fili, Sparks