The Orioles will soon reach at least $1.3 billion in public benefits since 1988. They’re expected to ask for more.

Thirty-five years after the Orioles announced their arrival in Baltimore, then-Gov. William Donald Schaefer introduced a “distinguished visitor” to mark the end of a meeting that would redefine the MLB team’s relationship with the state of Maryland. The Oriole Bird came into the conference room and rallied the elected officials and bureaucrats with a chant of “O-R-I-O-L-E-S.” The occasion — final approval of a state-of-the-art, taxpayer-funded stadium in exchange for the Orioles’ long-term commitment to Baltimore — came on the heels of the painful departure a few years earlier of the NFL’s Colts.