Donald Eney

Donald Wayne Eney rounded third base and went home to his heavenly field of dreams on December 11, 2022, surrounded by his family at the end of a valiant battle against acute myeloid leukemia. Don was born on July 8, 1953 in Baltimore, Maryland, to Dr. R. Donald Eney and Jean Ruth Eney, both of whom predeceased him.
If you asked Don to describe himself, one of the first things you would learn about was his love of (or obsession with) baseball, and the Baltimore Orioles in particular. Family legend has it that when he was born, he came out screaming, "O!"
He wrote in the introduction to the memoir he had been writing in recent years: "As you go down the steps to our basement there is a sign hanging overhead that reads: 'A baseball fan and a normal person live here.' I am the baseball fan. A second sign reads: 'Life is a game. Baseball is serious.' I tend to go by a modified version that states simply that life is baseball."
For Don, that life began in his childhood in Towson, Maryland. Though his father was not into sports, Don and his brother, Rick, played catch and even fielded their own two-man wiffleball games in their driveway. Over time, his obsession grew as he discovered the game's intricacies, strategy, and yes, the numbers. Don always had a brain for numbers, a knack that eventually earned him the nickname "Rain Man" in his career. That started in childhood, when he kept his own stats and those of his teammates later in life.
As he entered his teen years, Don's second love became an unstoppable force in his life: rock 'n roll. He had a band with his brother and some neighbors for several years, but his real interest was in listening, discovering new music, and sharing it with others. When he went away to Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania ("my four years of college were the best 10 years of my life"), he joined the college radio station and became "Uncle Don" on air. It was in college that Don would first fall in love with the music of Bruce Springsteen, even meeting The Boss and his legendary sax man Clarence Clemons mere months before "Born to Run" was released and Bruce and E Street exploded to national acclaim.
While Don's dreams of a career in radio did not take off, he would soon find himself on a career path that would ultimately get him back to his first love. After a series of roles in menswear retail management, Don's dream job came available in 1997: retail general manager at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. For the next eight years, Don worked every Orioles home game, earning a reputation for being able to guess the attendance with an unthinkably small margin of error, and breaking sales records year after year as he revamped the retail program at the stadium.
In 2005, his career took him farther up I-95 to Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen, to lead retail operations for the Iron Man himself, until his retirement in 2019. Don created family everywhere in his life, and especially through his career, mentoring younger staff members, enjoying post-game brews at Pickles Pub or in the crab shack at Ripken, and always keeping his pitching arm strong with softball games with colleagues and friends.
Through it all, Don's biggest love was his family. He married Karen in 1979, not long after she benched him in a work softball league for showing up to a game with another woman. Their early years of marriage were spent with friends and family, watching the O's at Memorial Stadium, and just enjoying life together. In later years, as the kids became adults and work responsibilities began to lessen, Karen and Don found tremendous joy in traveling each year to Jamaica, where they made a network of friends from around the world who would reunite each February for rest, relaxation and a little bit of partying. Don and Karen's marriage has always been a shining example of love "for better or for worse" for Kristin and Lindsay.
Don's love and sense of fun only grew with the birth of his daughters. Their household was always full of the sounds of laughter, classic rock, and Orioles broadcasts. He loved watching his girls play softball as kids, and coaching them off the field, in softball and in life. Helping them with math homework was often frustrating and comical, but remains to this day some of the fondest memories the girls have. The musical knowledge he passed on will live on in them, and they will always cherish the experiences of seeing Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, and Billy Joel live in concert with the man who taught them all the greats.
He didn't hide much from his daughters, showing them "Animal House," his all-time favorite movie (which they later learned was far too similar to his own college experience), at ages that most people would be appalled by. But he balanced it out with the sentimentality of "Field of Dreams," and they always knew they would get a "yes" in response to, "Hey, Dad? Ya wanna have a catch?"
But Don's sparkling green eyes never glowed brighter than when in the presence of his adored (and adoring) grandchildren, Cody and Emily. "Pop" was the best role he ever played, and he supported them in all of their changing hobbies over the years, even when Cody determined baseball wasn't his sport. We know Don will forever be hearing the sounds of their giggles, which he was often the source of. His pride in them simply could not be contained.
And so, while Don would probably describe himself as "a baseball fan," everyone else describes him instead as "a good man." They call him kind, generous, a true gentleman, one-of-a-kind, vibrant, special, funny, goofy, tough, determined, full of life, and loyal.
Don was happiest sitting on his deck on a sunny day with Karen by his side, Rufus at his feet, a cold Sam Adams in his hand, and the O's game or classic rock in his ears.
A loyal fan and man to his last breath, Don's final moments with his family were spent rattling off that Rain Man Orioles statistical minutiae, singing Fleetwood Mac's "Songbird" to his wife, telling his girls and their husbands that he loved them, sharing one last Sam Adams with the family, and making them all laugh through the tears.
Don is survived by his best friend and wife of 43 years, Karen; children Kristin and Lenny Long, and Lindsay and Mike Sherman; cherished grandchildren Cody Long and Emily Long; his best buddy in the world since rescuing him nearly 10 years ago, Rufus; a brother, many siblings-in-law, nieces, and nephews, and more dear friends around the world than the family can count. In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by his beloved in-laws, Cosimo and Anna Farace, and his first puppy love, Reebok.
Don, Dad, Pop, our songbird in heaven: We love you, we love you, we love you like never before.
A celebration of life will be held at a later date, and will no doubt include nods to Don's many passions including baseball, music, beer, and family. The family requests those who wish to express sympathy to consider making a memorial donation to one of the following charitable organizations: Maryland Animal Sanctuary & Rescue (www.masrescue.org), Ronald McDonald House Charities Maryland (www.rmhcmaryland.org), or the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (www.lls.org).