Johny Baltimore, the Hawks and Nirvana

I watched Saturday’s Seahawks’ playoff game with a friend, Johny Baltimore. “Baltimore” isn’t his birth surname, but it’s what people call him, mostly because he rarely appears without a Baltimore Orioles baseball cap.

He became a fan of the Orioles in 1988 when the team started the season with 21 straight losses. “I was intrigued by the idea that a team could go an entire year without winning a game,” he told me.

Thus, a fan, and a name, were born.

I’ve known Johny for 20 years, but I didn’t know his legal last name, so I asked him, for purposes of this column. He hesitated. I asked whether h...