The Norfolk Tides are a minor league baseball team in the Triple-A International League. As an affiliate team of the Baltimore Orioles, the Norfolk Tides play at Harbor Park on the Elizabeth River in downtown Norfolk. Prior to being an affiliate team of the Baltimore Orioles, they had a 38-year affiliation with the New York Mets. The Tides have won the Governors’ Cup, the championship of the International League, five times, and played in the championship series nine times. Once rated the best minor league stadium by Baseball America, the park opened on April 14, 1993 and can seat 11,856 people. In 1993, The Tides introduced their mascot Rip Tide.
The concert band piece Harbor Park Holiday, written in 1996 by Norfolk native James L. Hosay, was written about Harbor Park.