Before "The Perfect Catch" there was "The Hero!"

O's fans are rightfully excited about Matt Wieters appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated. He's the first Orioles player to do so since Roberto Alomar following the 1996 ALDS.

Do yourself a favor and also visit the SI vault to view the last pre-Wieters cover to feature a Baltimore catcher, 1983 World Series MVP Rick Dempsey.

The associated feature story about the '83 Series, "The Orioles All Pitched In," is filled with enough narrative color to match the fine imagery in the photo array that accompanies the article.

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Eddie Murray's reflections on winning it all.

There have been world champions with more talent, but there has probably never been a team as selfless as these Orioles. "Just knowing that you're part of the best team in baseball," said Murray, "well, it's a nice little feeling."

The timeless value of pitching.

The National League champion Phillies and the American League champion Orioles were as different as, say, cheesesteaks and crab cakes, but they did have a couple of things in common. One was a firm belief in two-platoon baseball. The other was good pitching, and as everyone knows, good pitching beats good pitching.

The trio that Kenny Singleton dubbed "The Three Stoodges."

Coming up after Lowenstein were the Stooges, Larry (Rich Dauer), Curly (Todd Cruz) and Moe (Dempsey) ..."I'm Moe because I'm the most intelligent," says Dempsey. "I'm Curly," says Cruz, "because he's my favorite guy. Whoowhoo. I do the backstep good, too, so I told Joe [Manager Altobelli] that the next time he pinch-hits for me, I'm gonna do the backstep into the dugout."

During the game Boddicker asked if he could be Shemp, the Stooge who replaced Curly, because of his RBI. 

And Sammy Stewart's bullpen behavior.

Stewart, the Throwin' Swannanoan (he's from Swannanoa, N.C.), came on to pitch in the sixth. Actually, he had already been busy in the game, washing the windows of the O's bullpen. "They were all scratched and smudged from doubles by Schmidt and [Andre] Dawson and [Dale] Murphy," said Stewart. "So we called down for Windex and towels in the first." For the next 2 1/3 innings, Stewart wiped up the Phils.

The SI spread also provides a review of Earl Weaver's work in the broadcast booth (it's no wonder he returned to the dugout) and a sidebar on the Series MVP, "Dempsey: He Was Moe Than Philly Could Handle."

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Image sources: SI Vault.