The story behind the Eutaw Street baseballs & other Orioles tidbits

Here's a rundown of some O's-related items, including the story behind the bronze baseballs on Eutaw Street.

(Shameless plug: Check out past entries in The Eutaw Street Chronicles. More to come soon.)


-Brandow Morrow pitched 8 2/3 innings of no-hit baseball against the Rays this weekend before surrendering a single to Evan Longoria. August 10th happens to be the anniversary of two Orioles one-hitters.

Mike Cuellar gave up a leadoff single to Minnesota's Cesar Tovar in a 2-0, one-hit win on Aug. 10, 1969. Meanwhile, Jim Palmer tossed his fourth career one-hitter on Aug. 10, 1976. Same opponent (the Minnesota Twins), same final score (2-0).


-Speaking of the Rays, the team's vice president of communications, Rick Vaughn, is the brains behind the bronze baseballs on Eutaw Street at Camden Yards. He wanted to do a similar thing with the catwalk at Tropicana Field.

At Vaughn's suggestion, the Orioles mark each home run ball that lands on Eutaw Street, which runs behind right field at Camden Yards, with a bronze plaque resembling a baseball sunk in the ground and bearing the name of the batter, the date and the distance from home plate.

"That way you could stand there and say, 'Wow, this is where that home run landed,'" Vaughn said.

Vaughn actually got that idea from all the games he attended at RFK Stadium while growing up in nearby Virginia. The seats in RFK's upper deck were green. The Senators would paint one white to mark where one of Frank Howard's monster blasts landed.

-And speaking of historical marks on Aug. 10, this is the anniversary of Boog Powell becoming the first Orioles player to hit three home runs in a game. He did so on Aug. 10, 1963, against the Washington Senators. The Orioles lost 6-5 despite Powell's heroics.


-Don Baylor and Bobby Grich were inducted into the International League Hall of Fame on Monday.

Both players suited up for the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings, an organization with deep Orioles ties. They were managed by "Mr. Rochester," Joe Altobelli, who will be honored later this week with a statue outside of Frontier Field.

Baylor and Grich were 21-year-old rookies on the 1970 World Series team; they played a combined 38 games for the Birds that season. Grich is a member of the Oriole Hall of Fame.

Baylor once shared the club record by going 5-for-5 in a game. It happened on Aug. 4, 1975, in a 12-8 win against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Grich went 3-for-4 batting behind Baylor that day. Both players homered and had three RBI a piece.

Cal Ripken Jr. broke Baylor's mark on June 13, 1999, when he went 6-for-6 in a 22-1 thrashing of the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field.

Grich still holds the team record for walks in a game. He had five against the White Sox on Aug. 9, 1975, which left him with this interesting line: 0-for-0 with three runs scored.

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