The Eutaw Street Chronicles: Rafael Palmeiro hits Eutaw Street Twice; April 11, 1997

Rafael Palmeiro's five Eutaw Street home runs are the most in the history of Oriole Park at Camden Yards. He got two of them in the same game on April 11, 1997. Palmeiro sent the baseballs a combined 819 feet, pushing the Orioles to a 9-3 victory over the Texas Rangers in the early stages of what became a wire-to-wire run for the Birds in the American League East.

Palmeiro made a routine out of torturing his former employer, posting a .311/.428/.592 career slash line against the Rangers with 15 home runs and 45 RBI in 58 games. Nevertheless, he produced a series of unproductive at-bats early in this game: a double-play ball in the first inning, a strikeout leading off the third, and a ground ball that stranded two runners in the fourth.

He returned to form in the seventh and eight innings by taking first-pitch offerings from lefties Eric Gunderson and Ed Vosberg out of the park. The late-innings binge left Palmeiro with three home runs in his last seven at-bats, all against lefties. His ninth-inning home run sent the team's previous game at Kansas City into extra innings, where the Orioles won 4-2.

Hitting coach Rick Down analyzed Palmeiro's mismatched effort afterward in The Sun.

"Sometimes, in situations where you're trying to hit the ball hard against a right-hander, you get a little jumpy," said Down. "Against a left-hander, you know you have to stay there and let the ball travel."

If Palmeiro's twin blasts attracted oohs and aahs, Mike Mussina's seven-inning, three-hit effort on the mound drew sighs of relief from concerned Orioles fans.

Just five days earlier, also against Texas, Mussina served up seven runs on six hits in four innings of work. This after allowing 11 runs in 16 innings in his final three Spring Training outings and skipping an Opening Day start due to bone chips in his elbow.

The game also featured the home debut of Roberto Alomar, who served a five-game suspension to start the season for spitting on umpire John Hirschbeck the previous September.

Like Mussina, Alomar had been limited by injury; a severe ankle sprain caused him to miss the last week of spring training. Alomar went 2-for-4 with an RBI and played highlight-quality defense, including fielding a second-inning grounder that passed through Palmeiro's legs.

"Robby was all over the field tonight, even though there are times when it seems like he can hardly move," said Mussina.

For his part, Palmeiro wasn't concerned about where the spotlight shined.

"It's no big deal. It's important that we won," he said. "I don't worry about what I do or don't do. Once it's done, it's done."

The visiting Rangers, managed by Orioles Hall of Famer Johnny Oates, started four former O's players: Mike Devereaux, Mark McLemore, Damon Buford and Mickey Tettleton. Tettleton hit the first Eutaw Street home run five years earlier.

Eutaw Street Chronicles: Bobby Bonilla - Sept. 8, 1996

As the 1996 season entered September the Orioles were threatening to become only the eighth major league team to win a division or league title after trailing by 12 games or more. The team was powering its way into the playoffs.

Three eighth-inning long balls on Sept. 8, including Bobby Bonilla's 405-foot Eutaw Street homer, led the Orioles to a 6-2 win against the hapless Detroit Tigers, who would lose 109 games in 1996. Bonilla's effort was the final of seven Eutaw Street homers in 1996, second only to the eight that were later hit in 2008.

The victory pulled the Orioles within three games of the American League East-leading New York Yankees for the first time since June 24. The homers, meanwhile, pulled the Orioles within nine of the 1961 Yankees for most by a team in one season.

Bonilla, whom the Orioles had considered trading in July, stepped to the plate against reliever Jose Lima with the Orioles leading 3-2 following a Rafael Palmeiro two-run home run. Bonilla took Lima's first offering deep, marking the fifth time that season in which the O's duo struck in back-to-back fashion. Overall, it was the Orioles' 14th set of back-to-back blasts.

After strikeouts of Cal Ripken and Eddie Murray, Lima allowed a single to Pete Incaviglia followed by a Chris Hoiles homer to round out the scoring. Orioles reliever Alan Mills got the win in relief of Rocky Coppinger, who allowed two runs on three hits in seven innings of work.

Bonilla had previously placed two balls onto Eutaw Street during the 1993 All-Star Home Run Derby. He also predicted correctly that Ken Griffey Jr. would be the first player to hit the Warehouse.  

Baltimore Sun columnist Ken Rosenthal fittingly dubbed the '96 Orioles the Eutaw Street Bullies. And bullies they were.

The Orioles finished the season with a record 257 home runs. One year later the Mariners topped that mark with 264 home runs of their own.

Seven Orioles (Alomar, Anderson, Bonilla, Hoiles, Palmeiro, Ripken, Surhoff) ended the year with 20 or more homers tying a major league record. 

And on Sept. 7 Brady Anderson joined Bonilla and Palmeiro as the first Orioles trio to record 100 RBI in the same season since Frank Robinson, Boog Powell, and Brooks Robinson did so in 1966. Cal Ripken later became the fourth '96 teammate with 100 RBI.

Unfortunately, the Orioles' postseason fortunes did not match those of the '66 Orioles. The '96 team finished four games back of the Yankees in the division and later lost the ALCS to New York four games to one. Both Bonilla, who signed with the Florida Marlins in the off-season, and Eddie Murray, who signed with the Angels, homered in their final Orioles at-bats during the Game 5 loss.

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Baltimore Orioles

The Eutaw Street Chronicles: Eddie Murray, Aug. 14, 1996

Eddie Murray hit 491 career home runs prior to the July 21, 1996, deal that brought him back to Baltimore in exchange for pitcher Kent Mercker, who went to the Indians. He would play just 31 games at Camden Yards. Nevertheless, Murray left his mark on the new stadium with a series of memorable hits including his lone Eutaw Street home run on Aug. 14, 1996.

Murray homered twice that afternoon - home runs number 496 and 497 of his career - in an 8-5 Orioles victory against the Brewers. His third-inning bronze bomb off Jeff D'Amico traveled 384-feet, landing near Boog's Barbecue on Eutaw Street. Murray later topped the effort with a 405-foot drive to center field off Ricky Bones in the bottom of the eighth inning that helped break a 5-5 tie. 

Roberto Alomar followed Murray's example with two home runs of his own as part of a win that moved the Orioles to within 3 1/2 games of the Chicago White Sox for the American League Wild Card. The O's clinched the Wild Card on Sept. 29, one day after Alomar made regrettable headlines by spitting on umpire John Hirschbeck.

The victory on Aug. 14th was the Orioles' 11th in their previous 15 games, due in no small part to Murray's efforts. The Hall of Fame slugger batted .303 with six home runs and 15 RBI in the 21 games following his return to Baltimore.

"I'm swinging the bat all right right now, and I'm just going up there with the thought of hitting it hard," said Murray after the game.

And hit it hard he did.

Murray homered in his first game at Camden Yards after the trade that brought him home, a 9-5 loss to the Twins on July 22, 1996.

He hit his 500th career home run on Sept. 6. At the time it made Murray one of only three players in baseball history - Willie Mays and Hank Aaron were the others - with 500 homers and 3,000 hits. Rafael Palmeiro later joined the club with his 3,000 hit on July 15, 2005.

And he homered in his final at-bat as an Oriole on Oct. 13 in the fifth and deciding game of the Orioles' disappointing four-games-to-one ALCS loss to the Yankees.

The O's brass didn't need a long memory to understand that Murray was capable of hitting No. 500 and more at Camden Yards. Two seasons earlier Murray, playing for the Indians, stroked four home runs in six games at the ballpark. He added one home run in five games at Camden Yards during the 1995 season.

Murray tallied six home runs in 31 regular season home contests following the 1996 trade.

Overall, the switch-hitter stroked 11 home runs in 159 career at-bats at Camden Yards or one per every 14.45 at-bats. By comparison, he hit 160 home runs in 3,350 at-bats at Memorial Stadium or one per every 20.93 at-bats. His career ratio was one per every 22.49 at-bats.

For one summer, in a new stadium, at the dawning of a different baseball era, Eddie Murray recaptured the magic that earlier in his career had made him an integral part of Orioles Magic.

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The Eutaw Street Chronicles: Jim Thome - July 26, 1996

Mike Mussina surrendered one Eutaw Street home run during nine seasons pitching at Camden Yards. The lone batter to reach the famed walkway against him was a player with whom he would become very familiar: Jim Thome.

Only four pitchers faced Thome more often than the 59 times Mussina did so. One of the most memorable match-ups came during a July 26, 1996 game in Baltimore.

[More after the jump.]

With speedy Indians lead-off man Kenny Lofton on second base and one down in the first inning, Thome clubbed a Mussina offering 440 feet for the 10th Eutaw Street home run in Camden Yards history.

Thome finished the day 3-for-5 with two runs and two RBI. His Eutaw Street blast was the 20th of what would briefly be a career-high 38 home runs. (Thome stroked 40 home runs in 1997 and 52 in 2002.)

The young third baseman hit 25 home runs and 73 RBI the previous year; his stock continued to rise in 1996 as he barreled toward his only Silver Slugger award at the position. Thome moved to first base following Cleveland's acquisition of Matt Williams.

The Indians defeated the Orioles 14-9 to pin the Birds with a five-game losing streak and send the team below .500, at 50-51, for the first time in 1996. The O's fell 11 games behind the Yankees and struggled to stay afloat amid a rising tide of trade rumors.

"Our pitchers are just not holding up their end," said Manager Davey Johnson.

Mussina took the loss - his eighth - after surrendering 11 hits and eight earned runs in 3.2 innings pitched. It was the first time in his career that he lost three straight decisions. He allowed a career-high 31 home runs on the season, seventh most in the American League behind teammate David Wells.

The fledgling ace won 19 games in 1995, but a repeat performance seemed unlikely as he had an 11-8 record following the loss to the Indians.

"I always felt, from the beginning, we had the players here to win, but we haven't put it together, and it's hard to understand why we haven't" said Rafael Palmeiro. "This is the low point in the season right now."

Things soon changed.

Mussina followed up his brief losing streak with an 8-1 record to finish fifth in the Cy Young voting. The Orioles went 38-23 down the stretch and earned the A.L. Wild Card. The discouraging four-game set in Baltimore had therefore served as an unlikely preview of the American League Division Series. Sort of.

Having lost three of four against the Indians in July, the Orioles turned the tables in October and won the ALDS in four games. Meanwhile, Thome faced Mussina three times: he walked, struck out, and grounded out.

The Eutaw Street Year in Review

With the regular season behind us it's time for some baseball recaps. At Roar from 34 that means the Eutaw Street Year in Review.

Batters reached Eutaw Street four times in 2009. The baseballs traveled a combined 1,663 feet; had they all been hit straight upward they nearly could have summited Stone Mountain in Georgia.

The four Eutaw Street home runs in 2009 represent the fourth-highest total in Camden Yards history (tied with the 2003 and 2004 seasons). Eight balls reached Eutaw Street in 2008, seven did so in 1996, and five made it there in 1999.

Aubrey Huff (April 21), Adam Dunn (June 28), and Luke Scott (July 11 & Sept. 1) were this season's bronze bombers.

Huff became the second player to hit Eutaw Street with two different teams. His first Eutaw Street home run came on Aug. 21, 2003 with Tampa Bay. Lee Stevens reached Eutaw Street with the Angels (May 23, 1992) and Rangers (May 30, 1998).

Depending on his free-agent fortunes this off-season Huff could return to Camden Yards in 2010 with the opportunity to become the first player to hit a Eutaw Street home run for three different teams.

Scott, meanwhile, provided an encore to his 2008 effort when he reached Eutaw Street twice in the same season. The other players to do so are Jason Giambi in 2008 and Rafael Palmeiro in 1997. Palmeiro is the only player to hit two Eutaw Street home runs in the same game (April 11, 1997) -- consecutive at-bats, no less.

Having hit the final two Eutaw Street home runs of the 2009 season, Scott has initiated a consecutive-bronze-bombs streak for Orioles batters. It has happened three times before.

The Orioles put four straight balls on Eutaw Street without an opponent doing so in a period from Aug. 14, 1996 to April 11, 1997. The team did it three straight times between June 8, 1995 and April 27, 1996, and consecutively between July 24, 1998 and April 29, 1999.

Overall, Orioles batters clouted three of this season's four Eutaw Street home runs, the second-highest total for O's batters behind the four bronze bombs that the team tallied in 1996.

Luke Scott Closes In On Rafael Palmeiro for the Most Eutaw Street Home Runs

Rafael Palmeiro might want to make room for Luke Scott atop the Eutaw Street home run leaderboard.

Scott is one behind Palmeiro for most Eutaw Street home runs after his 412-foot blast on Tuesday against the New York Yankees. It was Scott's fourth bronze bomb in just two seasons with the Orioles, quickly approaching Palmeiro who hit his five in four different seasons (1996, 1997, 1998, & 2004).

Given the angle, Scott's long ball seemed like it could reach the Warehouse (watch the video); however, the hit fell some 27 feet short of the brick facade and does not rank in the Top 20 for longest Eutaw Street home runs.

It was the third-longest Eutaw Street home run of Scott's four efforts (420 feet on July 19, 2008; 415 feet on Sept. 8, 2008; 412 feet on Sept. 1, 2009; and 394 feet on July 11, 2009).

Earlier this season - on June 28 - Adam Dunn one-hoppped the Warehouse with a 442-foot shot that was one foot short of the all-time longest bronze bomb, hit by Henry Rodriguez on June 17, 1997.

Nevertheless, Scott holds a unique spot among bronze bombers.

-Scott is the third player to hit multiple balls onto Eutaw Street in the same season. Rafael Palmeiro did so twice in one day (April 11, 2007) while Jason Giambi accomplished the feat on consecutive days in 2008.

Giambi's three bronze bombs are tops among visiting players. No player has done it three times in one season.

-Scott is the first player to hit multiple Eutaw Street home runs in consecutive seasons. His visits to Eutaw Street in 2008 came on July 19 and Sept. 8. In 2009, they came on July 11 and Sept. 1. I'm sensing a pattern.

Fortunately, none of the Yankees' five home runs on Tuesday reached Eutaw Street.

The Bronx Bombers are the leading bronze bombers among visiting teams after a 2008 outburst left them with six total Eutaw Street home runs. The former leaders - of course - were the Red Sox with four.

Four Eutaw Street home runs have been hit this season, which is halfway to the record mark of eight that were hit in 2008. The next most dangerous season to be on the walkway during game action was 1996 when seven balls gave fans a reason to duck and cover.

For more information, see Roar from 34's archive of Eutaw Street home runs.


Image: Here.

The Eutaw Street Chronicles: April 30, 1996

O'Neill's long homer kicks off baseball's longest game

"O'Neill hit a thigh-high fastball from Arthur Rhodes so far to right that even those positioned in the flag court didn't bother to move."

-Buster Olney

Paul O'Neill's long first-inning home run on April 30, 1996 - the eighth ball to land on Eutaw Street during game action - was obscured by the length of the record-setting contest in which it was hit.

O'Neill's home run off Arthur Rhodes traveled 431 feet.

"O'Neill hit a thigh-high fastball from Arthur Rhodes so far to right that even those positioned in the flag court didn't bother to move," wrote Buster Olney. "The ball cleared Boog's Barbecue and bounced on Eutaw Street, a 431-foot homer, worth a couple of runs."

The game between the Yankees and Orioles lasted four-hours and twenty one minutes -- the longest nine-inning contest in major league history.

Said Orioles Manager Davey Johnson: "This one seemed really long."

The Orioles had fallen three minutes short of the record for longest game just two weeks earlier in a 26-7 loss to the Rangers. On this night, the Orioles and Yankees eclipsed the previous mark - set by the Dodgers and Giants on Oct. 2, 1962 - by three minutes.

"We were close in Texas," Brady Anderson joked afterward. "I knew we could do it."



Rhodes tossed the game's first pitch at 7:36, thereby commencing an offensive onslaught that ended at 11:57 p.m. with the Yankees on top 13-10.

The O's led 9-4 after two innings, driving New York starter Andy Pettitte from the game before he could record the first out of the second inning.

However, the Yankees rallied with five runs in the fifth to tie the game at nine. New York's five-run comeback was its largest since 1993 when the team rallied from a 7-2 deficit to defeat the Indians 14-8.

The first six innings alone took three hours and featured seven different pitchers.

Who could blame fans for peeking at the out-of-town scoreboard where the incoming results were equally outrageous?

Toronto defeated Milwaukee 9-8.

Seattle blanked Texas 8-0.

Boston scored 13 against Detroit.

And the Twins tallied 16 runs against the Royals.

Meanwhile, no winning team in the National League scored less than seven runs.

Power was now king in baseball; journalists and players alike wondered if it was making a jester of the game.

Olney, writing for The Sun:

"Runs are scoring at a record pace, and all the parameters and traditions of the game of baseball are changing. Pitchers are to hitters what Ed McMahon was to Johnny Carson, the straight men providing the means for the laughter. Batting coaches can now be called offensive coordinators, pitching coaches are defensive coordinators. This is like the NBA in the late '70s: The first three quarters are irrelevant, and there's no defense. Ultimately, after the two sides trade shots, the game is decided in the late innings."

John Giannone, writing for The Daily News:

"In a season where pitchers have become an endangered species and hitters swing with all the recklessness of a Sunday softball team, the Yankees and Orioles last night did nothing to halt this trend."

Pitchers were particularly wary of the trend and reached for an appropriate comparison.

Said Scott Kamieniecki, who stopped the bleeding in relief of Pettitte with four innings of two-hit ball:

"You score 10 runs in the American League and you might get a win. This is not baseball, it's softball. It used to be hitters would get one good pitch per at bat. Now they're waiting on two, three or four pitches."

Steve Howe: "It's more like football."

Jimmy Key: "It's entertainment, I guess."

David Cone: "It's out of control."

Mike Mussina, who would leave Baltimore for New York following the 2000 season, summed it up thusly: "Smaller strike zone, smaller ballparks, bad pitching, bigger hitters, loaded baseballs, corked bats and higher-altitude cities . . . does that about cover it?"

Steroids were not yet a part of the conversation.

In the end, a game that featured 28 hits, four home runs, and 22 RBI was defined by a near miss.

After the Yankees surged ahead with a three-run seventh inning, Brady Anderson came within several feet of a game-tying two-run homer in the bottom of the frame. Left fielder Gerald Williams caught the ball on the warning track, leading Anderson to send his helmet airborne in frustration.

Two batters earlier B.J. Surhoff crossed the plate on a Gregg Zaun ground out. The O's would not score again.

With the victory, the Yankees took a half-game lead on the Orioles in the A.L. East and sat alone atop the division for the first time.

O'Neill's bronze bomb was the third of seven home runs to reach Eutaw Street in 1996, the most in any one season until 2008 when eight baseballs landed on the famed walkway.

"Any day now, President Clinton will declare Eutaw Street a disaster area," Rosenthal joked.


Box Score

Luke Scott's Latest Eutaw Street Home Run

Roar from 34 was asleep at the switch this weekend and therefore neglected to report that Luke Scott recorded his third Eutaw Street home run (video) in Saturday's 4-3 victory against the Blue Jays.

Scott's fourth-inning, 394-foot shot tied him with Brady Anderson and Jason Giambi for second-most Eutaw Street home runs in Camden Yards history. Rafael Palmeiro leads the pack with five.

Scott is the third player to reach Eutaw Street this season after Aubrey Huff (two-time bronze bomber) on April 21 and Adam Dunn on June 28 (second-longest Eutaw Street home run). His latest drive was the 51st overall Eutaw Street home run.

The Eutaw Street Chronicles ... of Pitchers

The bronze baseballs that adorn Camden Yards' Eutaw Street walkway provide four pieces of information - the batter, his team, the date, and the distance - but that's only half the story. Who were the pitchers?

Presumably, no organization would create a monument to shame pitchers, although if that option ever came in vogue I have some candidates in mind for the first statue - 2007 bullpen, I'm looking in your general direction.

Nevertheless, there's a curiosity factor there for me in this regard, so I reviewed the 50 Eutaw Street home runs to consider the pitchers who gave up the long home runs instead of the batters who struck them.

Overall, the Orioles have served up 30 Eutaw Street home runs. No visiting pitcher has given up more than one Eutaw Street home run, but Detroit has been the most-victimized opponent.

[The others: Texas (3), Seattle (2), Kansas City (2), Cleveland (2), the White Sox (2), Toronto (2), Milwaukee (1), Philadelphia (1), and Pittsburgh (1).]

But which Orioles pitcher has served up the most bronze bombs?

Answer provided after the jump.



Sir Sidney Ponson has given up the most Eutaw Street home runs, a total of five. Jason Johnson ranks second with four. Three other O's pitchers have been victimized twice: Erik Bedard, Jeremy Guthrie, and Radhames Liz.

Consider this: Ponson alone is responsible for every bronze baseball from 1998 and 1999, which happened to be his first two seasons in the majors. (Ponson allowed a career-high 35 home runs in 1999).

No other Eutaw Street home runs were hit between the time that Ponson allowed his first (to the Rangers' Lee Stevens on May 30, 1998) and his last (to the Athletics' Matt Stairs on Sept. 23, 1999). Average distance of the five home runs: 417 feet.

The Birds' Scott Kamieniecki allowed the longest Eutaw Street home run, Henry Rodriguez's 443-foot drive on June 17, 1997. The Nationals' Adam Dunn fell a foot short of that record last weekend, allowing rookie David Hernandez to breathe a sigh of relief.

The record for longest Eutaw Street home run allowed by a visiting pitcher - 420 feet - belongs to five players: Detroit's Bill Swift, Kansas City's Jeff Suppan, Detroit's Brian Moehler, Philadelphia's Brett Myers, and Detroit's Freddy Dolsi.

The Eutaw Street Chronicles: April 27, 1996

Brady Anderson's 1996 power surge yielded multiple records, and his first Eutaw Street home run

In a season defined by his rare display of power at the plate, Brady Anderson became a first-time bronze bomber in 1996 by hitting the shortest Eutaw Street home run in the history of Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Anderson's eighth-inning homer off Bobby Witt traveled a "mere" 380 feet. The Rangers' Hank Blalock later matched the distance on July 22, 2003.

The Orioles 4-2 loss to the Rangers on April 27 was their ninth loss in 11 games following an 11-2 start to the 1996 season. However, with the Yankees also losing, the O's maintained a one-game lead in the A.L. East. They ended up four games behind the Yankees but earned their first and only Wild Card with an 88-74 record.

Anderson's home run was his 10th of the young season, tying Frank Robinson's club record for most home runs in April and leaving him one short of the then-Major League record of 11 for the month. (Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez have each since hit 14 April home runs.)



After tying Robinson's record Anderson joked: "I'm just going to stand and stare at him until he acknowledges the record. In fact, I may be calling Frank tonight."

Anderson would exceed Robinson's April total and match the MLB mark the very next day, putting him on pace for 66 home runs, 140 RBIs, 147 runs, and 113 extra-base hits. After battling a strained quadriceps and appendicitis, Anderson finished the year batting .297 with 50 home runs, 110 RBIs, 117 runs, and 92 extra-base hits.

The center-fielder had already established an MLB record earlier in the month by hitting a lead-off home run in four consecutive games, from April 18 to 21. On the season, he matched Bobby Bonds' record 35 home runs while batting lead-off and hit 12 home runs leading off a game to top Bonds' 1973 record in that category. (Alfonso Soriano topped Anderson with 13 in 2003.)

Among the Oriole records Anderson set in 1996 were most home runs (50), home runs while leading off (34), home runs leading off a game (12), extra-base hits (92), and total bases (369).

In 1996, Anderson joked on ESPN that "grease" was responsible for his sudden power surge as he was now eating fattier foods. He later stated in Outside Pitch magazine that "massive" doses of the (legal) supplement creatine were in fact contributed to the outburst. Former Oriole pitcher Jim Palmer raised Anderson's ire when he instead insinuated that the outfielder benefited from the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

"I know what I did and how I accomplished it," Anderson said. "I am proud of it and know that it was done with integrity."

Anderson reached Eutaw Street twice more in his career. His three Eutaw Street home runs are tied with Jason Giambi for the second-most in Camden Yards history behind Rafael Palmeiro, who accomplished the feat four times.

In addition to his Eutaw Street home run against the Rangers, Anderson recorded his fifth of what would be 21 total stolen bases for the season. He became the first player with both a 50-20 (homers-steals) and a 20-50 season.

Read previous entries in The Eutaw Street Chronicles here.

Eutaw Street Week: What if the Warehouse Were in Left Field?

Roar from 34's Eutaw Street Week begins with an architectural thought exercise: What if Eutaw Street ran behind left field rather than right field?

A simple change of direction at Oriole Park at Camden Yards - a shift of 15 minutes, maybe even less, in a clockwise direction - would alter the course of the ballpark's history and with it much of the local lore.

Here are four considerations of what might be different had HOK and the decision makers responsible for our jewel of a stadium momentarily lost their senses and favored parking-lot and on-ramp vistas over a center field view of Baltimore's fair cityscape.

We'd Remember Gonzalez Rather Than Griffey

It's easy to forget that Juan Gonzalez won the 1993 All-Star Home Run Derby because Ken Griffey Jr. walked away with the more memorable prize that July day, namely a 465-foot blast off of the Warehouse brick. No batter has accomplished the feat in game action.

Griffey was, and one assumes always will be, a key part of Camden Yards history. No matter that Gonzalez out slugged The Kid 12-11 in two overtime sessions to claim back-to-back Derby titles. No matter that Gonzalez hit a longer home run to left - an estimated 473-foot shot off of the upper-deck facade - than Griffey's Warehouse blast to right. Griffey was the story that day and has been ever since.

But if Eutaw Street, and the Warehouse, were in left field rather than right field, Gonzalez would have walked away with a bigger prize and the associated piece of history. Instead, he's a footnote in the Camden Yards story.

Which brings us to our second observation.

Righties Would Displace Lefties in the Camden Yards History Book

Memorial Stadium's most prized long-ball legend belonged to Frank Robinson, a right-handed batter and the only player ever to put a ball completely out of the park. He did so on May 8, 1966. The spot was marked with an orange-and-black flag in left field that read simply, "Here."

Less well-remembered are the near-misses of the left-handed batters who took the ball deep, but not quite deep enough, to right. Those hits are flagged only in the memories of the individuals who witnessed them. Consider Jason Jubb's recollection - with video evidence - of Eddie Murray's April 25,1985, home run that landed in the far reaches of the right-field bleachers, or my own less-evidenced memory of a prodigious foul ball off of Sam Horn's bat.

Because of the newer ballpark's design, Camden Yards' long-ball legends belong instead to the lefties - the Mickey Tettletons (first Eutaw Street home run), Henry Rodriguezes (longest Eutaw Street home run), and Kevin Basses (first Eutaw Street home run by an Oriole) of the baseball world.

Cal Ripken, the Orioles' all-time leader in home runs, who played 10 years and several hundreds of games at Camden Yards, doesn't have a bronze baseball on Eutaw Street. There's little doubt that he would have one if Eutaw Street were in left field rather than right. He may even have parked one there during his three-game home run streak in the days leading up to and including his record-breaking 2,131st consecutive game.

It seems hard to believe, but those memorable September nights at Camden Yards in 1995 could have been even more memorable if Eutaw Street ran behind left field.

Center Field Would Still Rule the Roost

Ultimately, Camden Yards is the political spectrum of baseball stadiums. Left and right get most of the attention, but the majority still rest closer to the middle.

A review of longest home runs in Camden Yards' history reveals that the biggest blasts tend to take flight toward center field.

I actually had nightmares (sad, I know) after the Yankees' Daryl Strawberry sent a Mike Mussina offering 465 feet to center field on June 17, 1998. No ball has been hit farther during game action.

The second-longest Camden Yards home run, by Pedro Munoz (yes, you read that correctly: Pedro Munoz), traveled 463 feet to ... center field.

Overall, four of the five longest home runs in Camden Yards history have traveled to center field. In addition to Strawberry and Munoz's efforts, Russell Branyan homered 459 feet to center this season, and Mo Vaughn drove a ball 457 feet in the same direction on July 7, 1996.

(Baseball Reference doesn't indicate the direction of Vaughn's home run, but deductive reasoning suggests that it was center field. An earlier home run that day by Vaughn traveled 419 feet to right field and landed on Eutaw Street, and Vaughn has only one bronze marker to his credit. He surely didn't go 457 feet the opposite way.)

The only roundtripper among the top five on Camden Yards' list of longest home runs that may have traveled to left field (again, Baseball Reference does not indicate the direction of the hit) was Jeffrey Hammonds' 460-foot shot off of Eric Plunk on Sept. 15, 1997.

Which leaves us with one final question ...

Would the Warehouse Still be Untouched?

This is perhaps the most fun (or "funnest," depending on your grammatical flexibility) inquiry of this whole "What If?" exercise: If Eutaw Street ran behind left field, would a right-handed batter have hit the Warehouse by now during game action?

Given the shifting distances it takes to reach the Warehouse depending on where the ball leaves the yard, no two Eutaw Street home runs are created alike. The best chance of accomplishing the feat comes with a shot straight down the line, but the approximate distance and location required to accomplish the feat is difficult to measure accurately.

On the day of 1993 Home Run Derby, newspapers estimated that a ball would have to travel 470 feet to hit the Warehouse; Griffey's home run is marked with a plaque that reads 465 feet.

The best baseball arguments are hypothetical rather than concrete, which makes this final question all the more intriguing. So who would fare better in the Warehouse chase: a lefty or a righty?

A review of multiples lists of home run leaders (from this season, the all-time list, etc.) shows a fairly balanced mix of right-handed and left-handed batters. However, there is evidence to suggest that ballpark dimensions and the preponderance of right-handed pitchers favors lefty sluggers, which translates to more home runs but not necessarily longer home runs.

Were the Warehouse in left field rather than right field, my money says that a batter would be more likely to hit it with a home run in game action.

Feel free to disagree. After all, that's in part the beauty of the exercise.


Image source: Flickr.

The Eutaw Street Chronicles: April 3, 1996

A game full of firsts includes Palmeiro's first Eutaw Street home run

Rafael Palmeiro's accomplishments with the Orioles came into question immediately following his suspension in 2005 for steroid use. However, the uncertainty surrounding Palmeiro's first long ball visit to Eutaw Street has nothing to do with steroids. Rather, the question surrounded whether the ball actually made it to Eutaw Street.

Writers from The Sun and Washington Post - Buster Olney and Mark Maske, respectively - indicated that Palmeiro's second-inning home run bounced off of the fence in front of Eutaw Street in right-center field and bounced back toward the stands. However, Bill Wagner of the Annapolis Capital indicated that the ball bounced off of the canopy for Boog's Barbecue.

It seems the decision makers at Camden Yards sided with the latter telling; the towering 412-foot blast is marked with a bronze plaque on the sidewalk and therefore stands as the first of Palmeiro's four Eutaw Street home runs. No other hitter has reached Eutaw Street as often.

Palmeiro's homer off of Mark Gubicza on April 3, 1996, was the second consecutive Eutaw Street home run by an Oriole after Kevin Bass became the first Bird to do so the season prior. Brady Anderson would extend the O's bronze bomber streak to three just a few weeks later, during a busy 1996 season. Seven Eutaw Street home runs were hit that year, a mark that is second only to the eight that were hit in 2008.

Including Palmeiro's April 3 home run, all but one of the first four Eutaw Street shots came during multi-homer innings. Roberto Alomar and Palmeiro hit back-to-back homers in the second inning of the Birds' 7-1 victory over Kansas City. Alomar's home run was his first as an Oriole. Cal Ripken, B.J. Surhoff, and Bobby Bonilla also had RBI hits for the Birds on the day.

David Wells picked up his first win for the O's with seven strong innings of pitching that included six strikeouts, three walks, five hits, and one earned run. Wells finished the 1996 season, his only year in Baltimore, with an 11-14 record. His 5.14 ERA was the third-worst mark in his 21 major league seasons.

One of the few Royals highlights on the evening was a seventh-inning triple play, as described below by The Sun.

The Orioles had the game well in hand in the seventh, when Alomar singled and moved to third on a single by Palmeiro. Then Bobby Bonilla slashed a grounder toward third; Joe Randa gloved it and stared at Alomar, chasing him back to third, then threw to second. Bip Roberts forced out Palmeiro at second and threw to first to nip Bonilla (although TV replays showed Bonilla might have been safe).

As Roberts threw to first, Alomar broke from third. First baseman Bob Hamelin fired home to catcher Sal Fasano, who planted his left foot in front of the plate. Alomar beat the throw, but reaching around Fasano's foot, he never touched home, and was called out by home plate umpire Rick Reed, the first time the Orioles were the victim of a triple play since Aug. 30, 1993. Replay also showed Fasano never tagged Alomar.

"If it was close," Johnson said, "I might've argued more. I'm still not sure he touched him."

Palmeiro finished the 1996 season with 39 home runs and 142 RBIs, a club record for left-handed batters.

Huff Visits Eutaw Street for a Second Time

Congratulations to Aubrey Huff on becoming a two-time bronze bomber when he homered onto Eutaw Street on Tuesday night.

"The Orioles gave him his first lead in the third when Huff crushed Jose Contreras' 2-0 fastball just inside the right-field foul pole and onto Eutaw Street. The two-run shot traveled 415 feet and was the 49th homer onto Eutaw Street since the park opened."

Huff hit his first Eutaw Street home run, a 414-foot shot with the Rays, on Aug. 21, 2003. He is the second player to hit Eutaw Street home runs with two different teams following Lee Stevens, who did so with the Angels (May 23, 1992) and Rangers (May 30, 1998). He is the seventh player to reach Eutaw Street more than once, a club led by Rafael Palmeiro, who did it four times.


Players who have hit multiple Eutaw Street home runs

Rafael Palmeiro - 4
Brady Anderson -3
Jason Giambi - 3
Jim Thome - 2
Lee Stevens -2
Luke Scott - 2
Aubrey Huff - 2

All-time Eutaw Street home runs.

The Eutaw Street Chronicles: June 8, 1995

The unlikely tales of Kevin Bass and Jeff Manto

"The hitters came out today."

-Mike Mussina

Kevin Bass hit five home runs in his lone season with the Orioles; one just happened to land on Eutaw Street.

On June 8, 1995, Bass took Saloman Torres deep in the first inning. The ball bounced off of the pavement beyond the right field courtyard and into an open window at the Warehouse. The Orioles went on to defeat the Mariners by a score of 8-2 with Mike Mussina picking up the win. The next day's papers reported that Bass' hit traveled 409 feet; however, the Eutaw Street baseball commemorating the accomplishment lists the ball as having traveled 410 feet. And so it shall stand.

Bass' shot followed a Brady Anderson leadoff home run, the ninth such home run of Anderson's career to that point. (In 1996 Anderson broke Bobby Bonds' 1973 record by leading off twelve games with a homer.) The back-to-back blasts continued a pattern as all but one of the first four Eutaw Street home runs came during multi-homer innings.

While four hitters stroked balls onto Eutaw Street before Bass did so, not one of them played for the Birds. Bass, who tallied 118 home runs during a 14-year major league career that ended in Baltimore, was an unlikely candidate to be the Birds' first "bronze bomber," but Eutaw Street is about moments more than monuments, and Bass's blast was the final in a series of individual anecdotes about a player who looked to be headed toward a storybook career.

In 1986 Bass was named to the National League All-Star team. He batted .311, with 20 home runs and 22 steals for the Astros, who lost in the NLCS to the fabled Mets team that won the 1986 World Series. In the sixth and final game of that year's NLCS, Bass struck out swinging in the 16th inning with runners on first and second. The Astros lost the game, 7-6, and the series, four games to two.

One year later, on Aug. 3, 1987, Bass joined the baseball fraternity of switch hitters to homer from both sides of the plate in the same game. Oriole legend Eddie Murray leads the pack, having done so 11 times overall. The others to do so in Orange and Black are Don Buford (April 9, 1970), Mike Young (Aug. 13, 1985), Mickey Tettleton (June 13, 1988), and Roberto Alomar (July 25, 1996 and Aug. 14, 1996).

Earlier in 1987, on June 27, Bass legged out a seventh-inning double when a single would have allowed him to have hit for the cycle, an act that forever endeared him to Houston fans. The Astros led the Giants 6-2 at the time.

Injury and the baseball strike ultimately limited Bass' effectiveness in the '90s.

However unlikely Bass' 1995 accomplishment in Baltimore may have been, it paled in comparison to the developing story of Jeff Manto. On the same day that Bass went deep - very deep - Manto homered twice, the first two-homer game of his major league career. His four RBI also were a career best.

Thom Loverro of The Washington Times began to burnish the Manto legend the followong day.

"Jeff Manto, who has had the letters AAA associated with his name more than the motor club during his 10-year minor league career, led the Baltimore Orioles with two home runs and four RBI in an 8-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners before 40,730 yesterday at Camden Yards.

...

Manto, 30, is a walking tribute to the will to survive in baseball. After signing with the Angels in 1985, he played for eight minor league teams, plus brief stops in Cleveland and Philadelphia, before he was traded by the New York Mets to the Orioles on May 19, 1994, for minor league pitcher Mike Cook.

Manto went on to have a monster season with Rochester, batting 310 with 27 homers and 83 RBI in just 94 games. He was also named the International League's MVP. He caught Regan's eye early in spring training, and when Leo Gomez began slumping at third, Regan inserted Manto. Since then, he has become a regular, batting .299 with six homers and 17 RBI in 27 games.

Despite this success, Manto refuses to believe he has finally won a major league job.

'I play every game like it's my last, and in the past, it usually was,' he said. 'This game has frustrated me, kicked me and spit on me too many time before. I won't set myself up for a letdown. I've done that too often in my career.'"

Manto finished the season - like Bass, his lone year with the Orioles - with 17 home runs. The team mounted a hopeful push for Manto as a write-in candidate to the 1995 All-Star Game, but the effort fell short.

Manto played five more seasons in the majors, never totaling more than six home runs in any one year. He finished his major league career with the Colorado Rockies in 2000. Meanwhile, Bass played his final major league game on Oct. 1, 1995.

The Eutaw Street Chronicles - All-Time Bronze Bombers

The good folks over at Camden Chat got the run-around recently when they attempted to track down a list of all-time Eutaw Street home runs. I tried finding that information back in December but likewise had no luck, so I went over to Camden Yards and photographed all of the bronze baseballs. You can see the full set of photos on Flickr (note: the 2008 baseballs are not included because they hadn't been added yet).

I've also started chronicling the stories behind each baseball as part of the Roar from 34 series "The Eutaw Street Chronicles."

MASN's Kate Wheeler explained how the baseballs are installed.

The All-Time Bronze Bombers at Camden Yards

April 20, 1992 – Mickey Tettleton, Tigers, 406 ft.

May 5, 1992 – Kevin Reimer, Rangers, 403 ft.

May 23, 1992 – Lee Stevens, Angels, 430 ft.

July 12, 1993 – Ken Griffey Jr. (Home Run Derby), 465 ft.

April 24, 1994 - Ken Griffey Jr. Mariners, 438 ft.

June 8, 1995 – Kevin Bass, Orioles, 410 ft.

April 3, 1996 – Rafael Palmeiro, Orioles, 412 ft.

April 27, 1996 – Brady Anderson, Orioles, 380 ft.

April 30, 1996 – Paul O’Neill, Yankees, 431 ft.

July 7, 1996 – Mo Vaughn, Red Sox, 419 ft.

July 26, 1996 – Jim Thome, Indians, 440 ft.

Aug. 14, 1996 – Eddie Murray, Orioles, 384 ft.

Sept. 8, 1996 – Bobby Bonilla, Orioles, 405 ft.

April 11, 1997 – Rafael Palmeiro, Orioles, 411 ft.

June 17, 1997 – Henry Rodriguez, Expos, 443 ft.

May 13, 1998 – Brady Anderson, Orioles, 403 ft.

May 30, 1998 – Lee Stevens, Rangers, 415 ft.

June 21, 1998 – Carlos Delgado, Blue Jays, 415 ft.

July 24, 1998 – Rafael Palmeiro, Orioles, 413 ft.

April 29, 1999 – Brady Anderson, Orioles, 420 ft.

June 22, 1999 – Troy O’Leary, Red Sox, 413 ft.

Aug. 8, 1999 – Delino DeShields, Orioles, 422 ft.

Sept. 5, 1999 – Jim Thome, Indians, 420 ft.

Sept. 23, 1999 – Matt Stairs, Athletics, 423 ft.

May 11, 2000 – Carl Everett, Red Sox, 429 ft.

June 21, 2001 – Jeff Liefer, White Sox, 410 ft.

June 8, 2002 – Shawn Green, Dodgers, 410 ft.

July 19, 2002 – Gary Matthews, Orioles, 406 ft.

Aug. 29, 2002 – Ben Grieve, Devil Rays, 435 ft.

June 28, 2003 – Jay Gibbons, Orioles, 420 ft.

July 22, 2003 – Hank Blalock, Rangers, 380 ft.

Aug. 21, 2003 – Aubrey Huff, Devil Rays, 414 ft.

Sept. 9, 2003 – David Oritz, Red Sox, 430 ft.

April 23, 2004 – Jay Gibbons, Orioles, 393 ft.

July 25, 2004 – Justin Morneau, Twins, 412 ft.

Aug. 22, 2004 – Eric Hinske, Blue Jays, 385 ft.

Sept. 29, 2004 – Rafael Palmeiro, Orioles, 390 ft.

Sept. 29, 2005 – Jason Giambi, Yankees, 420 ft.

July 31, 2006 – Brian Roberts, Orioles, 410 ft.

Sept. 28, 2007 – Johnny Damon, Yankees, 390 ft.

May 27, 2008 – Jason Giambi, Yankees, 415 ft.

May 28, 2008 – Jason Giambi, Yankees, 410 ft.

June 14, 2008 – Nick Markakis, Orioles, 395 ft.

June 18, 2008 – Lance Berkman, Astros, 430 ft.

July 1, 2008 – Alex Gordon, Royals, 425 ft.

July 19, 2008 – Luke Scott, Orioles, 420 ft.

Aug. 22, 2008 – Robinson Cano, Yankees, 425 ft.

Sept. 8, 2008 – Luke Scott, Orioles, 415 ft.

Eutaw Street Chronicles: April 24, 1994

The Kid goes yard - and then some - for the second time

"You can lose ugly, and you can win ugly. Today, we won ugly."

-Ken Griffey Jr., Seattle Mariners

Major League Baseball's best hitters rained baseballs onto Eutaw Street during the 1993 Home Run Derby; however, no player accomplished the feat during game action that season. Fittingly, Ken Griffey Jr., who hit the Warehouse on the fly during the '93 Derby, put a quick end to the Eutaw Street drought in 1994, touching up reliever Brad Pennington on April 24 for an eighth-inning three-run homer that capped a Mariners 7-6 come-from-behind victory over the Birds. Griffey's blast traveled 438 feet, 25 feet short of the Warehouse.

Having lost the first two contests of a three-game set with the Orioles, the Mariners arrived at Camden Yards for the early season Sunday afternoon contest saddled with a four-game losing streak. The O's looked ready to continue the trend, jumping out to a 6-3 advantage after six innings on the strength of a Chris Hoiles 420-foot solo blast and a series of Mariner errors, including an errant throw on a Rafael Palmeiro-Chris Hoiles double steal.

"You can lose ugly, and you can win ugly," said Griffey. "Today, we won ugly."

Mariner starter Greg Hibbard gave up six runs in six innings pitched, but only three of those runs were earned. Hibbard avoided an unearned loss thanks to the O's miscues, notably a botched sacrifice bunt in the eighth inning that allowed Mariner catcher Dan Wilson to pick off lead runner Rafael Palmeiro, who reached second base one batter earlier when a fortuitous Cal Ripken Jr. sacrifice bunt stayed fair along the third-base line.

"A sinker is a hard pitch for a runner to read, and when I saw that Palmeiro was on his front foot, I knew I had a chance to get him," Wilson said.

The pickoff helped calm the nerves of Mariners closer Bobby Ayala, who was 0-for-2 in save situations on the young season, and spoiled a two-on, no-out rally attempt. Oriole backstop Chris Hoiles, whose two failed attempts to lay down a bunt ultimately coincided with Palmeiro's baserunning gaffe, struck out for the second out of the inning, and designated hitter Lonnie Smith grounded out to squelch the potential Oriole Magic. Ayala pitched a clean ninth inning to earn the first of his 18 saves during the strike-shortened 1994 season.

Perhaps the game's biggest mistake, at least in the collective eyes of the home fans, was Johnnie Oates' decision to call Brad Pennington from the pen after getting seven strong innings from starter Jamie Moyer. Moyer loaded the bases in the eighth, starting with a Darren Bragg drive that caromed off of Moyer's glove and past second baseman Tim Hulett.

"We finally got a break," said Mariner Manager Lou Piniella. "Those are two things that have been happening to us, not for us."

Following Bragg's hit, Moyer issued a free pass to Rich Amaral and surrendered a single to Torey Lovullo to crowd the sacks.

Pennington entered and threw two pitches. The first, a wild pitch, allowed a run to score. The second, Griffey's homer, brought three runs to the plate. Oates sent Pennington to the showers and O's fans responded by showering the young Indiana native with boos.

"I was booing too," said Pennington. "We worked so hard to get the 6-3 lead, those fans have the right to boo."

The O's demoted Pennington to the minor leagues the following day.

As for Griffey, the 24-year-old center fielder expressed relief after helping his team end its losing streak and compared his 1994 Eutaw Street longball to the exhibition shot that hit the Warehouse the previous season.

Said Griffey: "I hit this one harder."


Box score for April 24, 1994


The Bronze Bombers (previous entries to the Eutaw Street Chronicles):

-Mickey Tettleton, April 20, 1992
-Kevin Reimer, May 5, 1992
-Lee Stevens, May 23, 1992
-Ken Griffey Jr., July 12, 1993

The Eutaw Street Chronicles: July 12, 1993

Griffey goes yard and then some

by Matthew Taylor

''It doesn't count. It wasn't in a game.''

-Ken Griffey Jr.

The IBM Tale of the Tape provided an instant estimate of 445 feet.

News stories the next day alerted readers to the fact that the Warehouse stands approximately 470 feet from home plate.

And who knows just how far that mythical baseball off the bat of Ken Griffey Jr. has traveled in the re-tellings of the 47,891 spectators who weathered broiling temperatures at Camden Yards that July day to witness history.

Baseball, like fishing, makes exaggerators of us all.

Given the discrepancies, it may be best to follow the lead of the man himself and keep things simple. Said Griffey after he was the first - and to date, the only - batter to hit the Warehouse at Camden Yards on the fly: "That's a l-o-o-o-n-g way."

Griffey became the ultimate bronze bomber during the 1992 All-Star Game Home Run Derby on July 12, 1993. The bronze baseball that adorns the Warehouse to commemorate Griffey's home run on that humid Monday afternoon lists the distance at 465 feet, and so it shall be.

A heightened sense of excitement surrounded the '92 Derby as fans and players alike anticipated that one of baseball's best players surely would reach the iconic brick building in left field for the first time in the ballpark's brief history.

Bobby Bonilla, the New York Mets slugger who would later hit two blasts of his own onto Eutaw Street, went so far as to name names before the contest, correctly predicting that Griffey would be the player to hit the Warehouse.

"The only way I'll do that," Griffey responded, "is if I'm standing at second base with a fungo in my hands."

The 23-year-old batter didn't think it was meant to be, and after several rounds of Derby action it seemed the fans had come to share that sentiment. Never mind that an estimated nine baseballs had landed on Eutaw Street, including David Justice's near miss of the Warehouse that hit a soft drink stand five feet short of the wall and instigated a wrestling match between two fans, one of whom threw the other to the pavement in a headlock. The fans were ready to call it a day.

One of those fans, seventeen-year-old Mark Pallack, had started his journey home to Westminster, Md., when he suddenly spotted Griffey's home run ball rolling on the Eutaw Street concrete. Pallack pounced, as did some of the estimated 300 fans beyond the right field wall who piled on top of the teenager and joined in the fight for the souvenir. He wasn't letting go.

"I wasn't even trying to catch balls," said Pallack. "I was just getting ready to leave when I saw the ball in the air. I grabbed it and went into a crouch so no one could take it away from me."

Pallack, who met Griffey in the lockerroom following the competition, ultimately gave the ball to the team's public relations director in exchange for some baseballs signed by the Orioles.

Following the historic hit, Griffey offered a smile, the crowd roared its appreciation, and the competition continued.

After two overtime sessions, defending Derby champion Juan Gonzalez of the Rangers retained his title by a score of 12-11. Gonzalez made his own mark on the competition, as he became the first player to hit a fair ball off the third-deck facade in left field and the wall behind the center field fence. But his were the less celebrated feats.

As for Griffey, he remarked humbly to the press, "It doesn't count. It wasn't in a game." Nevertheless, he made certain to identify the accomplishment in his inscription on the baseball.

Wrote Griffey: "1993 All-Star. Off the Wall."