The View from Sarasota - Part 4

Orioles vs. Pirates in Sarasota, and Norm Schimmel is on the scene once again. Thanks to Norm for another great round of Spring Training photos.

Previous Views from Sarasota: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

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Flashback Friday: Johnny Orsino's Spring Training Homer Binge

In lieu of this week's Flashback Friday, Roar from 34 turns its attention to Keith Olbermann's MLB blog "Baseball Nerd" where Olbermann tells the story of former O's backstop Johnny Orsino.

Orsino , nicknamed Horse, made a unique claim to baseball fame with his streak of five straight Spring Training home runs to start his Orioles career.

Olbermann describes the accomplishment as follows:

So his first at bat in an Orioles uniform on March 15th was by itself something of a triumph.

Orsino promptly hit a three-run homer off Joe Moeller of the Dodgers. In his next at bat, he was accidentally intentionally walked (Boog Powell had been balked to second and manager Walter Alston was gesticulating wildly about the call; Dodger catcher Mike Brumley mistakenly believed he was being inexplicably ordered to walk his Oriole counterpart). In his third trip to the plate, Orsino hit another homer, a solo blast.

He came out of the game at that point, and missed Baltimore's next two exhibitions. But against veteran Reds' lefty Jim O'Toole at Al Lopez Field in Tampa on March 18th, Orsino made it three homers in three Baltimore ups. Then four in four. Then five in five. 

You read correctly. Not just home runs in five consecutive official at bats, nor just home runs in the first five at bats of spring training, but five consecutive home runs in the first five at bats with a new team. The streak was finally snapped when a Reds' prospect named John Flavin got Orsino to pop up to the catcher.

Orsino was later part of another baseball rarity when he caught a game during which both pitchers tossed one-hitters. The only players to record hits in the game were the catchers.

On Sept. 12, 1964, pitcher Frank Bertaina of the Birds topped Bob Meyer of the Kansas City A's before 13,162 fans at Memorial Stadium.

Bertaina, a 20-year-old rookie, struck out seven and walked five. His only hit allowed was a lead-off double in the fifth inning to A's catcher Doc Edwards.

Meyer, a 24-year-old rookie, pitched seven no-hit innings before allowing a lead-off double to Orsino. A sacrifice bunt by Bertaina moved pinch runner Bob Saverine (nicknamed "Rabbit") to third. Saverine then scored on a Jackie Brandt sacrifice fly.

So the critical sequence started like this: Lead-off double by the Horse, replaced by the Rabbit as a pinch runner. If that's not wise managing I don't know what is.

The Orioles moved to 87-58 with the 1-0 victory while the Athletics fell to 52-91.

Bertaina finished the 1964 season 1-0 in six starts. He recorded 19 career wins in seven major league seasons.

Meyer finished the 1964 season 2-8 in 22 starts. He tallied two career wins in three major league seasons.
 
Image Source: EBay. 

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The View from Sarasota - "Opening Day" Edition

The Orioles started their Sarasota Spring Training adventure in grand fashion on Wednesday, hammering the Rays 12-2. Norm Schimmel was on the scene and provided Roar from 34 with more great photos.

Previous Views from Sarasota - Part 1, Part 2.

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Fear the Cartoon Bird

How do you make a nearly perfect evening at Comcast Center even better? By holding up a throwback Orioles hat in the middle of the post-game celebration, of course.

Well done, anonymous Terps fan. Well done.

Image via The Sun's game gallery.

 
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The Orioles' Ghosts of Top Prospects Past

On the heels of Baseball America's list of 100 Top prospects for 2010, Sports Illustrated's Sky Andrecheck examines the publication's top 10 prospects from 1990 through 2006.

Andrecheck uses WAR data to divide those players into five categories: busts, average players, good players, great players, and franchise players.

Some Ghosts of Top Prospects Past should be familiar names to O's fans. Not surprisingly, none of those names are franchise players.

-Busts: Bruce Chen (O's: '04-'06)

-Average: Arthur Rhodes ('91-'99), Kris Benson ('06), Jeffrey Hammonds ('93-'98)

-Good Players: Ben McDonald ('89-'95), Todd Zeile ('96), Charles Johnson ('99-'00)

-Great Players: Miguel Tejada ('04-'07, '10)

-Franchise Players: None

The numbers may rate Ben McDonald as a good player and Jeffrey Hammonds as average, but Big Ben was the bigger disappointment given the expectations that accompanied his arrival in Baltimore. Those expectations led USA Today to dub him "the Stephen Strassburg of 20 years ago."

Orioles players currently listed among Baseball America's Top Prospects are as follows: Brian Matusz (No. 5),  Josh Bell (No. 37), Zach Britton (No. 63), and Jake Arrieta (No. 99). 

Here's hoping these guys fall more on the good-great-franchise side of the spectrum.

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The View from Sarasota, Part 2

Here's another look at the springtime happenings in Sarasota, again courtesy of local baseball advocate Norm Schimmel. (See "The View from Sarasota," Jan. 29, 2010).

Copyright on all photos: Norm Schimmel.

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Flashback Friday: Orioles Basketball (Yes, you read that right: Basketball)

We all know about Brooks Robinson's exploits at the hot corner; less is known about his jumper from the short corner. That is, unless you were following the exploits of the Major League All-Stars and the Baltimore Orioles basketball teams during the late '60s.

Long before the Ironman staged pick-up games at his home with fellow major leaguers and college players from around Maryland, Brooks Robinson was hooping it up with the likes of Jim Palmer, Paul Blair, Jim Bouton, Pete Rose, and Jeff Torborg (who caught Sandy Koufax's World Series perfect game).

In 1966, for example, Robinson joined the Major League All-Stars, described by the New York Times as a basketball team made up of major league baseball players from half a dozen clubs, in games against high school, fraternal, and charitable organizations.

Joining Brooksie on the All-Star squad were teammates Frank Robinson and Dave McNally; Bouton and Al Downing (Yankees); Rose (Reds); Dick McAuliffe (Tigers); Al Jackson (Cardinals); John Orsino (Senators); Torborg (Dodgers); Ed Kranepool (Reds); and Dennis Ribant (Mets/Pirates).

One thing's for certain: I wouldn't want to mix it up in the post with Pete Rose even if it were for charity.

Back home in Baltimore, the Orioles' legendary third baseman competed with faculty members of local schools as a way of staying in shape during the off-season. As this 1969 article from the Washington Afro-American reports, Blair, Palmer, McNally, Dick Hall, Eddie Watt, Pete Richert, Bobby Floyd, and Billy Hunter took to the hardwood with Robinson as part of that effort.

Said Hall, who played college basketball at Swarthmore: "We are looking forward to having a lot of fun with with this while staying in shape at the same time."

Pictured at the top of this post is a warm-up top worn by a member of the off-season basketball team between 1967 and 1973 that now serves as an auction item. Special thanks to my friend and fellow baseball fan Jon Bloom, who blogs at Wasted Food and BBQ Jew, for the tip.


Image Source: Huggins & Scott Auctions

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Team Pictures with Arthur Rhodes

I always appreciate a solid Arthur Rhodes reference; even better if it has a good story attached. This MLB Fanhouse article scores on both counts.

Josh Alper shares the details of a Cincinnati Reds auction that gives the winner a chance to be included in the 2010 team picture.

The Reds are auctioning off the chance for a couple of fans to throw their arms around Arthur Rhodes and be part of the 2010 team picture. The shot will be taken on April 21 before the Reds' game with the Dodgers and you also get tickets to the game and some Reds gear as part of the package. The opening bid is $500 for what the Reds' Web site deems an "extremely unique and priceless opportunity."

Here's hoping that the winner thinks better of complaining to Arthur Rhodes about the glare from his diamond earrings. Just ask Omar Vizquel.

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A Blanket with Sleeves by any other Name Would Still be Sweet

Big League Stew mentioned Matt Wieters Bobblehead Day at Camden Yards (June 30th, but you already knew that) in a post last week titled  Snuggies and skateboards lead list of 2010 ballpark promotions.

Of said Snuggies, 'Duk wrote the following:

Snuggies! Whoops! We violated a trademark! They'll be giving away "sluggies" in St. Louis (April 30) and Oakland (April 15) and "wearable blankets" in San Francisco (April 23). The Angels will also be giving away "blankies" (April 6) and plain old blankets (Aug. 24) but no word if they're a ripoff of the made-for-TV gimmick we've come to know and love.

Yes, everyone's favorite blanket with sleeves has grown enough in popularity that knock-off brands now exist. Who could've imagined such a thing when those first ridiculous commercials cropped up on TV?



It just goes to show the power of repetition when it comes to marketing. And the power of sports branding. Slap a team logo on most anything and you'll find someone to buy it.

Take, for example, me. Santa left an Orioles blanket with sleeves under the Christmas tree this year. This one's known as "The Huddler."

Resistance is futile. Give in to the power of the blanket with sleeves. You can even pick one up at the ballpark, which defies my original cynical logic upon viewing the Snuggie commercial: "Who would wear one of those things at a sporting event?"

It appears that fans in St. Louis, Oakland, San Francisco, and Anaheim will provide my answer this April.

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We've got Matt Wieters Facts in 2010; Should there have been Tractor Facts in 1991?

With pitchers and catchers preparing to report to Sarasota this week, The Sun has taken the opportunity to report on THE catcher. Dan Connolly writes of Matt Wieters in the article 'He's the guy': A lot rests on Wieter's young shoulders, "The organization's 'Golden Boy' has graduated to 'The Man' behind the plate."


Connolly's article on the Orioles' home-grown backstop got me to wondering what was written about other Baltimore catching prospects as they prepared to transition into a full-time starting role for the Birds.

The O's have had a tendency to acquire rather than develop major league catchers for some time now. Although he was drafted by the Tigers and later acquired by the Birds in the 1988 Fred Lynn trade, Chris Hoiles was groomed in the Orioles' minor league system before taking over as the team's top catcher in 1991. So the Tractor qualifies for my purposes.

There weren't any Chris Hoiles Facts in the early '90s (although "Tractor Facts" does have a certain ring to it), so we turn instead to conventional beat reporters like Richard Justice, who on March 1, 1991, wrote the Washington Post article "Door's Wide Open for Melvin, Hoiles; Orioles Catchers Take Shot at Filling Hole Left by Tettleton's Exit."

Here's a sample of what was being said about Hoiles:

While Jim Palmer, Jeff Ballard, Ben McDonald and others have gotten much of the early attention, no Oriole is being watched more closely than catcher Chris Hoiles.

Hoiles is a few weeks shy of his 26th birthday, has spent 2 1/2 seasons in Class AAA and is coming off a .348 season with Rochester.

His defensive skills have increased dramatically in the last 12 months, but what impresses the Orioles is that he has put up big numbers with his bat at every level of the minors -- including last season when he hit 18 home runs and drove in 56 runs in just 247 at-bats.

"You look at what he has done, and your first reaction is that he only needs a chance," Robinson said. "I just felt that if Mickey were still here, Chris wouldn't get the chance he deserved. He came up last season and I just wasn't able to get him into the lineup. He played so little that he couldn't get any rhythm. It wouldn't be fair to do that again."

Hoiles, meanwhile, seemed eager to embrace the opportunity. 

Hoiles agrees the next few weeks will be the most important of his career. He was like dozens of other young players a year ago, when the labor dispute caused a shortened spring training that forced teams to make a lot of roster decisions before coming to Florida. For Hoiles, this time around is his big chance.

"It's exciting," he said. "This is the kind of chance everyone has to have to make it. I really do feel I've paid my dues and that there's no point in going back to AAA again."

He was recalled three times last season, but played regularly only at the end. He was hitting .394 with the Red Wings when he was recalled June 3, but after playing 10 times in a month, was sent back when outfielder Phil Bradley came off the disabled list.

He was back down for a month, came back and played in eight more games for the Orioles and then was sent down again. He came back again in September, played in five games and suffered a season-ending shoulder injury.

"It was tough to play that way," he said, "but I understood the situation. I was just happy to be up there getting a taste of it."

After appearing in just 29 games during the 1989 and 1990 seasons, Hoiles played in 107 games in 1991. He batted .243 with 11 home runs and 31 RBI. He caught 26 would-be base thieves and allowed 49 stolen bases. That equates to a 35 percent caught-stealing percentage, which was one of the better marks during Hoiles' career.

Two years later the Orioles Hall of Famer had a career year at the plate, batting .310 with 29 home runs and 82 RBI.


Image Source: Here.

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Happy Birthday, Chuck Estrada

Happy Birthday to former Orioles pitcher Chuck Estrada who was born on Feb. 15, 1938.

Estrada won 18 games for the Orioles during his rookie campaign in 1960, tops in the league that season and good for his first and only All Star appearance. Two years later he led the league in losses with 17.

Estrada tied with teammate Jim Gentile for second place in the 1960 Rookie of the Year balloting. The Orioles claimed all three spots in that year's voting with infielder Ron Hansen winning the award. Estrada  was named Pitcher of the Year by The Sporting News, an award that in 2009 went to Zack Greinke (AL) and Tim Lincecum (NL).

Estrada also played very briefly with the Cubs and Mets. Elbow problems that emerged in 1963 shortened the young pitcher's promising career.

He later served as a pitching coach for the Rangers and Indians. His reflections on the former position produced this memorable quote: "We had a very scientific system of bringing in relief pitchers. We used the first one who answered the phone.'"

Blogger bios of Estrada come courtesy of O's and Mets fans alike:

Orioles Card "O" The Day

Centerfield Maz


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Flashback Friday: The First Grand Slam in Orioles History

Orioles fans know the names Chris Hoiles, Frank Robinson, and Jim Gentile. Among other accomplishments, they're the only O's players to hit two grand slams in one game.

Less well remembered is the name  Robert Daniel Kennedy. Bob Kennedy played 132 games in an Orioles uniform from 1954 to 1955, during which time he hit the first grand slam in team history. It happened on Friday, July 30, 1954, before 27,385 fans at Memorial Stadium. The Orioles defeated the Yankees 10-0 despite the fact that the teams sported nearly inverse records: Baltimore 36-64; New York 67-34.

Kennedy's grand slam came in the bottom of the fourth inning off five-time All Star Allie Reynolds, who finished the season, his last in the majors, with a 13-4 record and a 3.32 ERA. The Yankees did not compete in the post-season that year despite winning 103 games. The first-place Cleveland Indians won 111 games before losing to Willie Mays and the New York Giants in the World Series.

Eddie Waitkus, Chuck Diering, and Vern Stephens scored on the grand slam, which gave the Orioles a 7-0 lead.

Kennedy hit six home runs in 1954 and tied with Cal Abrams for second-most on the team behind Vern Stephens' eight home runs. Memorial Stadium originally had hedges instead of fences, and they stood 445 feet from home plate.

Don Larsen pitched a complete-game shutout for his third and final win of the 1954 season. Larsen finished 3-21, setting the club record for losses in a season. The Orioles traded him to the Yankees that November. Two years later he pitched the only perfect game in World Series history.

Kennedy also holds the distinction of being among the rare father-son combinations to have both played in an Orioles uniform. The Chicago native's son, Terry Kennedy, played catcher for the Orioles during the 1987 and 1988 seasons, earning an All-Star nod in '87.

The Orioles' other father-son player combos are Don Buford (1968-1972) and Damon Buford (1993-1995) along with Tim Raines (four games in 2001) and Tim Raines Jr. (2001, 2003, 2004). Though Cal Sr. never played for the Orioles there's also a bit of a Ripken family line that runs through the team's history.

There are other potential names that could be added to this list as well. The most likely candidates are Steve Johnson, who would follow in the footsteps of his father, Dave Johnson (1989-1991), and Steve Bumbry, son of Al Bumbry (1972-1984), who was drafted by the Orioles in 2009.

Other possibilities include Toronto pitchers Kyle Drabek, son of Doug Drabek (1998), and Josh Roenicke, son of Gary Roenicke (1978-1975). Meanwhile, Tug Hulett, son of Tim Hulett (1989-1994), plays in the Boston system.

You can read more about Bob Kennedy, including his role as a popcorn vendor during the Joe Louis-James Braddock heavyweight title fight, at StateMaster.


Image Source: The Virtual Card Collection.

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The Roar from 34 Stadium Tour: Coors Field

There's magic in the thin air at Coors Field, the kind that at one moment turns a batting practice foul ball into a 600-foot drive and the next transforms Jeffrey Hammonds into an All-Star. As the ballpark T-shirts and trinkets boast, it's "Baseball with an Altitude."

My wife and I used the occasion of a recent Colorado ski weekend to take an off-season stadium tour of the Rockies' home environs.

During our visit we learned of Andres "Big Cat" Galarraga's batting practice prowess, which tops the legend meter; the stadium's actual longest home run was Mike Piazza's 496-foot shot to center field on Sept. 26, 1997. Fan favorite Larry Walker holds the record for home batters with a 493-foot homer on Aug. 31, 1997. Walker won the NL MVP that season. (Presumably, the impressive hit didn't factor into the voting.)

While there wasn't any discussion of former Oriole Jeffrey Hammonds built into the stadium guide schtick, an All-Star wall in the ballpark's belly included Hammonds' 2000 appearance as a Rockie in the Mid-Summer Classic. Hammonds, who played a half-inning in that year's game, batted .335 with 20 home runs and 106 RBI during is lone All-Star season.

Coors Field opened in 1995. It has since hosted an All-Star Game (1998) and two World Series Games (2007). What the stadium lacks in history it makes up for in charm with local touches that include a continuous row of purple seats in the upper deck  that serve as the "Mile High Marker," club-level suites that are named after the state's "Fourteeners," and fans on the tour who seemed to live and breathe the Rockies.


Based on a focus group consisting of our fellow tour-goers and the guide, Rockies fans hate the Red Sox (Wonder why?), feel bad for the Orioles (Wonder why?), and love Cal Ripken (Wonder why?).

And they assure me that Garrett Atkins can find his stroke again in the American League - it's all in his head. Must be the altitude.




Previous Roar from 34 Stadium Tour: Safeco Field, Seattle.

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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 Orioles' Road Map to Contention

We've heard about Andy MacPhail's plan to turn the struggling Orioles into a contender again. We've even seen it pay off in terms of personnel acquisitions at the major and (more prominently thus far)  minor league levels.

But aside from phrases like "grow the arms and buy the bats" - which, by the way, I very much like - what does the road map to contention look like?

Sports Illustrated's Ben Reiter offers his version of a compass in the (recommended) article "Orioles five-step plan should start to bear fruit in 2010."

Reiter states that the Colorado Rockies and, to some degree, Tampa Bay Rays have provided a model for the Birds to follow. His five-step plan includes the following:

1. Trade mature assets at their peak value.

2. Draft well.

3. Sign selected young players to long-term deals.

4. Be active, but not too active, in free agency.

5. When you do reach contention, use the dollars you've saved for a major piece that might put you over the top.

The Orioles have followed each of these steps to varying degrees with the notable exception of No. 5. That's more of a project for 2011, the year that the seeds MacPhail has planted are projected to bloom.

It's also a primary reason that Ken Rosenthal "likes" the O's off-season, but "doesn't love" the O's off-season.

Says Rosenthal: "They still have not made that dramatic move that will dramatically improve their team and energize their fan base and get them into the discussion again. In their defense, maybe they feel it is not time."

Make no mistake that 2010 matters. Attracting quality free agents is about more than money. The Birds must demonstrate that they can realistically contend before a name guy is going to commit to the Orange and Black instead of just flirting to make other suitors jealous.

Unlike the Rays, the Orioles can't lose 96 games the season before they win 97; rather, 2010 needs to serve as a sneak preview of the good things to come for Baltimore in 2011.

Hopefully, Reiter is right, and Andy's plan will soon bear fruit.

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Happy Sn-"O"-w Day

Wieters Listed Among "25 Stars 25 and Under"

Andrew Simon of "Hitting the Cutoff Man" has provided his first installment of the series "25 Stars 25 and Under." Matt Wieters makes the list at catcher. Adam Jones gets a mention in the outfield but comes up short in competition with the Cardinals' Colby Rasmus.

Here's an excerpt:

C – Matt Wieters, BAL, 23. Wieters came up last season with tremendous hype, and while his performance wasn’t awe-inspiring, it was solid and encouraging for a 23-year-old catcher getting his first taste of the Majors. Even with his inexperience and position, he was about a league-average hitter.

...

OF – Colby Rasmus, STL, 23. Adam Jones and Denard Span also were great options here, but Rasmus wins via music video tiebreaker. Rasmus is already a top-five defensive center fielder, so it’s just a matter of his bat developing after an unspectacular rookie season. More patience and a better performance against lefties would help, but Rasmus did show his power potential with 16 homers in 474 at-bats.

Image source: O's on Deck.

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The View from Sarasota

Here are some photos of the Orioles complex in Sarasota, courtesy of one of the city's local baseball advocates, Norman Schimmel.

Architects presented their re-design plans for Ed Smith Stadium on Tuesday.

Orioles Vice President of Planning and Development Janet Marie Smith is overseeing the re-design effort. Smith, an architect and urban planner, worked for the team in the same role from 1989-94 during the design and construction of Camden Yards.

Starting in 2002, Smith served as senior vice president of planning and development in Boston, where she spearheaded improvements to Fenway Park and its surrounding neighborhoods.

The Biz of Baseball profiled Smith back in September when she was hired again by the Orioles. A month earlier the site lauded her efforts in Boston.

Here's an excerpt of the latter article:

The completion of the Fenway Park renovations adds another blue chip sports facility project that Smith has seen through to completion. Prior to the Fenway Park renovation, she worked with current Red Sox president Larry Lucchino on Oriole Park at Camden Yards, and prior to that, changing the Atlanta Summer Olympic Stadium into what is now Turner Field.

Luminaries in Boston are already feeling the loss of Smith. As reported in the Boston Globe:

“We’re going to miss her in Boston,’’ Mayor Thomas M. Menino said of Smith, a Mississippi native. “When she started, I thought she was just another of these smart architects. And she was a smart architect, but she also knew how to get the job done.’’

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If I Was King for Just One Day, I Would Give it all Away

The University of Kentucky men's basketball team rolled out its version of a "We're No. 1" T-shirt on Monday. On Tuesday, they lost to South Carolina.

Looks like the T-shirt jinx is more powerful than even the SI cover jinx.

This got me to thinking: What if the Orioles had created their own poorly timed "We're No. 1" T-shirt during a brief perch atop the A.L. East standings?
 
Believe it or not, there have been opportunities during the past 12 seasons - other than 1999, 2001, 2002, or 2007 - for just such a design. 

Perhaps the most ironic time to have created an Orioles T-shirt to cover one's torso during a premature round of chest thumping would have been 2005.

Yes, that "memorable" 2005 season (Thanks, Raffy!) when the O's spent more than 60 glorious days in first place. A June 23 loss to the Blue Jays started a free fall that ended with the Birds in fourth place, 21 games behind the division-winning New York Yankees.

A 2003 T-shirt would be particularly amusing. That season, the O's held and lost the division lead before April showers had even started (March 31). One week later they were in last place.

Here are the other candidates from the O's current streak of losing seasons:

2009: Final day in first place - April 14

2008: Final day in first place - April 29

2006: Final day in first place - April 6

2004: Final day in first place - April 23

2000: Final day in first place - April 9

1998: Final day in first place - April 19

Cue the Thompson Twins!



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B12. Bingo! Tejada an Oriole Again

Miguel Tejada is an Oriole again. Personally I think it's A-Team Andy MacPhail rubbing salt in other teams' trade wounds. Haul in a package of players one year, reacquire the original player another.

Consider yourselves warned Seattle: Andy's on the jazz, and he's coming for Bedard next.

Fans, Please Stay Off the Grass

Orioles head groundskeeper Nicole Sherry offers some turf maintenance insight in the article "Major League grass for sale," which details an effort by Scott's to cash in on insane fan loyalty by marketing grass seed blends used at baseball stadiums.

An excerpt:

Maintaining a lawn for the highly compensated guys in spikes to tear up requires a lot of work. Nicole Sherry, the head groundskeeper at the Baltimore Orioles' Camden Yards, puts in 16-hour days during the season. Of course, she's got three acres of Kentucky bluegrass to mow and manage.
 
"People think that we just take care of the grounds and that there is no science involved," Sherry told smartwomanonline.com. "But keeping this field perfect is a full-time, year-round job."

O's fans will have to wait to develop their very own patch of Camden Yards goodness. The product debuts in Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and St. Louis.

Meanwhile, fans in Tampa can get ahead of the pack by tearing up their grass and replacing it with carpet.

I probably wasn't the only kid who came away disappointed each time I tried to cut my parents' lawn like they do at the ballpark. It wasn't until I read Nine Innings years later that I realized you need Kentucky Bluegrass, which is shiny on one side, to pull off the effort.

MLB.com tells the detailed story of the new product and offers the obligatory "Field of Dreams" reference. They got their first, so they get the credit for quoting Shoeless Joe: "I'd wake up at night with the smell of the ballpark in my nose, the cool of the grass on my feet. The thrill of the grass."

Did I really just write a piece about grass? Must be the off-season. And I don't even have a new ballpark as an excuse like the guys over at Twinkie Town, who provide a detailed breakdown of the Target Field sod.


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It's Time to Start Calling the Orioles the A-Team

It's time to start calling Andy MacPhail's Orioles the A-Team.

John Tomase of BostonHerald.com has unintentionally cast MacPhail as Hannibal Smith with the recent article "Andy MacPhail's plan coming together for Orioles."

Cue the Hannibal Smith catch phrase: "I love it when a plan comes together."

Clearly Tomase has A-Team on the brain as he describes how the Orioles "have very stealthfully, and quickly, laid the groundwork."

Stealthfully? Quickly? Sounds like a certain group of '80s pop culture mercenaries to me.

Besides, there's a certain literal irony to calling the mid-market Orioles "soldiers of fortune" as they work to take down the free-spending Red Sox and Yankees.

Be it decreed: Solid personnel moves in Baltimore will now be greeted by the phrase "Andy's on the jazz."

The Franchise in Review: The O's vs. the Yankees and Red Sox

Part 2 of Roar from 34's "Franchise in Review" considers the O's performance over time against New York and Boston

In 1954, their first year in Baltimore, the Orioles went 11-11 against the Red Sox. It was the team's best record against any opponent that season.

The O's fortunes against the Yankees, however, were squalid that year -- 5-17, the team's second-worst total against any franchise. (Baltimore was 3-19 versus Cleveland, which won 111 games in 1954.)

And so began the longest-running division rivalries in Orioles history.

Of the seven other teams in the 1954 American League, only New York and Boston have shared a division with Baltimore for the franchise's entire modern history.

In other words, the Evil Empires of the American League East have been thorns in the Orioles' side from the get-go.

Here's a rundown of how the Birds have fared through the years against the Yankees and Red Sox:

[More after the jump.]



-Overall, the Orioles have done slightly better against the Yankees than they have against the Red Sox. Unfortunately, they don't hold a winning record against either franchise.

The Birds are 412-497 (.453) all-time against the Yankees and 408-495 (.452) all-time against the Red Sox.

-The O's have had 18 winning seasons against the Yankees and three seasons ('61, '73, '07) where they earned a series split. Baltimore's best showing against New York came in 1966 when the team went 15-3 in head-to-head games.

-The O's have had 17 winning seasons against the Red Sox and five seasons ('54, '68, '71, '75, and '98) where they earned a series split. Baltimore's best showing against Boston came in 1960 when the team went 16-6 in head-to-head games.

-The Orioles' worst season against each franchise came at different times, but the record was the same each time. The O's were 1-12 against the Yankees in 1985 and 1-12 against the Red Sox in 1987.

-Bring back the '60s and '70s. The Orioles posted winning percentages of .603 and .549 against the Yankees and .571 and .509 against the Red Sox in those successive, successful decades.

The O's did not lose a season series against the Yankees for 11 straight seasons from 1964 through 1974. Meanwhile, the Birds did not lose a season series against the Red Sox for eight consecutive seasons from 1964 through 1971.

-The 1960s were the only decade when the Orioles won 100 or more games against both franchises. Conversely, the 2000s were the only decade when they lost 100 or more games against both franchises.

By the way, the 2000s were every bit as bad as you remember them: 62-116 (.348) against New York, 64-114 (.360) against Boston.

-Finally, as if you needed a reminder, Baltimore's last winning season against the Yankees came in 1997 when they went 8-4 against New York (note: the O's did split with the Yankees in 2007); Baltimore's last winning season against the Red Sox came in 2004 when they went 10-9 against Boston. 

Here's to rivalries in the 2010s that look more like those of the '60s and '70s Can you dig it, man?

Fenway Park South, M&T Bank Stadium North, & the Visting Team Takeover

Albert Breer of The Boston Globe took notice of the large number of Ravens fans in Foxboro for Sunday's Patriots game, writing "Fenway Park South, meet M&T Bank Stadium North." Ah, yes, another case of the all-too familiar visiting team takeover.

How many times have Baltimore fans heard a quote like the one below from the Patriots' Vince Wilfork during baseball season?

"It felt like we were playing an away game, that’s what it felt like," said sixth-year Patriot Vince Wilfork. "Even if we’d moved on from here, we probably would’ve played two away games, back-to-back. I’m telling you, for all this team’s done in the past … I don’t understand it."

If memory serves, Brian Roberts and Aubrey Huff - among others - have said similar things about fan support at Camden Yards when the Red Sox are in town. So Sunday's Foxboro takeover could be viewed as a form of payback for jilted Orioles fans.

While it's nice to see the Ravens get solid fan support on the road, the "revenge" motif isn't all that satisfying for me. I'm more concerned with defending the home turf regardless of season. Here's hoping the O's can fill Camden Yards with hometown fans again sometime soon.

Still, you can add Wilfork's quote to the taste-of-your-own medicine cabinet alongside Kevin Youkilis' complaint last spring regarding the lack of fan support for Team USA baseball.

“It definitely hurts a little bit to know that you’re always the away team in your own country,” he said. “There are some good people out there, but it would be nice to have a lot more of those people chanting ‘USA,’ holding up American flags. That’s the one thing we didn’t see much of the other night – there were more Puerto Rican flags than American (flags).”

Regardless of the uniform he wears, no player likes to feel like a visitor in his home park.

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The Franchise in Review: A Historically Bad Decade for the Orioles

The Orioles are preparing not only for a new season but also a new decade of baseball in Baltimore. Roar from 34's "Franchise in Review" series will consider how the past decade stacks up against the ones that came before it.

Allow me to speak for O's fans everywhere in saying I hope we never again experience 10 seasons of baseball like the ones just completed in Charm City. The results were anything but charming.

When it comes to the 2000-2009 Orioles, optimists and pessimists can agree, albeit in a different tone of voice: "It's never been this bad."

With a 64-98 record in 2009, the Orioles completed their worst decade of baseball since the St. Louis Browns - "First in shoes, first in booze, and last in the American League" - relocated to Baltimore in 1954.

Overall, the O's compiled a 698-920 record during this period. The team's .431 winning percentage was worse than the previous low, a .438 mark recorded from 1954 through 1959.

However, these dispiriting totals are not in keeping with the team's otherwise proud tradition of success on the diamond. Consider that this was the first full decade in which the Orioles compiled a losing record. It's never happened before.

The team's high-water mark came in the '70s when the O's tallied a .590 winning percentage. The Birds had a .566 percentage in the '60s and a .512 percentage in both the '80s and '90s.

Here's to the return of winning baseball to Baltimore.

 Some other items of interest:

[More after the jump.]



-The Birds' current run of 12 losing seasons is one short of their record streak for consecutive winning seasons --13 straight from 1968 through 1980. Five of those 13 seasons included 100 or more wins.

-The Orioles have won 100 or more games five times. Only once has the team won 100 games and failed to make the World Series. The 1980 O's finished second in the American League East to the New York Yankees, who won 103 games but lost to the Royals in the ALCS.

-This was the second consecutive decade in which the Orioles neither won nor lost 100 games in a season following four straight decades where one, the other, or both happened.

The O's lost 100 games in 1954; won 109 games in 1969; won 108 games in 1970, 101 in 1971, and 102 in 1979; won 100 in 1980 and lost 107 in 1988.  

Up next for "The Franchise in Review" - How the Birds have fared against their two longest-standing rivals: the Yankees and the Red Sox.

The Night Cal Ripken Saved Baseball, and the Democrats

We've all heard about how Cal Ripken Jr. saved baseball following the 1994-95 strike with his consecutive games streak, but did you know he saved the Democrats on Sept. 6, 1995, as well? 

Former Rep. Martin Frost, a Texas Democrat, writes in The Hill this week about how Cal indirectly helped raised $150,000 for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on his record-breaking night.

Here's an excerpt from Frost's column, "Politicians might look to sports to lift their spirits":

For months I had been harassing Maryland Democratic Reps. Ben Cardin (now a U.S. senator) and Steny Hoyer (now House majority leader) to put on a DCCC fundraiser in Baltimore. They had multiple excuses about why it wouldn’t work, but I did not give up.

Finally, one day in the middle of the summer, they approached me on the floor of the House and said they had an idea. What about a fundraiser at Camden Yards the night Ripken broke Gehrig’s record of 2,l30 consecutive games played? The owner of the Baltimore Orioles was a big Democrat and had offered to provide a 75-seat party box in left field for our use that night.

It was an inspired idea. So, on Sept. 6, 1995, the DCCC held a fundraiser at Camden Yards. It was a spectacular evening. Ripken hit a home run to left field (near our box) in the fourth inning and then did a victory lap around the perimeter of the field (passing just under our box) at the end of the fifth inning, when it had become an official game.

We raised $150,000 for the DCCC, and people called me the next morning to thank me for having a fundraiser at the park that night.

Ben Cardin has longstanding Oriole loyalties. On April 4,1989, he introduced a Congressional Resolution honoring the Birds following the team's Opening Day victory over the Yankees. It read, in part, as follows: "The Sun is shining, the flowers are blooming and the birds are singing. Of course, I am talking about the birds of Baltimore. The Baltimore Orioles are back where they belong, in first place in the American League East."

See this "Flashback Friday" post about Cardin's 1989 Congressional Resolution.

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Interesting Baseball Reading

It's a bitter cold January, the Hot Stove doesn't have much heat left to provide, and Rick Dempsey has packed away the Santa suit (until next year?).

Don't despair, O's fans, there's still some good baseball reading to be done.

Stephen Brunt of the Globe and Mail details Roberto Alomar's brilliance during his pre-Orioles playing days in Toronto. "Hero, Heartthrob, Goat, Target ... Let's Start Over" discusses Alomar's rock star status in Toronto when the city functioned in concert with its chart-topping Blue Jays. We O's fans aren't the only ones to witness the decline of a once-mighty baseball town.

Did you know that Orioles third base coach and three-time All Star Juan Samuel - he of the .259 career average and 161 home runs in 16 seasons - received multiple first-ballot votes for the Hall of Fame? Paul Francis Sullivan of Sully Baseball runs down the idiosyncrasies of Cooperstown voting in "Hall of Fame Ballot Insanity"

Finally, Real Clear Sports brings us a fun, retrospective read, "The Top 10 Erroneous Columns of 2009." Included on the list are two mistaken A.L. East-related prognostications:

1. Joe Posnanski of Sports Illustrated, in the April column "Some Semi-Bold Predictions Entering the 2009 Season," envisioning a post-season without the Yankees.

2. Dan Shaugnessy of the Boston Globe, in the September column "Things are falling into place," predicting a Red Sox World Series victory.


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Adam Jones, Award-Winning Shortstop

Adam Jones has been voted as the top shortstop on the Single-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers' 15th Anniversary Team.

The honor and Jones' time with the Wisconsin minor league outfit connect him historically with the likes of Earl Weaver, Boog Powell, and Cal Ripken Sr., each of whom were associated with an earlier incarnation of the club that used to serve as an Orioles affiliate.

But first, the team's website makes the case for Jones:

The Stats: .267 average (136 hits in 510 at bats), .314 OBP, .717 OPS, 23 doubles, 7 triples, 11 home runs, 72 runs batted in, 8 stolen bases

The Facts: Seattle Mariners 1st round draft pick in 2003 out of Morse (CA) High School;  Opening Day Age: 18

The Case:  Young and multi-talented, Jones is the best defender of the group and leads the candidates in home runs and RBI.

Jones, who played shortstop during the 2004 season in Wisconsin, won with 44 percent of the vote, which was otherwise divided between Ramon Vazquez, Ramon Valera, and Matt Tuiasosopo. Among Jones' memorable days with the Timber Rattlers was July 31, 2004, when he homered twice and drove in five runs.

The Orioles star center fielder moved to the outfield in 2006 with the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers.

Previous incarnations of the Timber Rattlers included the Appleton Foxes, who were an Orioles affiliate in the early '60s. Earl Weaver led the club to a league championship in 1960, the team's first year connected to the O's, behind the bats of Boog Powell, who hit.312 with 100 RBI, and League MVP Pete Ward, who hit .345.

Ward played eight games with the Orioles in 1962 before being sent to Chicago as part of the Luis Aparicio trade. Ward came in second for Rookie of the Year honors in 1963 with the White Sox.

Meanwhile, Cal Ripken Sr. earned Manager of the Year honors with the Wisconsin club in 1962 at the age of 26. Ripken was in his second year as a manager, having been at the helm of the Leesburg Orioles in 1961.


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