George Sherrill, 2009 Upper Deck O-Pee-Chee #398

The Orioles had the nerve to wait until I was on a plane bound for Atlanta to trade George Sherrill to the Dodgers for a pair of minor leaguers. So you get to hear my thoughts about the dearly departed closer nearly a week after the deal happened.

For all of the moaning and groaning about how Sherrill made ninth innings a little too interesting, he really turned things around and was exceptional for most of this year. Of course, that (and his reasonable contract) made him valuable, and there's still plenty of rebuilding to do in Baltimore. The O's finally got a viable third-base prospect in Josh Bell, even if he's still a year or two away. Steven Johnson is a solid if unspectacular pitching prospect and a good story (he's the son of former pitcher and current broadcaster Dave Johnson). Andy MacPhail did the right thing by selling high; now we just have to hope that Jim Johnson can close games (and someone else can replace Jim in the eighth inning).

Not only are we bidding goodbye to the tenth pitcher in team history to amass 50 saves, but we've lost one of the great characters of the team. George almost instantly drew attention from fans due to the way he wore his hat; he was called "Flat Brim" or "Flat Breezy" by some, and former teammate Kevin Millar dubbed him the "Brim Reaper". He took part in the sublime "Orioles Magic" music video, and displayed his dry wit in the "making of" video that was included on the Orioles Magic DVD giveaway. When Millar pointed out that the closely-shorn Sherrill looked like Vin Diesel, George shot back, "Vin Diesel looks like me." When I was at Camden Yards last week to see Chris Tillman's debut, there was a video board feature in between innings that involved various players giving dating advice. Their tips ranged from the conventional (Adam Jones suggested dinner and a movie) to the sarcastic (Brian Roberts claimed that showing a woman your baseball card collection would win her over) to the hilarious (Sherrill deadpanned "Snowcones.").

Is my final memory of George Sherrill in an O's uniform really the mental image of him sharing snowcones with a lady friend? Sure, why not? Best of luck to you in L.A., Georgie.