Reasons the Internet is wonderful, part 731: The Sports Illustrated Vault. Yesterday, Stacey at Camden Chat linked to this glorious article by the great Frank Deford, detailing the Orioles' four-game romp over the White Sox in the 1983 ALCS. Of course it made mention of the highly unlikely series-clinching home run by the esteemed Tito Landrum, who had been on the team for less than two months and who would hit 13 home runs in his career. His blast broke a scoreless tie in the tenth inning and drove Chicago starter Britt Burns from the game; the O's would tack on two more runs before Tippy Martinez slammed the door shut in the bottom of the frame. Oh, and apropos of nothing, Deford mentions in passing that Tito used to be a male model.*record scratch*
What?
Let's quote the relevant piece of text: "A onetime male model, Landrum got to bat 41 times for the Orioles, but he never started a game in right-field until the playoffs, when Dan Ford was hobbled by an injured right foot."
Yep, that's what I thought he said. But seriously, how could you just throw that out there and let it drop? Have any of you ever heard of that before? And how the hell was Tito a male model? As Stacey said, "I don't see it". Look, the Birds have a long and rich history of players moonlighting as beefcakes: Jim Palmer, Brady Anderson, Scott Erickson. But look at that photo. No harm meant, but on the list of most attractive O's, Landrum is several notches below the aforementioned guys, firmly entrenched in Joe Orsulak territory. To be fair, he's still not anywhere near Andy Etchebarren's cool, dank basement.
Look, I can pick on Tito all that I want. But at the end of the day, he played 39 regular-season games in an Orioles uniform and had one big hit to win a crucial postseason game. That's not a bad ratio.
7 comments:
Great article about a really fun series to watch. If I live to be 100 I'll never forget that homer by Landrum. I had spent all of the later innings curled up in a fetal position on the den floor afraid to do more than peek at the screen. Good times!
Made it up to Balmer to see my first WS game live a few days after that.
Tito won't stop staring at me.
Good post Kevin...looked up Tito (real name Terry) in the O's Encyclopedia...apparently Jim Russo referred to him twice in his book, Super Scout: Thirty-five Years of Major League Scouting as a "real classy guy" okkkkkk....I guess we liked Tito, um, Terry enough that he was brought back in 88 as well according to the O's Encl...
For the diehard O's fans - MLB Network is airing the '69 Series and game 1 of the '70 Series on Sunday.
Tito's modeling career just takes the attention away from Mike Boddicker, "the uncommonly handsome man who had been called upon to pitch Game 2..."
I can see it, the 70s in general was an unattractive decade.
Bob - If it had been me watching that game, I probably would have been watching alone before long.
Stacey - His eyes follow you; there is no escape.
Craig - Tito probably wishes they hadn't brought him back in 1988!
Tim - If only I had MLBN. I may need a distraction from football today...
Justin - Hey, Frank Deford is an admirer of the human form, what can you say?
FTB - Point taken.
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