Luis Matos, 2001 Stadium Club #86

When you're looking to kill an hour in front of the television, you could do worse than the seeming hundreds of list-style programs that MLB Network uses to flesh out their schedule. I just got through watching the 75 Greatest Robbed Home Runs, and I got a bigger kick out of seeing the grainier 1980s and 1990s footage than the more contemporary highlights. There was also more variety in the older clips; it seemed like the foursome of Carlos Beltran, Ken Griffey, Jr., Mike Cameron, and Torii Hunter were represented in 50 of the 75 clips. There were also a ton of Oriole hitters being denied home runs. Off the top of my head, Roberto Alomar, B. J. Surhoff, Jeff Conine, Leo Gomez, Doug DeCinces, Boog Powell, Adam Jones, and Corey Patterson were all victimized. On the other hand, only two Oriole outfielders were recognized for their thievery, and they were probably two of the last guys you'd expect:

39. Luis Matos robs David Ortiz - 7/9/05. By this point, the Orioles had already lost their early-season hold on first place, but on a Saturday afternoon they drew back to within three games of the first-place Red Sox with a 9-1 romp at Camden Yards. However, the result was still very much in doubt with two outs in the top of the third. Bruce Chen had just given up an RBI single to Edgar Renteria, and "Big Papi" followed with a blast to left-center field. Matos backed up to the fence, leapt, and denied Ortiz of a three-run homer. Four batters into the home half of the inning, Rafael Palmeiro successfully clouted a three-run shot of his own, and the Birds were on their way. The following season, Luis played his final big league game before even turning 28.

33. Joe Orsulak robs Harold Baines - 5/19/90. The O's were already trailing 3-0 when Baines led off the top of the fourth with a deep fly to right. "Joe O" made a leaping grab at the wall in Memorial Stadium to bail out starting pitcher Jay Tibbs. Baltimore fell behind 5-0 before a Mickey Tettleton three-run homer closed the gap to 5-3 in the seventh, but the Birds couldn't muster any further attack and fell by that same score.

Oh, and if you care about this sort of thing, ex-Oriole Gary Matthews, Jr. earned the #1 spot with the back-to-the-field, running-up-the-wall catch that he pulled off a few years ago while with the Rangers. Bully for him.