Brady Anderson, 1997 Circa #352

The last time the Orioles were in first place in the American League East at the All-Star Break, it was 1997. Baseball cards looked like this (but not all of them, thank the gods), Brady Anderson was leading off for the A.L. All-Stars, and the (Devil) Rays and the Diamondbacks still hadn't made their debut. Back then, the O's had a seven-game cushion over the Yankees en route to a wire-to-wire division title. This year, they might only be up four on the Blue Jays and five on New York, but it's always better to be the team being chased. Now it's time to see if I can get through Adam Jones' swings at the Home Run Derby without muting Chris Berman and John Kruk. It's a long shot.