Vintage Fridays: Dave Nicholson, 1961 Topps #182

I know what you're thinking, but Topps didn't give the Orioles' bat boy a card. Dave Nicholson was 20 years old when he debuted for the Orioles in May of 1960. Two years earlier, they'd signed him as a teenager for a whopping $100,000 bonus. He led the Class C Northern League with 35 home runs in 1959 while playing for the Aberdeen Pheasants. That early success didn't carry over to the big leagues, though. In his first taste of the majors, Dave struck out 55 times in 113 at-bats. "Big Nick" played only 151 games for the O's over two seasons, batting .178/.296/.357 with 14 homers and 26 RBI. Baltimore traded him to the White Sox in January, 1963 as part of the Luis Aparicio deal.

His first season in the Windy City was his best, as he played 126 games and batted .229 with 22 home runs and 70 RBI...and a then-record 175 strikeouts in 520 at-bats. The following year, he made his mark in a May 6 doubleheader at Comiskey Park against the Athletics. Facing future Oriole Moe Drabowsky, Nicholson hit a pair of home runs. His solo shot leading off the bottom of the fifth inning traveled 573 feet, one of the longest measured blasts in history, and either struck or cleared the left field roof and was later located across the street. For good measure, Dave added a third home run off of Aurelio Monteagudo in the nightcap.

Unfortunately, Dave didn't make contact frequently enough to stick in the majors. His career ended with a 10-game swing with the Braves in 1967, when he was just 27 years old. Be that as it may, the dude hit a baseball 573 feet. I have a hard time even picturing that.

Vintage Saturdays: Chuck Estrada and Milt Pappas, 1961 Topps #48

I goofed last night and didn't post. I enjoy Vintage Fridays most of all, so I'll just make Vintage Saturday a one-time special attraction. Even better, you get two Orioles for the price of one, as 18-game winner Chuck Estrada and 15-game winner Milt Pappas rub elbows with the rest of 1960's top winners in the American League: Jim Perry, Bud Daley, Art Ditmar, and Frank Lary. All of them are floating on a blood-red background, which is a tad unsettling. It's also worth noting that 1960 represented only the second full season in American League history without a 20-game winner. In 1955, Whitey Ford, Bob Lemon, and Frank Sullivan all tied for the loop's top win total with 18. Estrada was the first Oriole to pace the A.L. in wins, doing so as a rookie; he'd follow up with 15 wins in 1961, but only totaled 17 thereafter. Pappas, however, won at least 15 games in seven different seasons and retired in 1973 with 209 W's.

Vintage Fridays: Brooks Robinson, 1961 Topps #10

Just like that, the magic number is five. All it took was the Orioles' first doubleheader sweep of the Yankees in three decades, and a 1-0 Rays win over the Blue Jays. The O's have won 10 of 13 against New York this year, and held them to a single run in 20 innings today. Some time in the next week, they're really going to clinch.

Vintage Fridays: Jack Fisher, 1961 Topps #463

Who taught Jack Fisher how to roll up his pants? He looks like a total goober.

Vintage Fridays: Ray Barker, 1961 Topps #428

Ray Barker played five games for the Orioles in 1960 as a 24-year-old rookie. The Birds had signed him as a 19-year-old free agent in 1955, and he hit 102 home runs in those first half-dozen minor league seasons to earn his September cup of coffee. Poor Ray went 0-for-6 and struck out three times.

He returned to the majors at age 29, earning a bench job with the Indians at the start of the 1965 season (as immortalized on this four-player card)...and went 0-for-6, walked twice, and was traded to the Yankees in May. Surprisingly, he eked out a decent season as a part-timer in New York, putting up a .254/.316/.410 line, 7 home runs, 31 RBI, and a 109 OPS+ in 98 games.

Unfortunately, Barker couldn't replicate that modest success. In 1966, he batted .187 with 3 homers in 61 games for the Yanks. The following year, his last in baseball, he went just 2-for-26 in 17 games. But  he finished his career with cards in four separate Topps sets (also appearing as a Yankee in 1966 and 1967). Not a bad representation.

Vintage Fridays: Paul Richards, 1961 Topps #131

The Orioles are 28-17. I've been rolling that number around in my mind for two days, because some joker scheduled a 12:35 PM game for Wednesday followed by an off-day on Thursday, so I've had plenty of time to think. The O's landed upon their first day of rest in three weeks on a slight down note, dropping two of three to the Red Sox following a series-ending loss to the Nationals. But just as I'm doing my best not to plot out playoff scenarios and trade targets for the pennant race, I'm also trying not to panic every time the Birds hit a little speed bump. The simple fact is that my favorite team, the one that hasn't broken even over a full season for half of my lifetime, has cleared the first quarter of 2012 as the leader in the American League East. The great collapse of 2005 has added an extra undercurrent of pessimism to the conversation, but that was totally different. That team was patched together with veterans nearing their expiration dates (Rafael Palmeiro, Javy Lopez, Sammy Sosa, B.J. Surhoff) and bad pitchers getting by on smoke and mirrors (Sidney Ponson, Daniel Cabrera, Rodrigo Lopez, Bruce Chen...and if you don't think I'm being fair to Chen, recall that he fell off the face of the earth from 2006-2010). It's also easy to overestimate the impact of a manager on a baseball team, but I'll take Buck Showalter over the Mazzilli-Perlozzo tag team any day, thanks. Besides, that team was 29-16 after 45 games, not 28-17. So you see, it's apples and oranges.

Anyway, I did a little hunting to find out whether the Orioles had ever won exactly 28 out of their first 45 games before, and how they fared for the duration of those seasons. On four previous occasions, the Birds were right where they are today. The results at season's end for those four clubs were a mixed bag, but there are reasons for hope.

The most recent 28-17 O's team was the 1986 edition, but that was only good enough for third place, 1.5 games behind the Red Sox. This one isn't that encouraging, as they ultimately finished last in the A.L. East at 73-89; it was their first losing season since an injury-plagued 1967 campaign. Earl Weaver retired at year's end for the second and final time. The farm system had dried up after Cal Ripken's ascent to stardom, and the Orioles were plugging too many holes with older free agents like Lee Lacy and Fred Lynn. The pitching staff was on the wrong side of mediocre, with Mike Boddicker, Scott McGregor, and Mike Flanagan all having disappointing years and Dennis Martinez finally earning a ticket out of town. The '86 team kept their heads above water into mid-August; a 12-2 rout of the Indians on August 14 boosted them to third place at 62-53, 5.5 games behind Boston and 1.5 back of the Yankees. The next day they lost and headed into a tailspin that saw them finish up with an 11-36 record in the season's final month and a half. Let's not dwell on this one.

In 1981, the "Oriole Way" was still getting the job done. Two years removed from their last World Series appearance and two years away from the next, this 28-17 club was up a game and a half on the Brewers. They had some ups and downs and found themselves two games out of first place on June 11, when the players went on strike and stayed away for two months. Ultimately, play resumed in August with a split-season format that put a wrench in the Birds' postseason hopes. The Yankees went to the "Division Series" (a best-of-five format that predated the wild card by 14 years) as first-half champions, and the Brewers took the second half East crown with a 31-22 record. Post-strike, the O's were 28-23, two games behind Milwaukee and a half game back of Boston and Detroit. The Brewers had the best overall record at 62-47, but the Orioles were only a game worse at 59-46. If the top two finishers in aggregate were allowed into the playoffs, it would've been Baltimore duking it out with the Brew Crew. Stupid labor relations.

You'll like this one: the Orioles were also 28-17 in 1966, one game off the pace of the front-running Indians. After enduring a losing May (14-16), the O's turned on the afterburners with a 25-8 June and a 19-10 July. They breezed to 97 wins and captured the American League pennant before shutting down the Dodgers for Charm City's first-ever World Series triumph. From July 17 to the end of the regular season, the Birds' first-place margin was never less than 8 games.

The first of Baltimore's 28-17 teams was Paul Richards' 1960 group, and they most closely parallel the 2012 edition. The O's had yet to post a winning record in their first six seasons after moving from St. Louis; when you include the misadventures of the Browns, the franchise hadn't been a contender since the end of World War II. Paul Richards had come aboard as manager in 1955 and had stockpiled younger talents and veteran role players, but the Birds didn't get over the hump until 1960. They spent 51 total days in first place, though a mid-September four-game series sweep by the Yankees swung the pennant to New York. Still, Baltimore finished in second place at 89-65. First baseman Jim Gentile, rescued from the deep Dodgers farm system, led the offense with a .903 OPS and 98 RBI, foreshadowing his monster effort in 1961. 22-year-old shortstop Ronnie Hansen won the Rookie of the Year voting on the strength of his team-leading 22 home runs. Brooks Robinson batted .294 and drove in 88 runs, and I'm going to guess that he was pretty spiffy at third base as well. A half-dozen pitchers started at least 18 games each, and only 35-year-old Hal Brown was above the age of 22. None of those aforementioned starters posted an ERA higher than 3.74. Though those 1960 Orioles didn't finish the job, they made it clear that they wouldn't be doormats any longer.

Vintage Fridays: Earl Robinson, 1961 Topps #343

Let this card serve as a reminder that Topps has been clumsily manipulating images for several decades. It's not just a recent thing. In this case, Earl Robinson's Dodgers helmet has been painted over with an orange and black that look more like red and navy blue. The Orioles had just purchased his contract the previous December, so Topps didn't have many options here. Earl would play in a career-high 96 games for the O's in 1961, batting .266 with a strong .354 on-base percentage. He totaled 8 home runs and 30 RBI, and his .455 slugging percentage was second-best on the team behind Jim Gentile. Robinson never stuck in Baltimore, though; he saw action in just 29 games in 1962 and another 37 contests in 1964. As it stands, he has had to accept his fate as the third-best Robinson in Orioles history. Of course, the competition is pretty fierce.

Vintage Fridays: Gene Stephens, 1961 Topps #102

Don't even act like you didn't know that today was Gene Stephens' 79th birthday. I poke fun, but the Arkansas native hung around the big leagues for a dozen seasons as a part-time outfielder, primarily with the Red Sox. He spent 364 days as an Oriole, arriving on June 9, 1960 from Boston in exchange for outfielder Willie Tasby and departing for Kansas City on June 8, 1961 in exchange for the supremely flaky "Marvelous" Marv Throneberry.

At first blush, his O's tenure was underwhelming. Gene batted .238/.327/.373 with 5 homers and 11 RBI in 227 plate appearances in 1960, and dipped to .190/.347/.224 with a pair of RBI in 72 trips to the plate the following year before being traded. But the five homers he hit in his first half-season in Charm City are more than he hit in all but one full season elsewise (9, 1958). Stephens had one of his biggest hits as an Oriole just a week after joining the team. On June 17, 1960, Detroit's Frank Lary had blanked the Birds for 6 innings and was protecting a 1-0 lead when Brooks Robinson led off the seventh with a triple. The runner had to hold on a grounder to first base by pinch hitter Bob Boyd, which brought up the pitcher's spot in the order. Manager Paul Richards called upon Gene to pinch-hit for Jerry Walker, and the outfielder responded with a go-ahead two-run home run. The O's pushed across another run and held on for a 3-1 win. It was the third and final pinch homer of Stephens' career. Incredibly, his first longball as a pinch-hitter also came off of Lary, on August 28, 1956. Even better, it was an inside-the-park job! Frank Lary was probably not a Gene Stephens fan; in their 28 meetings, the outfielder batted .308 and slugged .731, adding a pair of doubles and a third home run to his couple of pinch homers. Not bad work for someone with 37 career home runs.

Vintage Fridays: Steve Barber, 1961 Topps #125

I see that Things Done To Cards hasn't been updated all summer, but I've got a test case for them. If something looks amiss in that scan above, it's because some enterprising collector chose to preserve his or her Steve Barber card by coating the front of it in Con-Tac paper. Sure, they failed to smooth out a few air pockets in the top left corner, and the very top of the card has had the Con-Tac pulled off, leaving a sticky residue that served as a lint magnet, but overall the surface is in pretty danged good shape. It's like they were decades ahead of their time, creating a DIY glossy finish! Has anyone else found old cards modified in this fashion?

Vintage Fridays: Jerry Walker, 1961 Topps #85

This card was sent to me by reader Bob, known as the Commish around these parts, back in the infancy of this blog. I'm going to go ahead and assume that Jerry Walker actually did sign this card, because there's not much of a secondary market for his John Hancock. Or is there?

If you're as foolhardy as I am, you may have stayed up and fretted through all 15 innings of the Orioles' wrenching loss to the rassumfrassum Yankees on Wednesday night (and on into Thursday morning). Even though rookie Zach Britton gave the O's seven solid innings, the bullpen was still tapped out and then some. All seven Baltimore relievers were used, and Buck Showalter even had to burn Thursday's starter Jeremy Guthrie. You can thank the putrid Mike Gonzalez and trigger-happy home plate umpire Dan Bellino, who ejected Gonzo for a presumably accidental beaning of Chris Dickerson. But if Buck had been managing the Birds 50 years ago, he might not have put himself through all of that trouble. Paul Richards certainly didn't.

The date was September 11, 1959, and the Orioles and White Sox met at Memorial Stadium for a Friday doubleheader. The O's took the opener 3-0, with Fat Jack Fisher tossing a complete game three-hitter in a tidy hour and 53 minutes to spare the bullpen. Billy Pierce also went the distance in a losing cause for Chicago, but Jerry Walker almost equaled the combined efforts of those two starters in the nightcap. The bats remained missing in action, with the Pale Hose managing five singles off of the 20-year-old Walker through nine scoreless innings. The home team was no better, scraping out two singles and a Bob Boyd double off of 23-year-old Sox starter Barry Latman through nine.

According to Walker, manager Paul Richards came to him in the eighth or ninth inning and asked how he felt. The righthander insisted that he felt good, and the skipper let him know that he was keeping him in the game. It looked like it might be over in the tenth when Billy Gardner hit a one-out single for the Birds. Walker followed with another single (his second of the night) to chase Latman, but Chicago reliever Gerry Staley struck out pinch hitter Bob Nieman and retired Al Pilarcik on a comebacker. If the O's pitcher was frustrated, he didn't let it show. Instead, he seemed to get stronger. From the ninth inning through the fourteenth, he retired 17 White Sox batters in a row. Earl Torgeson snapped the streak by drawing a two-out walk, but Gus Triandos promptly gunned him out at second base on an attempted steal.

With Richards checking on Walker every inning, the youngster kept convincing his manager that he was ship-shape. Improbably, he tossed a perfect fifteenth, and got two more outs in the sixteenth before yielding a Luis Aparicio single. Again, the inning ended on a caught stealing. This time, Richards drew the line in the sand, telling his pitcher that he was done. Fortunately, the White Sox flinched first. In the bottom of the sixteenth Staley (himself working on his seventh inning of relief) allowed a leadoff single to Pilarcik. Barry Shetrone bunted the runner to second, and Gene Woodling was intentionally walked to get to Bob Boyd, who grounded into a force play at second base. With two outs and runners on the corners, none other than Brooks Robinson brought an end to the stalemate with a game-winning single. Baltimore won 1-0 in 16 innings, with Jerry Walker getting one of the hardest-earned complete game shutouts you could imagine. His final line: 6 hits, 3 walks, 4 strikeouts, 0 runs in 16 innings pitched. That's a lot of balls in play!

Walker lowered his earned run average from 2.94 to 2.66 in earning the 11th win of his first full big league season. Unsurprisingly, he was hit hard in his final two starts of the year, yielding 9 runs in 13 innings to finish 11-10 with a 2.92 ERA. The former "bonus baby" had already peaked as a major leaguer, and injuries and ineffectiveness ended his career within five years. He retired with a 37-44 record and a 4.36 ERA, and tossed only one more shutout the rest of the way. Somewhat incredibly, Jerry still doesn't blame his shortened career on that 16-inning marathon, rationalizing that the few baserunners he allowed made it a relatively low-impact game. He estimates that he threw 170 pitches that day, or 11 per inning. That seems a little low, but he was there and I wasn't. Walker allows that he was "extremely sore" the following day (I should think so!), but maintains that the O's generally monitored his workload appropriately and that he didn't truly injure himself until the 1961 season, his first with the Kansas City Athletics.

Either way, it makes my arm hurt just thinking about it.

Vintage Fridays: Al Pilarcik, 1961 Topps #62

If there's anything about this blog that I regret, it's that I sometimes don't take the time to learn more about an Orioles player from the early years of the franchise until after they've passed away. Such is the case with Al Pilarcik, who passed away three weeks ago at age 80.

Born in Whiting, IN, Al was yet another talented player who was a casualty of the far-reaching and overstocked Yankee farm system. He was a speedy outfielder with a cannon for an arm, but he was also a victim of bad timing. After hitting .305 with 25 doubles and 12 triples at AA Beaumont in 1952, he was called away to military service. Thus the youngster lost his age 22 and 23 seasons, and was sent back to AA when he returned in 1955. The following year a trade to the bedraggled Kansas City Athletics (themselves a glorified Yankee farm club) afforded him the opportunity to play in the majors, some eight years after he signed his first pro contract. He hit .251 in 69 games and was traded to the Orioles, where he'd make his mark.

Pilarcik's finest year was 1957, his first in Baltimore. Playing in a career-high 142 games, he batted .278, reached based at a .359 clip, and had 9 home runs, 49 RBI, and 14 steals (leading the team in swipes). He was one of the toughest batters in the league to strike out, whiffing only 28 times that year (and 150 times in 1860 career plate appearances). He also showed off his arm by throwing out 15 runners on the bases (second-best in the A.L.). For the next three seasons, he ranked among the best defensive outfielders in the league in terms of fielding percentage and range factor.

In all, Al spent four seasons in an Oriole uniform before finishing his career with a season split between Kansas City and the White Sox. He was a career .256 hitter with 22 homers and 143 RBI. He earned a degree in physical education from Valparaiso University, attending classes in the offseason. After receiving his master's from Purdue, he taught high school health in St. John, IN for 34 years while coaching baseball, basketball, and football. In 1987, he was inducted into the Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame.

So long, Al. Sorry I didn't make your acquaintance sooner.

Vintage Fridays: Ron Hansen, 1961 Topps #240

As you're looking at this nearly fifty-year-old card, the first thing that jumps out at you is likely the ornate trophy icon that stretches from Ron Hansen's hips to his wrists. Since 1959, Topps has selected an All-Star Rookie team. The awesome logo you see above appeared on cards for the honored young players from 1960-1972. In 1973, they switched to a simple gold cup commonly known as the "Rookie Cup"; this design appeared on cards that year and again from 1975-1978, and finally from 1987 on through to the current day. I've always enjoyed seeing that designation on a card; it's visually appealing and it feels a little special. When I got back into collecting in 2007, my first purchase was that year's Series 1 Topps Orioles team set. I was proud to see the Rookie Cup on Nick Markakis' card; it was like a form of validation that the promising young outfielder had truly arrived.

Topps picks the top rookie at each position (there's no DH but there is both a LHP and a RHP, and there are 3 OFs just like the Gold Gloves). Some choices are a slam dunk, like Hansen. He hit 22 home runs and drove in 86 as a shortstop, which was rarefied air in those days. Not only was he the American League's Rookie of the Year, but he finished fifth in MVP balloting. Other times, Topps had to select from a shallow pool. I did a double take when I saw the Rookie Cup on Geronimo Gil's 2003 card (2002 stats: .232 AVG, .277 OBP, 12 HR. 45 RBI), for instance.

Earlier this week, Topps announced their latest All-Star Rookie Team. Though the O's crop of budding young players had been shut out of the Rookie of the Year voting, they were represented on this team by outfielder Nolan Reimold, who hit .279 and led all A. L. rookies in home runs (15), on-base percentage (.365), and slugging percentage (.466). But the real news was the exclusion of much-heralded rookie catcher Matt Wieters, who was apparently passed over in favor of 28-year-old former Oriole and current Met receiver Omir Santos. Their stats (both played in 96 games):

Wieters: .288/.340/.412, 15 2B, 9 HR, 43 RBI
Santos: .260/.296/.391, 14 2B, 7 HR, 40 RBI

So what's the deal? Was Topps suffering from New York Bias? Were they committing blasphemy? Did they deem themselves unworthy of so much as uttering the name of the Great Wieters? Not quite. As near as I can tell, this bizarre selection was the result of good old fashioned baseball card company politics.

Last year, Razor (a smaller-time company that focuses on autographs and memorabilia and specializes in minor league and amateur players) trumpeted the signing of Wieters to an "exclusive" contract. Since Upper Deck has an agreement with the MLB Players' Association, however, they would have the right to produce cards of the catcher as soon as he was called up to the Orioles' big league roster (i.e., May 29, 2009). Topps' license is with the MLB itself, and not the players' association, so they're apparently shut out from the Wieters Derby until 365 days after his MLB debut; you won't see any Topps cards of the ex-Yellow Jacket until after Memorial Day 2010. I can barely make sense of the particulars here, but Razor basically wanted to boast that they would have Matt "first". Ugh.

So there you have it; Matt Wieters signed the deal with Razor ---> Topps can't feature him in their 2010 Series 1 ---> Topps chooses the path of least resistance and goes with a less-impressive catcher on their All-Star Rookie team. I'm sure Wieters will take solace in the MVP, Gold Glove, Silver Slugger, All-Star MVP, and World Series MVP trophies that he'll collect in 2010. No pressure, bud.

Vintage Fridays: Dave Philley, 1961 Topps #369

I was stunned to learn that Dom DiMaggio, a seven-time All-Star center fielder for the Red Sox and the younger brother of Joe DiMaggio, passed away this morning. It was one of those weird cosmic coincidences, in that just yesterday I was learning about Dom's career by reading David Halberstam's book Summer of '49 and had given him a mention on my 1965 Topps blog. Speaking frankly, I was also a bit surprised that he had still been alive until today; 92 years is a long life by any standard.

So I got to thinking: who is the oldest living ex-Orioles player? After poring over the team's rosters from 1954-1964, the dean of the Birds is none other than pinch hitter extraordinaire Dave Philley. He was born on May 16 (my grandmother's birthday) in 1920. God willing, he will blow out 89 candles on his cake a week from tomorrow. A switch hitter, he made his major league debut with the White Sox in 1941, just in time to lose four years of his career to service in World War II. In an early indicator of his longevity, he still played in the big leagues for parts of eighteen seasons, retiring at age 42 after playing 38 games in 1962 with the Red Sox. He earned a spot in the record books in 1959, when he hit safely in his ninth consecutive appearance as a pinch hitter. He was a favorite of manager Paul Richards and had two stints with the O's. In the second half of the 1955 season, he hit .299 in his first go-round in Baltimore and was named Most Valuable Oriole. In 1961, his final season in Charm City, he set American League records with 24 pinch hits in 72 tries (.333 AVG). Today, he still lives in his hometown of Paris, Texas.

Congratulations on a long and remarkable career and an even longer life, Dave!

Vintage Fridays: Gus Triandos, 1961 Topps #140

Ten thoughts on Gus Triandos:

1. I absolutely would not want to be an opposing baserunner, trying to beat the relay throw home and seeing that mug staring back at me.

2. If you're an Oriole fan looking for any and every example of the Birds getting the best of the Yankees, it's worth noting that he was the Birds' big "get" in a historic seventeen-player trade in November 1954. In the New York pecking order he had been blocked by Berra and Elston Howard. In Baltimore he became one of the best power-hitting catchers of his time.

3. Using Baseball-Reference's Oracle of Baseball (similar to "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon"), you can link Triandos to Chris Hoiles (the O's catcher who has come closest to beating Gus' single-season team record of 30 HR by a catcher) in two steps. There are a few ways to do it, including Brooks Robinson (Gus' teammate 1955-1962) ---> Rick Dempsey (Brooks' teammate 1976-1977) ---> Hoiles (Rick's teammate 1992).

4. Gus caught Hoyt Wilhelm's no-hitter against the Yankees in 1958 and Jim Bunning's perfect game (with the Phillies) against the Mets in 1964.

5. Speaking of catching Wilhelm and his knuckleball, it was not Triandos' favorite thing to do. Thanks largely to the thankless task of chasing the fluttering pitch, Gus ranks eighth in the modern era with 138 passed balls. Paul Richards designed an oversized catcher's mitt for him, but it wasn't enough. One offseason, a reporter called to let the catcher know he'd been traded to the Dodgers. He let out a cheer, and talked about how eager he was to leave Baltimore. It turned out that the trade rumor was false...oops!

6. Gus is not a big fan of Casey Stengel, who did not give him much of a shot in the Bronx and left him sitting on the bench in the 1957 All-Star Game. But he acknowledges that Elston Howard was still a pretty good choice as Casey's catcher. Oddly enough, Gus and Casey share a birthday (July 30).

7. Triandos led the Orioles in home runs each season from 1955-1959. Some years it wasn't a big challenge. In 1955, the runner-up was a three-way tie between Cal Abrams, Dave Philley, and Hoot Evers, with six apiece! (To be fair, Memorial Stadium was like Death Valley in 1955: 450 feet to center field and 447 to the power alleys. Yikes.)

8. Gus now runs a postal company in San Jose, CA. At least he did at the time of this interview.

9. Of the 154 home runs accounted for in Gus' home run log, only one was a walkoff shot. It came off of former Oriole teammate Robin Roberts in the bottom of the tenth inning on September 14, 1963. His clout gave the Tigers a 3-2 win.

10. For more on Gus Triandos, including a card featuring him in a Phillies uniform, check out this post at my other blog.

Vintage Fridays: Paul Richards, 1961 Topps #566

I'm sorry to inform you that this is my last "live" post for a little while; I'm going on vacation for another week. Okay, let's be honest; I'm not that sorry. Just as I did in July, I've scheduled a series of "This Day in Orioles History" posts to publish each day while I'm away. So you'll be in good hands.

I'll be shoving off bright and early tomorrow morning with my parents and some friends of the family for our lakeside cottage in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The cottage, which was built by my grandfather and great-grandfather, is tucked away up in the Endless Mountains, and it's our destination for those times when we're looking to relax and do very little else. No reliable cell phone signal, no Internet, no cable television. I plan to do a lot of reading, a bit of writing...but the beauty of it is that I haven't had to do much planning. My Dad and I will be attending a Scranton-Wilkes Barre Yankees game on Thursday, which I will undoubtedly discuss with you when I return. (I much preferred things when they were the S-WB Red Barons, the Phillies' AAA team, but what can you do?)

I don't imagine that there was a lot of leisurely fun and relaxation to be had when the salty Paul Richards helmed the young Orioles. "The Wizard of Waxahachie" ran a tight ship, but he had the right mix of patience, technique, and ingenuity to lay the foundation for the team that would be one of baseball's best for two decades. I don't know how often Paul took vacations, but he certainly earned the right to kick his feet up once in a while.

Vintage Fridays: Walt Dropo, 1961 Topps #489

Why does hulking first baseman Walt "Moose" Dropo look so troubled? Is it because dusk seems to be falling in the stadium and he's afraid of vampires? Is he unnerved by the somewhat-demented facial expression of the decapitated bird on his left sleeve? If you ask me, the answer is yes on both counts. But it is a Friday, and I'm probably just punchy. It's more likely that he's just thinking back to Walt Dropo Day.

Walt Dropo's parents were immigrants from Yugoslavia who settled on a farm in Moosup, Connecticut, just outside of Hartford. Walt grew up playing sandlot ball with his brothers, and attended the University of Connecticut. After school, the 6'5", 220-pound Dropo was offered an NFL contract by the Chicago Bears but signed with the Boston Red Sox to play baseball. He is best remembered for his outstanding rookie year of 1950, when he established what would be career highs in all three Triple Crown categories (.322 AVG, 34 HR, 144 RBI) and easily outpaced runner-up Whitey Ford for the AL Rookie of the Year Award. In 1952, he earned a place in baseball's record books with base hits in twelve straight plate appearances! But from that high, the next year brought a humbling low for Dropo.

In 1953, Walt and the Detroit Tigers played an exhibition game in familiar territory: Hartford, Connecticut. The townspeople honored their local boy by declaring it to be "Walt Dropo Day". He was honored with several pre-game speeches and gifts, including a new car. Unfortunately for Moose, there was still a game to play. On Walt Dropo Day, the man of the hour was 0-for-6 at the plate and committed three errors at first base. He probably considered himself fortunate that his hosts didn't ask for the car back!

Walt Dropo's career came to an end in 1961, the year this card was issued. After hitting .259 with one home run in just fourteen games, the Orioles released him on May 24. But history has remembered him primarily for his early-career slugging feats, and not for a notorious performance in an unofficial contest. Now eighty-five years old, Dropo still lives in New England (Boston, to be exact). One of my favorite quirks of Baseball Reference is that anyone can sponsor a player's page for a small fee (usually $5-$10), and they get the ad space to include a personalized message and/or web link. Walt Dropo's page is simply sponsored by "The kids", and their message reads: "Grandpa Walter!". I'm going to trust Wikipedia and assume that some or all of Walt's five grandchildren are "the kids" in question. I thought that was pretty sweet.