Vintage Fridays: Jim Gentile, 1963 Topps #260

How do you know that Jim Gentile was a beast of a man, intent on punishing baseballs with malice aforethought? Two bats. Not one, but two. Also, check out those short sleeves. He's halfway to a Kluszewski.

Vintage Fridays: Stu Miller, 1963 Topps #286

 

It's been a good couple of nights in Birdland. Last night Janet and I treated our unborn child (six more weeks!) to its second O's game. A rare RAIN-FREE game, to boot! After Ubaldo Jimenez did his best to send us screaming toward the exit, somehow allowing "just" five runs on 14 base runners in five-plus innings, the Orioles reacquainted themselves with the ever-adventurous Detroit bullpen. A two-run spurt in the bottom of the sixth set the stage for a fantastic five-run seventh. The Birds swatted five singles in the span of six batters, with Pedro Alvarez's single squirting under Miguel Cabrera's first baseman's mitt and into right field to score Adam Jones with the tying run. Jonathan Schoop followed with the coup de grace, a line drive into the right field corner for his first career triple, plating Chris Davis and Alvarez with the go-ahead runs. From there, it was the tried-and-true formula of O'Day in the eighth and Britton in the ninth, 7-5 final. Baby B is 2-0.

Tonight the Orioles made it six wins in a row with a 1-0 squeaker, and they're a season-best 10 games over .500 at 22-12. Chris Tillman continued his strong recent work with seven innings of five-hit, two-walk, seven-strikeout ball, and Adam Jones made a tough-luck loser out of Justin Verlander by crushing a solo homer into the Baltimore bullpen in the sixth inning. It was Adam's 200th career home run. When Tillman departed, O'Day and Britton again put up their customary zeroes in innings eight and nine. Zach's flawless ninth earned him his tenth save of the year and number 83 of his career, tying everybody's darling Jorge Julio for fifth-most in team history. Up next on the leaderboard is Stu Miller with 99, and Tippy Martinez isn't much farther ahead at 105.

Oh! And the Red Sox FINALLY lost, 7-6 to the Astros. So the O's are alone in first place again. It's better than the alternative, I'll say that.

Vintage Fridays: Steve Barber, 1963 Topps #12

On May 1, 1966, Steve Barber and Dick Hall combined to scatter eight hits while holding the Detroit Tigers to a single run in a 4-1 Orioles victory at Tiger Stadium. Boog Powell's fourth-inning two-run homer provided all the offense the O's would need, and Brooks Robinson added some insurance an inning later with a two-run single. Hall earned a save the hard way by inheriting a two-on, one-out situation in the eighth inning and stranding both runners, then finishing the game off in the ninth. It was the 10th straight win and 12th in the first 13 games of the still-new season for the Birds, who were en route to their first American League pennant and their first World Series triumph.

May 1 is also an important day to me personally. Two years ago today, I proposed to Janet, and she was foolhardy enough to say yes. We're celebrating tonight as we did way back in 2013, with a backyard bonfire, ice cream cake, and a bottle of Dogfish Head Positive Contact ale. So this is where I'll leave you.

Vintage Fridays: Luis Aparicio, 1963 Topps #205

The White Sox had the nerve to trade Luis Aparicio to the Orioles in January of 1963. So Topps had to slap a drab hatless portrait of Looie on his card, but there was still the inset photo to worry about. Pity the poor baseball card company drone who had to draw an O's cap onto a tiny black-and-white photo of an All-Star shortstop. What I'm trying to say is that I can almost understand why Aparicio looks like the Great Gazoo in the inset photo.

Vintage Fridays: Ron Hansen, 1963 Topps #88

That's the original Yankee Stadium behind Ron Hansen. More accurately, Hansen is standing in Yankee Stadium. The House That Ruth Built was not an easy place to play, but the mega-million-dollar tribute to capitalism that replaced it in 2009 hasn't had that same intimidating atmosphere. Maybe it has something to do with the common fans being priced out of seats, or maybe they're still there but they're being muffled by the concrete moat that separates them from the field-level seats. At any rate, the Orioles have had a fair share of success there in the past few seasons. Tonight, it's been another edge-of-the-seat battle. 2-1 O's after six innings. I'd like to see the Baltimore bats snap back to life after a lethargic series in Chicago, but then people in hell would like ice water, as my grandmother used to say.   Rally caps on, everybody.

Vintage Fridays: Hobie Landrith, 1963 Topps #209

Yep, we've gone from Drungo to Hobie. Regrettably, Hobie is just a nickname. On the plus side, it's short for "Hobart". A few fun facts about Hobie:

-He was one of seven brothers to play catcher for Northwestern High School in Detroit.

-At age 15, he sometimes worked out at Briggs Stadium, helping Tigers pitchers warm up. He also helped Hank Greenberg get back in playing shape once the slugger returned from military service.

-The Mets made him their first pick in the expansion draft, with Casey Stengel rationalizing in his own inimitable way: "You have to have catchers or you're going to have a lot of passed balls."

-Hobie played only 23 games as a Met, but did deliver the team's first walkoff win with a two-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth off of Milwaukee's Warren Spahn.

-His place in Mets lore was secured on June 7, 1962 when he was sent to the Orioles as the player to be named later in the May 9 trade that made Marvelous Marv Throneberry a Met.

-Landrith hit four home runs as an Oriole, but one of them was a game-winner off of Boston's Dick Radatz with one out in the ninth inning on June 22, 1962. It came with one out and Jerry Adair aboard, turning a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 victory.

-Despite his 1962 heroics, Hobie wasn't much of a hitter. He retired in 1963 with a .233/.320/.327 batting line (75 OPS+), 34 home runs, and 203 RBI in parts of 14 seasons.

-At last check, he was residing in Sunnyvale, CA.

Vintage Fridays: Robin Roberts, 1963 Topps #125

I really wish that I didn't have to spend so much time on this blog providing obituaries for the men who made baseball in Baltimore what it is today. I suppose it goes with the territory when your favorite team is in its 57th year of existence, and when the glory days of that club are several decades in the past. Still, it's been an uncommonly rough year for ex-Orioles. By my count, six have passed away in the first four months and change of 2010. That's not even counting former radio man Ernie Harwell and longtime traveling secretary Phil Itzoe. The world is moving on.

I don't have much to say about Robin Roberts, who died yesterday after a remarkable 83 years on this Earth. Within the past year or two I contemplated mailing him one of the few cards I own that shows him in his O's uniform, but I heard that he charged a few bucks for his autograph and put it on the back burner. Woulda, coulda, shoulda. Ultimately, there's nothing I can say about the Hall of Famer that would compare to the excellent and heartfelt eulogy that Joe Posnanski delivered in his blog yesterday. Please give it a read.

Vintage Fridays: Hoyt Wilhelm, 1963 Topps #108

This Day in Orioles History: May 22, 1959

Orioles 5, Yankees 0 at Memorial Stadium, Baltimore, MD

The upstart Orioles (21-15) and the dynastic Yankees (12-20) each continued their surprising starts, as 36-year-old Hoyt Wilhelm improved to 6-0 with a one-hit masterpiece. Wilhelm, who would go on to lead the American League with his 2.19 ERA that season, continued his mastery of the Bronx Bombers. Since joining the O's in a midseason trade the previous year, Hoyt was undefeated against New York, no-hitting them in his first try and winning three decisions in five tries. As an Oriole, he had allowed three runs on 15 hits in 43 innings, with 33 strikeouts and 18 walks. That's a 0.63 ERA and 0.77 WHIP, folks. He would shut the Yanks out again in his next start (a four-hitter!) before the pinstripers finally bested him 4-1 at the end of June. Talk about your Yankee Killers!

On offense, the Birds jumped on former Oriole Bob Turley early, knocking him out of the box in the first inning. "Bullet Bob" got two outs and then fell apart. A Gene Woodling RBI single was followed by a Gus Triandos two-run homer. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases before Wilhelm walked to drive in the fourth Baltimore run. That's when Casey Stengel finally gave his starter the hook. A fifth-inning walk by Billy Klaus capped the day's scoring. The sole Yankee hit was a Jerry Lumpe leadoff single to left field to lead off the eighth inning, but pinch hitter Johnny Blanchard immediately wiped him out with a double-play grounder.

If you think this game choice on my part was a bit of retribution for the just-completed Yankee sweep, I'm not going to argue.

Vintage Fridays: Pete Burnside, 1963 Topps #19

I don't know who you think you're fooling, Pete Burnside. I don't care what that tiny black text says at the bottom of your card. You're no Oriole. Look at you! Your feature photo is in pinstripes, with the Washington Senators "W" on your hat. You've got some nerve, putting on a blank white jersey with piping down the center for your inset photo. You didn't even bother dropping the "W" hat for that shoot!

Look, you make a good argument, Pete. You spent all of 1962 in D.C., only to be sent to the O's in December. It was too late to try out that orange, black, and white uniform, so Topps went to press with what they had. But branding you as an Oriole, even if it was in name only, was a mighty futile gesture. You made it onto the field for six whole games for Baltimore, seven-plus innings total. You allowed thirteen baserunners, and were lucky to only surrender four runs. The Orioles released you in May, and before you could say "Boomerang", you were back in the "W". You fared even worse there, unfortunately, and 1963 was all she wrote for Pete Burnside.

I hope you didn't try out a post-baseball career as a Master of Disguise.

Vintage Fridays: Wes Stock, 1963 Topps #438

Baseball is a sport notorious for its colorful and often cruel nicknames. The first deaf player in the big leagues was known as "Dummy" Hoy. Mordecai Brown, the great Cub pitcher, was known as "Three-Finger" due to a disfiguring farm accident from his childhood. I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but my favorite mean baseball moniker is that of former Giants and Dodgers pitcher Fat Freddie Fitzsimmons.

Take a good look at ol' Wes Stock up there. If you're like me, you'll be surprised to learn that neither Baseball Reference nor Wikipedia have a record of any nicknames for the former relief specialist. Not even, say, Dumbo, or Earflaps, or perhaps Gomer. I would have thought that his teammates and peers would at least make light of his offensive shortcomings. As a reliever, Wes only batted fifty-nine times in nine seasons. He had three hits, all of them coming in 1964 with the Kansas City Athletics. That's an .051 batting average, kids.

Okay, this has been a needlessly taunting post. In all seriousness, Wes Stock was a valuable and resilient pitcher for the Birds in the early 1960s. He spent one year in the minor leagues before losing the next two to military service, but joined the O's on his return in 1959. In 1962 he led the team in games pitched with 53. He sandwiched this feat between undefeated campaigns (5-0 and 7-0, respectively). For his career, Wes had a great 27-13 record. That's certainly 27 more wins than you or I have.