Mike Boddicker, 1984 Topps #191

Blink and you'll miss me today. I'm dashing this blog post off in a hurry so that I can head downtown with my lovely and patient and open-minded wife to attend a live taping of WWE RAW at the Baltimore Arena. I'd be excited about witnessing my first live WWE event in two years anyhow, but add in the fact that it's Janet's first live wrestling show of any kind and it gets a little more juice. Last week brought the cherry on top, as it was announced that this would be an "Old School" themed show. Yes, WWE is dipping into the nostalgia pool, harkening back to previous decades when it was known as the WWF. There will be retro-themed multimedia displays and set pieces (including those grand old red, white, and blue ring ropes), and some of the legends of the squared circle will make appearances. Ric Flair has already been confirmed, but the commercials also made reference to other names of my childhood. Rowdy Roddy Piper and "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase will surely ring a bell with many of you.

If anybody can understand nostalgia, it's baseball card collectors. I'm sure Topps wouldn't have spent the past 15 years cramming reprints of - and tributes to - yesteryear's cards down our throats if folks weren't buying the cards. For this Orioles fan, even the often-goofy 1980s rekindles a warm glow and thoughts of a time when the O's were World Champions and Mike Boddicker was just the latest 20-game winner instead of the last one in franchise history.

Todd Cruz, 1984 Topps #773

I really wish I wasn't writing this entry tonight, or ever for that matter. Former Orioles third baseman Todd Cruz, a member of the 1983 World Series Championship team, died on Tuesday. He had been swimming in the pool at his apartment complex in Arizona. The cause of death hasn't been announced, pending the coroner's examination. It's believed that he suffered a heart attack. Cruz was 52 - younger than both of my parents. It's never easy to hear about the premature passing of a player from your childhood, even if his career ended before you even knew what a baseball was. It troubled me in recent years to hear about the deaths of men like Dave McNally, Moe Drabowsky, and Mark Belanger, but these were guys who played before I was even born. There was more of a sense that they were from a bygone era. It was less shocking somehow. I don't know that I'm making any sense.

I find it hard to believe that two players from that 1983 team are deceased now, each meeting his end in sudden and tragic ways. Of course, I might have missed someone, but the other who comes to mind is Aurelio Rodriguez. He was released in August of 1983 and finished the season with the White Sox. He, like Cruz, was 52 when he was fatally struck by a car while walking through southwest Detroit in September of 2000. The driver had suffered a stroke and swerved onto the sidewalk.

My sympathies go out to Todd's family. He leaves behind two sons and a sister. I hope he's manning the hot corner in the Memorial Stadium of the great beyond, but I wish he didn't have to take that field so soon.

Eddie Murray, 1984 Topps #397

This Day in Orioles History: August 10, 1985

Orioles 9, Rangers 8 at Arlington Stadium

Eddie Murray provided the lumber in a wild Texas slugfest, pushing the struggling O's one game over .500 at 54-53. Baltimore charged out to a commanding lead, pushing seven runs across the plate in the third inning. Most of the damage came on three home runs: a leadoff solo shot by Floyd Rayford and a pair of two-run clouts by Lee Lacy and Murray. Back-to-back doubles by Fred Lynn and Gary Roenicke accounted for the sixth tally, and a Rick Dempsey single scored Roenicke. Thirteen batters stepped into the box in the frame, and all nine Birds starters reached base at least once. Dempsey had two of the team's eight hits in the inning (he would finish 4-for-5 on the day). If not for Lee Lacy striking out and leaving the bases loaded, they might still be batting!

After Texas closed within four runs at 7-3, run-scoring hits by Cal and Eddie nudged the advantage back to a half-dozen in the sixth. But Storm Davis hit the wall in the seventh, surrendering a three-run homer to Cliff Johnson and yielding to 32-year-old rookie Nate Snell. Snell himself would toss up a gopher ball to Duane Walker in the eighth, and the Rangers drew within one run. Mustachioed closer Don Aase shut the door on the home team in the ninth, putting the tying and winning runs on base before striking out Wayne Tolleson to put the game in the win column for the Orioles. Storm Davis got the "W" despite allowing six runs on ten hits in six and two-thirds innings. Just another day at the office.

Joe Altobelli, 1984 Topps #21

Sometimes the best-laid plans go to pot. Tonight the Orioles are commemorating the 25th anniversary of the 1983 World Champs, and they're going all out. Upper-deck seats are selling for $5.50 - the same as they would have in Memorial Stadium. Both the O's and the visiting Blue Jays will be wearing vintage 1983 throwback uniforms. Best of all, several members of that championship team (most notably Cal Ripken, Jr., Eddie Murray, and Jim Palmer) will be in attendance for a pregame press conference, on-field ceremonies, and to greet fans. Regrettably, I'm not going to be there for it.

I had an inkling last week that I would want to set aside this night to take a trip to the Yard. But there was a possibility that I would have rehearsal; our play resumes tomorrow, and some of the cast was concerned about getting rusty. But it wasn't until yesterday afternoon that I found out those plans were scrapped due to incompatible schedules. With barely twenty-four hours' notice, I sent out an email to some friends from high school, trying to drum up interest in the game. I got two maybes and two nos. But by this afternoon, it was three nos and I hadn't heard back from the remaining maybe. In the meantime, it had started to rain and I still had things to do before the rapidly-approaching weekend. You know, boring grown-up things like laundry, groceries, what have you. So I took a rain check, and I'll have to wait for another day to rub elbows with the heroes of yesteryear.

I'm not sure if Joe Altobelli will be on hand. I imagine that his time in Baltimore didn't work out the way that he'd hoped or expected, either. Given the unenviable task of replacing the retired Hall of Famer Earl Weaver, the former Giants skipper piloted the Birds to a World Series win (their first in thirteen years) in his first year on the job. However, the team got old in a hurry, as an emphasis on established free agents over farm system development hastened the Orioles' decline. With the team languishing in fourth place in 1985, Joe was fired just 55 games into the season and replaced by none other than Earl Weaver, making it seem as though Altobelli had never even been on the O's bench. So tonight, take just a moment to remember a man who made the most out of a difficult situation.

Benny Ayala, 1984 Topps #443

In honor of the underdog New York Giants, here's scrappy utility player Benny Ayala. Benny says, Go Big Blue!