Ben McDonald, 1996 Pinnacle #120

The last time the U. S. Government shut down was 1996. The idea of a government shutdown as a negotiating tactic has aged about as well as these gray Oriole hats.

This time, I am one of the scores of federal employees who has been furloughed. The House of Representatives can't get their act together, so they've sent me home to think about what they did. I don't know how long I'll be barred from working, but I hope to make the best of it by doing some of the organizing and cleaning that this house so desperately needs. If I should happen to catch up on my sleep as well...so be it.

Cal Ripken, Jr., 1996 Pinnacle #196

I have a few hundred Cal Ripken, Jr. cards in my collection, but I'm reasonably certain that this is the only one that depicts him gazing lovingly at the barrel of his bat.

Curtis Goodwin, 1996 Pinnacle #111

Pictured left to right are Cal Ripken, Jr., Brady Anderson, Rafael Palmeiro, and Curtis Goodwin. How humbling do you think it must be to be the fourth banana on your own card? Goodwin lasted five seasons in the major leagues with five clubs, and totaled three home runs in that time. Brady went deep 210 times in 13 years. Cal touched 'em all 431 times in 21 years. Raffy hit 569 four-baggers in 20 seasons. I guess Pinnacle had Curtis sniffed out when they chose a photo of him congratulating Ripken for the latter's successful turn at bat.

Bobby Bonilla, 1996 Pinnacle #30

I often feel like I spend an unhealthy amount of time agonizing over the majority of the cards that I feature on this blog. At its best, Orioles Card “O” the Day should be organic, a process of me writing about whatever comes to mind and selecting and scanning a card that just feels right in that context. But I’ve been at this for more than two years, and I’ve used 811 different cards in that time. As the type-A elements of my personality bubble to the surface, I find myself needlessly limiting myself in the nightly search for a subject by rejecting entire categories out of hand. Maybe I’ve gone with position players for four consecutive days, and I fear some sort of cosmic imbalance if the pitchers go neglected for much longer. Or I’ve settled on a player and I rather like his 1994 Score card, but I check my tags and see that I’ve already used seven cards from that set and that’s entirely too many. Occasionally common sense wins out and I go with my first instinct, knowing that these little irregularities likely bother no one besides me and it’s already 10:30 at night and if I keep picking through eight boxes full of Orioles cards trying to find a pitcher that hasn’t been touched upon in 27 months of daily blogging from a card set that hasn’t gotten much love, I won’t be in bed until 12:30 AM…

So here’s my latest, best attempt to make a break with my own idiosyncrasies. I chose this Bobby Bonilla card because I always liked him when he was with the Orioles, and his facial expression in the photo made me laugh. I think it’s a fair bet that this is the only card in the hundred-plus year history of baseball cards to feature that particular contortion of muscles.

There…that wasn’t so bad, was it?(Of course, if anyone is particularly wrenched about the under-representation of 1993 Fleer or photos of players in orange jerseys or you need your Tim Stoddard fix, let me know in the comments and I’ll gladly make arrangements in a future post.)

Kent Mercker, 1996 Pinnacle #340

I like to think that I'm pretty on-the-ball when it comes to Major League Baseball and the guys who play it. So it's a bit humbling to admit that I was completely taken by surprise to read that Kent Mercker was considering retirement at the conclusion of the 2008 season. I was shocked to learn that he was still pitching.

A dozen years ago, the Orioles thought they'd scored a coup by prying the lefty away from Atlanta with free-agent dollars. He'd been a good fifth starter for the Braves, usually keeping his ERA in the threes and even tossing a no-hitter in 1994. By adding Mercker to rotation that already included Mike Mussina, Scott Erickson, fellow newcomer David Wells, and any one of a crop of promising rookies (Jimmy Haynes, Rick Krivda, and Rocky Coppinger), the O's were convinced that they had the arms to take them deep into October.

Reality set in early and often as Kent had the most wretched first half of his career. He failed to surpass five innings in five of his first six starts. He allowed five or more runs in half of his twelve starts as an Oriole. The gruesome totals: 3-6, 7.76 ERA (nearly three runs above the league average), 1.86 WHIP, 12 HR in 58 innings. The fans of Baltimore breathed a sigh of relief on July 21, when the team cut their losses, dealing him to Cleveland for...Eddie Murray? I don't care if he was 40 years old, I certainly would've made that trade in a heartbeat.

Though Mercker managed to save face with the Indians in a bullpen role, it's still pretty remarkable that he got up off of the mat and pitched for upwards of another decade. He eventually reinvented himself as a solid reliever for a number of teams, and persevered despite losing two full seasons to injury. So if this is truly the end of the road for "Mercules", as his Baseball Reference page sponsor calls him, he's got a lot to be proud of.

Then again, he's also the guy that soured my father on free-agent pitchers from the National League. You win some, you lose some.