David Wells, 1997 Fleer #15

David Wells comes across as a guy who enjoys his beer. After all, he tossed a perfect game for the Yankees in 1998 while "half drunk", by his own admission. I'm also a bit of a suds aficionado, so my wife finally got me one of those home-brew kits. A little over a month later, I finally got to taste-test my India Pale Ale...I think I can chalk it up to a learning experience. I didn't go blind or anything, but the taste was pretty bland. There was a foamy explosion when I opened one of the bottles. Even worse, I didn't activate the yeast thoroughly enough when I fermented it, so I only got half as much beer out of it as I should have. But Rome wasn't brewed in a day.

Eddie Murray, 1997 Fleer #9

It was 18 years ago today that Eddie Murray returned to the Orioles, as the Indians dealt the future Hall of Famer to Baltimore in exchange for lefty pitcher and free agent bust Kent Mercker. The 40-year-old Murray was reunited with Cal Ripken, Jr. and with the fans of Charm City, the latter of whom were thrilled to chant "ED-DIE! ED-DIE!" once again. In a storybook moment, Eddie went on to hit his 500th career home run at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on September 6, 1996 - exactly one year to the day that Cal Ripken played in his record 2,131st consecutive game. It was one of 10 homers that Murray hit in a 64-game stint with the O's, helping them capture the American League Wild Card with a 35-22 surge over the final two months of the regular season. Number 33 also had a big hand in the team's Division Series upset of the Indians, as he reached base nine times in 18 trips to the plate against the club that had dealt him away a few months earlier. Although Eddie's twilight encore in Baltimore ended with the heartbreak of a six-game ALCS defeat at the hands of the Yankees, he had a poetic farewell. In his final at-bat in an Orioles uniform, in the bottom of the eighth inning in Game 5 at Camden Yards, he hit a home run off of O's nemesis Andy Pettitte, cutting the deficit to 6-2. It was too little, too late for the Birds, but that doesn't take away the reality that it happened.

Roberto Alomar, 1997 Fleer #696

Happy 12/12/12 to you all! I'm sure most of us aren't celebrating the last "repeating number date" of our lifetime in any particular way, especially with all of those more prominent December holidays hogging all of the attention. But one Hall of Fame #12 is making it a very special day indeed. Roberto Alomar got married to his second wife Kim today in Toronto, and hopefully the second time will be a charm for him. I'm sure Canada is lovely in December. Personally, I'd be willing to wait a few months for a chance at warmer weather...of course it was a sunny and pleasant 45 today in Baltimore, so what do I know?

Scott Erickson, 1997 Fleer #6

Last night, Wei-Yin Chen became the first Orioles pitcher to win a postseason game at Camden Yards since Scott Erickson twirled eight shutout innings against Jim Thome and the Indians in Game One of the 1997 ALCS. That particular game took place 15 years ago yesterday; hopefully, this playoff series has a much happier ending.

As I mentioned yesterday, I braved the suddenly chilly October weather to stake out a spot on the standing room only flag court in right field with my father. It was his birthday gift, though in the future I'll be more inclined to pay a bit extra to ensure that we can actually see what the hell is happening on the field. (To be fair, we had a fairly clear view of balls hit to the left side of the field. Otherwise, we relied on crowd noise and the ball-strike-out counter on the scoreboard to fill in the blanks.)

Ah yes, the crowd noise. Even though our view was less than ideal, the overall experience was phenomenal. I never went to any of the O's postseason games in 1996-1997, so I had never been immersed in a deafeningly loud and boisterous Oriole Park. The white "BUCKle UP" towels that were handed out at the gates were whipping around in a frenzy all night, and the sellout crowd of 48,187 was in full throat for most of the night. There were all of the usual chants: "Let's Go O's!" "Ohhhh-Ohhhh-Ohhh-Ohhh-Ohhhhhhhhhh (to the tune of the White Stripes' 'Seven Nation Army')", and of course, "Yankees Suck!". I would never advocate vulgarity toward the visitors, of course. By that same token, I certainly didn't approve of the "Swisher sucks" chants that the bleacher bums directed at New York's obnoxious right fielder. Nope, no sir. Ahem. When sidearming reliever Darren O'Day struck out Alex Rodriguez in the seventh inning, he was serenaded with "O'Daaaaay! O'Day, O'Day, O'Daaaaaaay! (think "Ole!")". You know the fans are having fun when they're singing for the setup men. And when Jim Johnson rebounded from his uncharacteristic Sunday night implosion to save last night's 3-2 win with a perfect inning...well, I'll let the video do the talking.

Oh, I forgot to mention the one perk that came with my choice of tickets. Shortly after entering the park, I had just bought a beer out on the Eutaw Street concourse. As I wandered into the flag court to look for my dad, the Yankees were taking batting practice. I heard the buzz from the crowd out there, and looked up to see a ball sailing over the cluster of fans at the front of the court. It was getting closer, and closer...I tried to brace myself for impact, shrugging my left shoulder toward my face. The ball actually glanced off of my jaw and landed cleanly in my open left palm. There I was, clutching a batting practice ball in my left hand and a beer (unspilled!) in my right. Right place, right time, and one hell of a memento for my first-ever playoff game.

Randy Myers, 1997 Fleer #11

Look out, Randy Myers. Jim Johnson is coming. The Orioles closer is a major reason why the team has now won a club-record 13 straight games decided by a single run. Tonight he sealed a 4-3 comeback win over the Central-leading White Sox, earning his 40th save in 43 opportunities. Johnson now trails only Myers (who was 45-of-46 in the O's division-winning 1997 season) for the most saves in one year by an Oriole. The importance of a top closer is easy to overstate, but the 2012 Birds win most of their games by the thinnest of margins, and I can guarantee that they wouldn't be leading the Wild Card chase with Kevin Gregg taking the ball in the ninth inning. There are still four days left in August, and the Orioles have 70 wins. They haven't reached 70 over a full season since 2006, and haven't exceeded that total since 2005. They're even ahead of the pace of the "Why Not?" Orioles of 1989, who were 67-60 at this juncture. With losses by the Yankees and Rays tonight, Baltimore climbs back up to second place in the East, 3.5 games back of the Yankees. This is frighteningly real.

Cesar Devarez, 1997 Fleer #5

Now nobody can say that I've never posted a card of Cesar Devarez. That's a load off.

Mike Johnson, 1997 Fleer #532

You might have heard that the official World Baseball Classic rosters were released yesterday. I scanned them with mild interest this morning, looking for familiar players who have fallen off of the Major League Baseball radar (the biggest name among these being former Yankees outfielder Bernie Williams). I was also curious to see which former Orioles will be representing their home countries, or the countries of their ancestors in some cases.

There are four current Orioles who will play in the WBC next month. Default ace Jeremy Guthrie will pitch for Team USA, while the left side of the O's starting infield (shortstop Cesar Izturis and third baseman Melvin Mora) will wear the maroon and gold of Venezuela. Lastly, minor league infielder Mike Costanzo joins Team Italy.

Some of the ex-Oriole participants are familiar and expected names, while others may give you pause:

-Former closer B.J. Ryan will be in the American bullpen, and on the other end of the spectrum is Australian lefty Damian Moss, 1/3 of the disappointing return in 2003's Sidney Ponson trade.

-Fifth outfielder type Adam Stern will once again be catching flies for our maple-leaf-loving friends to the North. He'll be teaming with pitcher Mike Johnson (more on him in a moment).

-A foursome of one-time Birds join forces for the Dominican Republic: reliever Julio Manon, ageless catcher Alberto Castillo, shortstop/person of interest Miguel Tejada, and outfielder Jose Bautista.

-Trios are all the rage in Mexico: currently unsigned pitcher Rodrigo Lopez, infielder Jerry Hairston (whose heritage was a surprise to me), and forgettable two-time O's outfielder Karim Garcia.

-Speaking of free agents, our old pal Sidney Ponson will squeeze into an XXL jersey for the Netherlands, and will reunite with former teammate Gene Kingsale, an outfielder.

-Pitcher Bruce Chen rides again for Panama!

-It's mildly surprising that Puerto Rico has no Baltimore flavor. I guess Javy Lopez really is retired.

-A couple true Birdland favorites will join Melvin and Cesar on Team Venezuela: 2007 garbage heap hurler Victor Zambrano and sluggish catcher Ramon Hernandez.

You've got to agree, that's quite a list, featuring plenty of guys that you haven't thought about for years (assuming you're mentally sound). Mike Johnson might be the biggest wild card in the bunch, both in terms of his Orioles footprint - 0-1, 7.94 ERA in 14 games as a Rule 5 rookie in 1997 before being traded to the Expos in midyear - and his career in general. Mike is now 33 and has not pitched in the major leagues since tossing 11 and 1/3 innings with Montreal in 2001. He last played minor league ball in 2004 for the Expos' AAA club in Edmonton. These are things to keep in mind before you put your money on Canada in your WBC office pool.

Wady Almonte, 1997 Fleer #613

The O's really missed the boat with Wady Almonte. If they had promoted the Dominican outfielder to the big leagues, he would have become the first Wady in the majors. As it stands now, this relatively pointless honor could go to a (ugh) Yankee farmhand, first baseman/outfielder Wady Rufino. Rufino is also from the Dominican Republic, which is apparently a hotbed for Wadys. Wadies? I don't know.

Mr. Almonte wasn't even close to a callup at the time this card was produced. In the preceding season, his third in pro baseball, he'd just gotten to A-ball. He did have a solid season at Frederick, batting .286 with 12 home runs and 44 RBI in 85 games. He would split 1997 between Frederick and AA Bowie, struggling with the bat. He seems to have been injured the following year, appearing in just 7 games. Wady finally got back on track in 1999, setting personal high-water marks across the board (.293-17-83). But he stalled out at AAA Rochester for the next two years, and spent 2002 back at AA in the Cardinals' organization.

The tale of Wady Almonte ends in the quirky, sparsely attended Independent leagues; after a 16-game sojourn with the Long Island Ducks in 2003, he went out on top with the 2004 New Jersey Jackals of the Northeast League (.327-9-64 in 86 games).

On second thought, it might be for the better that he never made it to Baltimore. The baseball-loving world was undoubtedly spared from Chris Berman referring to him as "Dude Looks Like A" Wady Almonte.