Brady Anderson, 1997 Fleer Ultra #2

Countdown to Parenthood has reached nine days...or less. (Please take your time, kid.) Are we ready? Will we ever truly be ready? Probably not, but we have a pail full of clean cloth diapers and a freezer full of donated breast milk, so I guess the necessities are in place.

Huh...eight years ago, I never would have thought I'd be mentioning breast milk on this blog. It's a brave new world.

Jimmy Key, 1997 Fleer Ultra #356

On this date in 1996, the Orioles signed Jimmy Key to a two-year contract for nearly $8 million. The free agent deal paid immediate dividends, as the veteran lefty tied Scott Erickson for the team lead with 16 wins in 1997, tossing 212.1 innings with a 3.43 ERA that was second on the staff to ace Mike Mussina. He was especially strong prior to the All-Star Break, posting a 12-4 record and a 2.55 ERA as the O's charted their course for a wire-to-wire division lead. By the postseason, Key seemed to be running out of gas. He failed to complete five innings in either of his playoff starts, though he did provide three innings of crucial shutout relief in Game Five of the ALCS. In allowing just one walk and no hits, he carried the Birds' slim two-run lead from starter Scott Kamieniecki to closer Randy Myers and helped Baltimore stave off elimination.

Like most of his teammates, Jimmy's fortunes took a downturn in 1998. Shoulder problems limited him to 25 games that year - 11 starts and 14 relief appearances. He went 6-3 with a 4.20 ERA in 79.1 innings, and retired at age 37 with a career record of 186-117 and a 3.51 ERA in 15 seasons.

Jerome Walton, 1997 Fleer Ultra #493

Congratulations to Jose Abreu and Jacob deGrom, the newest Rookie of the Year award winners. They join a long and varied list of top rookies from seasons past, a roll call that includes Cal Ripken, Eddie Murray, Willie Mays, Frank Robinson...a dozen Hall of Famers in all. Of course, there are also plenty of guys who peaked with that first-year honor, the Joe Charboneaus and Jerome Waltons of the baseball world. There's a lot of story yet to be told.

Wady Almonte, 1997 Fleer Ultra #510 and 1997 Fleer Ultra Gold Medallion #G510

This is the first ever Orioles Card "O" the Day Double Feature. Until I recently came across a large amount of 1997 Fleer Ultra, I had no idea that the Gold Medallion parallels featured completely different photos from their corresponding base cards. But it is so, as ably demonstrated here by Throwin' Wady Almonte and Swingin' Wady Almonte. Wady Almonte, Wady Almonte, Wady Almonte. There. Now I've said his name five times.

Wady Almonte.

B.J. Surhoff, 1997 Fleer Ultra #423

Well, it's past my bedtime, so enjoy the often-intense B.J. Surhoff actually cracking a smile in this candid spring training photo. B.J. is just one of the former Orioles lending a helping hand in Sarasota this year as an instructor, joining former teammates such as Brady Anderson, Mike Bordick, Chris Hoiles, and Alan Mills.

Randy Myers, 1997 Fleer Ultra #9

Okay, it's not Michael Myers, but if you ask me, Randy Myers is just as scary. Instead of a white William Shatner mask and a butcher knife, he had a nasty fastball and a locker full of grenades and hunting knives. If you were a lefthanded batter given a choice between the two, it would probably be a toss-up. Happy Halloween, kids. Don't forget to watch out for cars and share your candy!

Scott Kamieniecki, 1997 Fleer Ultra #498

In recent years, the extensive length of the six-month, 162-game baseball season has been more of a curse than a blessing for Orioles fans. No matter how poorly or how well the first two-thirds of the season went, you could count on the Birds to crash and burn in August and September. This year, the "dog days" have actually allowed the club and its rooters to salvage something positive out of a season that ran off the rails from game one.

With one game left in the month, the O's have a record of 16 wins and 10 losses in August, thanks to the weekend road sweep of the Angels (whose ridiculous geographic identifier will not be repeated here). Holding a team - any team - to a single run in 27 innings is reason enough to celebrate, but it's also allowed the Baltimore faithful to breathe a sigh of relief. Before this month, the Orioles had not broken even for a full calendar month since June 2008. More astoundingly, it is the first winning August for the Birds since 1997 (they went 18-10 then, which was their seventh straight winning month spanning two seasons). It's probably not coincidence that there have been 13 straight losing seasons in the interim.

Just how long ago was 1997? Browse the names of the pitchers who won games for the O's that August. Arthur Rhodes swooped in from the bullpen to grab three wins. Mike Mussina had a pair, as did Scott Kamieniecki, Scott Erickson, Jesse Orosco, and Armando Benitez. Shawn Boskie, Terry Mathews, Alan Mills, Jimmy Key, and Rick Krivda rounded out the victory parade. Randy Myers saved ten of those W's, and Benitez slammed the door on one other. Rhodes, of course, is still pitching with the Reds, his sixth team since leaving town in 2000. Benitez, as mentioned last week, is delaying the inevitable by playing out the string with the Newark Bears of the Atlantic League at age 37. Moose retired two years ago with 270 career wins. Scott Erickson sputtered to the finish with nine forgettable games as a Yankee in 2006. The other eight pitchers have all been retired for a decade, save for the ageless Orosco, who hung 'em up in 2003.

If you're curious, the Orioles last posted a winning September in 2004, when they were 18-10. But they've only managed that feat twice in the 13-year-skid, with a 20-8 mark in 1999 being the other. So to crack .500 next month would be monumental as well - even more so, if you consider that all but four games come against the quadruple beasts of the American League East. Make it happen, Buck and Co.

Eddie Murray, 1997 Fleer Ultra #6

Arthur Rhodes, 1997 Fleer Ultra #10

This Day in Orioles History: August 9, 1993

Orioles 4, Tigers 1 at Tiger Stadium

The red-hot Birds won their eighth in a row, closing within a half a game of the idle Blue Jays. Young lefty Arthur Rhodes stymied the powerful Tigers, taking a shutout into the ninth inning and whiffing eight hitters. No Detroit baserunner made it to third base against Rhodes, and their lone run scored after Alan Mills had relieved the starter.

Rhodes and Tigers veteran Mike Moore traded zeroes until the fifth inning, when journeyman catcher Mark Parent socked a two-run home run to put the O's on top. Brady Anderson followed with a triple and scored on a Mark McLemore sacrifice fly. Baltimore added an insurance run in the ninth when Skeeter Barnes threw wildly to first on a Parent grounder.

It's interesting to note that fifteen years later, two players from this game are still active: Arthur Rhodes was just traded from Seattle to the Marlins to add a veteran presence to their bullpen in the fight for the N.L. East. Shortstop Chris Gomez, who was a rookie with the Tigers in 1993 and eventually put in a few years as a reserve in Baltimore, is now a utility infielder for the Pirates. How time flies.