Jesse Orosco, 2000 Topps #460

Get out your paper hats and streamers, because today is Jesse Orosco's birthday! Contrary to popular belief, the wizened southpaw is not turning 87 today. No, Jesse is only 57...he's still a baby, relatively speaking. The one-time Oriole made his last appearance on a big league mound over a decade ago, finishing his 24-year big league career in 2003 with the Twins team that had drafted him in the second round way back in 1978. But I'd like to see him get one last crack at it. After all, Satchel Paige was at least 58 years old when he tossed three shutout innings for the Athletics on September 25, 1965. Surely Orosco has enough bullets remaining in that left arm to make one or two of his customary one-batter trips from the bullpen. Roster spots may be too dear during the bulk of the season, but that's the beauty of expanded September rosters. Imagine a playoff-hopeful team like the Cardinals or Tigers or (fingers crossed) the Orioles being able to call upon the most battle-tested LOOGY in baseball history to shut down an opposing lefty slugger in a high-stakes game. Alternately, what better way for a dead-end basement-dweller to goose their attendance numbers than to trade in the promise of seeing MLB's first five-decade pitcher? I'm sure ol' number 47 could be convinced. He's still the all-time leader in total games pitched by a comfortable margin (1,252 to runner-up Mike Stanton's 1,178), but with the increasing hyper-specialization of relief pitchers and the advances being made in sports medicine, a little bit of extra insurance couldn't hurt. So why not?

(Yes, I'm being serious. At least 95% serious. Baseball is just better with Jesse Orosco.)

Tim Raines, Jr., 2000 Topps #445

So here's another attention-grabbing 2000 Topps prospect card featuring an Oriole. There are actually two Orioles, counting future Bird Gary Matthews, Jr. Topps made a sharp move in putting three second-generation outfielders (all named after their accomplished fathers!) on the same card. The only thing that would be snazzier would be if all three of their major league dads also made an appearance.

So how do these flycatching progeny stack up against their papas?

The elder Tim Raines is hopefully a future Hall of Famer, by virtue of his .294 career average, .385 on-base percentage, and 808 stolen bases. Seven straight All-Star appearances don't hurt, either.

The first Gary Matthews spent 16 years patrolling major league outfields and has a Rookie of the Year award on his mantle. He hit .281 with a .364 on-base percentage, and batted .323 in four postseason series.

Garry Maddox, Sr. was an outstanding center fielder for 15 years, nabbing eight Gold Gloves. He didn't walk much, but did hit at an .285 clip. He was a teammate of Sarge Matthews on the Giants and the Phillies.

The Juniors have totaled 1,320 major league games in 14 seasons: 1,245 games belong to Matthews and 75 to Tim Raines, Jr. Garry Maddox, Jr. never made it to the bigs, and was out of organized baseball after 2003. "Little Sarge" has the only All-Star appearance, a 2006 selection that looks like a fluke in hindsight (he is a .258 career hitter). Raines has not played in the majors since a 48-game swing through Baltimore in 2004, despite hitting over .300 in the minors in 2007 and 2008.

As you can see, the younger trio had some especially big shoes to fill and couldn't quite achieve the same level of success as their fathers. But they still got closer than most young men with baseball dreams.

Matt Riley, 2000 Topps #446

I mentioned that I received the 2000 Topps hobby factory set as a Christmas gift last month. That night, I opened the box and thumbed through all 480 cards one by one. This card was one of those that made me do a double take. You are most likely more than familiar with these three players...as long as you're an Orioles fan. Their career numbers, through 2009:

Matt Riley: 5-4, 5.99 ERA, 78 K, 72 BB. Currently out of baseball.

Mark Mulder: 103-60, 4.18 ERA, two-time All-Star, one 20-win season

CC Sabathia: 136-81, 3.62 ERA, three-time All-Star, 2007 American League Cy Young Award winner

Meatloaf may have said that two out three ain't bad, but he wasn't an O's fan. This card is a pretty cruel joke on the Baltimore faithful.

Brady Anderson, 2000 Topps #103

This Day in Orioles History: September 28, 1997

Orioles 7, Brewers 6 at County Stadium

The Orioles wrapped up a wildly successful season with a win in a wild affair. Baltimore jumped out to a 6-1 fifth-inning lead, thanks to a home run by Jeffrey Hammonds and a pair of longballs and four RBI from the unlikeliest of sources: first baseman Jerome Walton, the former Cubs Rookie of the Year who was playing in just his twenty-sixth game of the year. But O's starter Jimmy Key, who seemed poised to scoop up his seventeenth win, hit the wall in the bottom of the fifth, surrendering a two-out grand slam to Jeromy Burnitz to bring the Brew Crew within a run. A double and a walk put the go-ahead run on base, but Key wriggled out of further trouble by inducing a flyout off the bat of ex-Oriole Jack Voigt.

Converted catcher Nerio Rodriguez failed to hold the one-run lead for Key, giving up a game-tying double to Mark Loretta in the sixth inning. The score remained knotted at six until the top of the eighth, when Brewers reliever Al Reyes loaded the bases. He was replaced by Mark Davis, who proceeded to hit Brady Anderson with a pitch, scoring Aaron Ledesma with the eventual winning run. The ageless Jesse Orosco, the fifth of seven O's pitchers on the day, picked up the win with two-thirds of a scoreless inning, and pear-shaped righty Terry Mathews notched his first save of the year with a nine-pitch effort in the ninth.

With the victory, the Birds finished at 98-64, two games ahead of the wild-card Yankees. The Orioles had gone wire-to-wire, leading the American League East every day during the 1997 season. After dispatching the Griffey-ARod-Edgar-Big Unit Mariners in four games in the Division Series, the Baltimore Bats went cold against the Indians in a heartbreaking six-game ALCS defeat. Of course, the O's have not had so much as a winning record in the eleven seasons since.