Harold Baines, 2000 Upper Deck #331

Last night wizened veteran Jason Giambi became the oldest player in major league history to hit a walkoff home run when he took Jason Frasor of the White Sox deep to break a 2-2 tie in the ninth inning. The former American League MVP was 42 years and 202 days old...and now he's even older. Anyway, he broke Hank Aaron's 37-year-old record, and it got me to wondering: Just who was the oldest Oriole to ever hit a walkoff home run? I couldn't find an easy method for squeezing the answer out of Baseball Reference's Play Index, so I had to run two separate queries: one gave me all 128 walkoff home runs in O's history and the other gave me every home run hit by an Oriole aged 35 or older in home wins. It wasn't pretty, but I found the answer.

****SPOILER ALERT****

It was Harold Baines, on May 5, 1999, at 40 years and 50 days of age. I actually touched on this game a few months ago in the wake of Matt Wieters' walkoff grand slam vs. the Rays. As you may have surmised, Baines' blast was also a game-winning slam, the last one the Birds hit before Wieters' heroics. It was hit off of David Lundquist of the White Sox, and it might not have been the most improbable event in the game. To give you an idea, the 9-5 extra-inning affair featured an Albert Belle stolen base, a pinch RBI triple by Baines himself as part of Baltimore's two-run ninth-inning rally, a pinch running appearance by O's pitcher Ricky Bones, and to top it all off, Harold's grand slam was the team's only hit in the decisive tenth inning. Revisiting this completely bananas game for the second time in the past few months reminds me that I have got to find a recording of it somewhere.

Jerry Hairston, Jr., 2000 Upper Deck #53

As I attempt to drown out the obnoxious horror of Chris Berman's braying Home Run Derby calls, let's play another round of "When Is This Card?". Right off the bat, we know that Jerry Hairston, Jr. is attempting to turn a double play in a road game against the Phillies, presumably in 1999. Without checking, I'm going to guess that the runner barreling into second base is center fielder and Strat-o-Matic enthusiast Doug Glanville. And now...off to Baseball Reference!

Well, I'm off to a good start. Glanville wore #6 with the Phils from 1998-2002 and 2004. Checking his game log for 1999, he played in all three home games vs. the Orioles, July 9-11. He didn't reach base on the 10th, so that game is out. Hairston played in both of the remaining games, so we'll dig deeper.

On July 9, Glanville singled in his first at-bat, and advanced to second on a Juan Guzman balk. He struck out in the third inning, singled in the fourth and was stranded, flew out to end the sixth, and grounded out to third in the eighth. So that's not our game. By the by, the Phillies beat the O's 4-2, with Curt Schilling going the distance.

By process of elimination, it should be July 11, 1999. Whaddaya know? Glanville singled to lead off the bottom of the first against Scott Erickson, but Ron Gant followed with a ground ball to third. Reboulet to  Hairston to Will Clark, 5-4-3 double play. Doug was retired in each of his next two at-bats, doubled in his fourth, and that was that. So this photo was snapped in the bottom of the first inning. What else happened in that game? The Orioles jumped out to a 2-0 first inning lead against Chad Ogea, who surrendered an RBI double to B. J. Surhoff and a run-scoring single to Clark. Charles Johnson doubled in Clark in the third, and Brady Anderson blooped a single into shallow center field an inning later to plate Hairston. The Birds further extended their lead in the seventh, when Albert Belle doubled in a pair against Randy Wolf to make it 6-0.

Meanwhile Erickson cruised, inducing three double plays and stranding the bases loaded in the fourth inning. He took a shutout into the eighth before the Phillies finally got to him. Glanville doubled to lead off the inning, Gant tripled him in, and Bobby Abreu grounded to short to make it 6-2. That would be the final, as Mike Timlin sealed the win with a 1-2-3 ninth inning. The Orioles took two of three in the series, but were still mired in last place at 36-51. It would take a 20-8 Baltimore record in September just to finish in fourth place at 78-84.