Alan Mills, 1992 Stadium Club #871

We're not even with the Blue Jays by a long shot, but I was able to appreciate the parallels between today's 2017 season opener and 2016's Wild Card game. A 2-2 game into extra innings, ending on a walkoff home run in the 11th. (Of course this time, Buck went to Zach Britton in the ninth inning...) Happily, today I was there to see Mark Trumbo launch a hanger from Jason Grilli into the left field seats, beyond the reach of our old friend Steve Pearce. The Orioles are now a flawless 7-0 on Opening Day in the Buck Showalter Era, and Trumbo's walkoff shot was the first ever in an O's opener.

So what does all of this have to do with Alan Mills? Well, today was his first game as Baltimore's bullpen coach, marking his return after having pitched in 346 games for the Birds from 1992 to 1998 and 2000 to 2001. So far so good, as his charges kept things moving with five and two-thirds innings of shutout relief. Although Mychal Givens allowed an inherited runner to score, the O's relievers held the line from there, with Tyler Wilson earning the win thanks to a scoreless 11th inning of work. The O's have never lost a game with Alan Mills as bullpen coach.

Alan Mills, 1993 Score #440

Just before we left for Ocean City at the end of June, my wife gave me some beach reading: Dan Connolly's new book, 100 Things Orioles Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. I would recommend it to any O's fan as a quick and entertaining overview of team history. I learned a few new things as well. My favorite tidbit was the revelation that a college-aged Alan Mills had a Darryl Strawberry poster hanging in his dorm room. Of course, a decade later, Millsy posterized Straw in the most infamous melee in Baltimore baseball lore.

Alan Mills, 1994 Fleer Ultra #5

Alan Mills is climbing the ladder in the Orioles' organization. This year, he will be coaching the club's pitchers at AA Bowie, a roster that will likely include first-round picks Dylan Bundy and Hunter Harvey. Nice work if you can get it.

Alan Mills, 1993 Fleer Ultra #143

After spending the past two seasons as the pitching coach at short-season Aberdeen, Alan Mills seems to be settling in nicely after his 2014 move to the Delmarva Shorebirds. The Orioles' Single-A South Atlantic League affiliate, who plays its home games in Salisbury, had the lowest team earned run average of all full-season affiliated clubs across minor league baseball in the month of May. That's a 2.11 team ERA, and if I'm not mistaken, that's all farm systems, not just the Baltimore organization. The Shorebirds feature 2013's first-round draft pick, righthander Hunter Harvey (3-4, 2.31 ERA, 67 K/58.1 IP), as well as the fantastically-named Sebastian Vader (7-3, 3.26 ERA, 3.4 K/BB). I'm sure that Mills has plenty of pitching wisdom to offer his charges, but I can't help but wonder if he's also able to motivate them through fear. After all, would YOU want to make that guy angry?

Alan Mills, 1992 Fleer Update #U-2

He's BAAAAAACCCCCCKKKKK. Alan Mills is the new pitching coach of the New York-Penn League's Aberdeen IronBirds, working for former teammates Billy and Cal Ripken, Jr. I sure hope he's still rocking the horseshoe mustache, especially now that Ravens QB Joe Flacco has brought it back to prominence in Baltimore.

Alan Mills, 1998 Pacific Online #94

This is a pretty transparent attempt by Pacific to capitalize on that "Inter-net" thing that everyone was talking about back in the late 1990s. I can't tell you for sure whether the first URL actually led to a web page about Alan Mills; today, it leads nowhere. The other URL actually redirects to the Orioles' official website. I do remember the halcyon days when teams maintained their own sites independently of Major League Baseball, but I don't know why "theorioles.com" was necessary. I'm guessing some other quick-thinking wonk snapped up "orioles.com", but the O's and MLB eventually got their mitts on it.

As long as we're accessing the WABAC machine, you can see the Orioles' website as it looked in June 1997 by following this link. It seems like another lifetime, doesn't it?

Alan Mills, 1993 Score Select #367

We're just a week away from Opening Day, which is also Opening Day for the fantasy baseball season. This means that I'll be getting back into the daily routine of checking and adjusting lineups, and forming fleeting attachments to players from other teams. I will live and die with their successes and failures, adding flavor to a Wednesday night Dodgers-Diamondbacks game that might otherwise serve as background noise. In other cases, I will hold my nose and strike up an uneasy alliance with a sworn enemy, as I've done in the past with the likes of Dustin Pedroia. This year's team has a healthy mix of players I genuinely like and a few guys from rival teams. Even the Yankees and Red Sox are guys that don't completely bug the hell out of me. Hopefully I can hold my own in what stacks up to be a fiercely competitive 12-team league full of Camden Chatters. So without further ado, I present The Alan Mills Project:

C Mike Napoli, Angels
1B Lance Berkman, Astros
2B Brian Roberts, Orioles
3B Kevin Youkilis, Red Sox
SS J. J. Hardy, Brewers
OF Grady Sizemore, Indians
OF Andre Ethier, Dodgers
OF Raul Ibanez, Phillies
UT James Loney, Dodgers

Bench: OF Delmon Young, Twins; 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff, Padres; C Yadier Molina, Cardinals.

SP Dan Haren, Diamondbacks
SP Jon Lester, Red Sox
SP Daisuke Matsuzaka, Red Sox
SP Matt Garza, Rays
SP Ubaldo Jimenez, Rockies
SP Mark Buehrle, White Sox
RP Mariano Rivera, Yankees
RP Heath Bell, Padres
RP Joey Devine, Athletics

Alan Mills, 1993 Topps #137

Some of you, men and women much more level-headed and eloquent than me, have eulogized Yankee Stadium in words more measured and flowery than I can muster. I have only two words for the site of the Jeffrey Maier game and numerous other pinstriped horrors:

Good riddance.

I choose to remember one sterling image from Yankee Stadium, a glorious sight that materialized in the midst of a violent bench-clearing brawl between the home team and my own Orioles on May 18, 1998. Meathead closer Armando Benitez had proven how manly he was by surrendering a game-breaking three-run home run and immediately plunking Tino Martinez with a pitch. Not satisfied, he proceeded to drop his glove and gesture to the entire Yankee dugout, calling them out. Professional screwup Darryl Strawberry answered the challenge, sucker-punching the temperamental O's pitcher. Straw's momentum carried him into the dugout. But Alan Mills was ready for him, and jumped down into the dugout himself, decking the New York outfielder in one fluid motion. It was a symbolic gesture, a final salvo fired in a rivalry that would lose its luster in the ensuing decade. More than that, it was an obnoxious Yankee player and borderline criminal getting what he had coming to him.

Sure, there have been plenty of truly great Orioles moments in the Bronx, from Frank Robinson's game-saving catch that sent him sprawling into the bleachers to the 12-2 win this past May, punctuated by Mike Mussina's first-inning exit. But there are also plenty of demons to be exorcised when the lights go out for the final time this evening. There are few places that are tougher on visitors than Yankee Stadium with 46,000 overbearing New Yorkers in full throat. When the brand-new, taxpayer-subsidized, needlessly opulent edifice opens for business across the way next April, many of the more vociferous fans may be priced out.

It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch. Don't come back any time soon, Yankee Stadium.

Alan Mills, 1994 Topps #324

I always liked Alan Mills. He was a righty middle reliever who was in the Birds' pen seemingly forever. As you can see in this photo, he was also a certified badass. I still have this vivid image of Alan standing on the mound, his lanky limbs making him seem taller than his 6'1". He peered out at the hitter from deep under the low-pulled brim of his usually dirty cap, his lips curled in a sneer. He was definitely the kind of pitcher who believed in the power of intimidation.

I also remember reading an article about Mills in an Orioles game day program in 1993. It was all about his hobby: collecting baseball cards. There were pictures of him in casual dress, sitting in his house and leafing through a big stack of cardboard. There were boxes and piles of cards situated all around him; I remember seeing a lot of 1991 Topps. I have Mills' 1991 Topps card, which happens to be his rookie card and shows him as a Yankee. Somehow that article has stuck with me throughout the years, although the magazine was discarded years ago. There's a corner of my living room, contained within the area directly next to my computer, that looks a lot like the tableau in Alan's house.

There's something very humanizing about baseball players who are also card collectors (Dmitri Young and Pat Neshek being two big examples); it shows you that they have some sense of the history of the sport, and that they have their own idols and heroes. I'd imagine that they're also more accommodating when it comes to autographing their own cards. Has anyone out there found this to be the case?