Andy Van Slyke, 1995 Pinnacle #396

Today is Andy Van Slyke's 56th birthday, which I learned by reading Stacey's "Bird Droppings" post this morning at Camden Chat. She also linked to this blog, which was a swell thing to do, and which gave me that little extra push to write something tonight. I guess reciprocity makes the world go 'round.

Andy was a five-time Gold Glove center fielder, a three-time All-Star, and a two-time Silver Slugger, and he did exactly zero of those things in Baltimore. It would've been hard to squeeze such accolades into his muddled 17-game swing through Charm City in early 1995. So it goes. You may feel like you've heard the Van Slyke name more recently; indeed, Andy's son Scott has been a part-time outfielder and first baseman for the Dodgers since 2012. He's batted .249/.331/.424 in 821 career plate appearances, with 27 home runs and 92 RBI.

The elder Van Slyke shares a birthday, birth year and all, with former righty reliever and storied prankster Roger McDowell, who also had a mid-30s sojourn with the Orioles in the mid-1990s. Roger finished his 12-year stint in the majors with 41 appearances out of the O's bullpen in 1996, running up a 4.25 ERA while walking 23 batters and striking out just 20. Two decades later, McDowell has returned to our city as Buck Showalter's new pitching coach after a lengthy tenure in that same role in Atlanta. He's got his work cut out for him, to say the least.

Andy Van Slyke, 1995 Stadium Club #541

Yesterday, Matt Wieters had the honor of hitting the Orioles' first home run of the 2013 season, breaking the seal with a first-inning, two-run blast off of reigning American League Cy Young winner David Price. That got me wondering: who was first in each of the previous 59 seasons of O's baseball? Through the magic of Baseball Reference, here's your list.

Some notes of interest:

• Clint Courtney's home run was the first in team history, in their third game. The 1954 Birds hit a whopping 52 home runs all season, led by Vern Stephens' total of eight.
• As you can see, Gus Triandos hit the Orioles' first home run of the season in FOUR straight years, 1956-1959. What's more, all four were two-run homers.
• Brooks Robinson had a three-year streak from 1966 through 1968, part of his team-high five "first homers". Cal Ripken Jr. tied his mark with his fifth in 1998.
• How about Mike Devereaux's three-year run from 1992 through 1994?
• Cal and Tony Batista have the only two grand slams.
• Pity Joe Coleman of the Tigers, whose father (also named Joe) pitched for the Orioles. The younger Joe surrendered the first O's homer three times in a four-year span (1972, 1974, 1975). Three other opposing pitchers were touched up twice: Kevin Appier (1994 and 1997), Pedro Ramos (1959 and 1960), and Roger Clemens (1989 and 2002).
• There are some unlikely names here. Les Moss hit two home runs as an Oriole; Andy Van Slyke and Cesar Izturis had three, Rick Schu four, and Courtney had five.
• Marty Cordova's home run, besides being the club's only round-tripper ever in March, was the last of his career. It came in the infamous snow game.

Andy Van Slyke, 1995 Upper Deck #368

Many things in life are fleeting in nature. Take Andy Van Slyke's Orioles career; he signed with the Birds prior to the 1995 season but played only 17 games with the club. The 34-year-old outfielder, who had been an All-Star just two seasons prior, battled injuries and hit .159 (10-for-63) with three home runs before being traded to the Phillies in mid-June. He played marginally better in Philly (.243 AVG/.684 OPS), but it would prove to be the last season of his career. Sometimes the end comes suddenly.

That looks to be the case for hobby giant Upper Deck, who burst onto the scene in 1989 with glossy cards with high-quality (and often inventive) photos both front and back. They changed baseball cards as we knew them, and after the downturn in the hobby at the turn of the century, only Topps and Upper Deck were left standing. But this past offseason, Major League Baseball dealt a crushing blow to the latter by signing an exclusive licensing deal with Topps. Everyone waited with great curiosity to see how Upper Deck (still holding a license with the Players' Association) would respond.

The answer was another tepid, forgettable card design in a series of them, and a half-hearted approach to the display of team logos and insignia. Many cards featured player's backs facing the camera, or profile shots that obscured a portion of the jersey and cap logos. Yet a significant number of cards blatantly showed head-on shots of logos. The end result was baffling. If Upper Deck was going to make some effort to hide those trademarked images, why not do it for every photo? If they wanted to lift a couple choice fingers in the direction of Topps and MLB by showing logos, again, why not do it 100% and go out with guns blazing? In the end, they still got sued and had to reach a hasty settlement that makes them look bad and costs them millions of dollars. The outlook is gloomy for the boys from Carlsbad, CA.

In going with the rule of threes, I intended to write about my former elementary school, St. Clare School in Essex, MD. This week the Archdiocese of Baltimore announced that the PreK-8 Catholic school, the place where I made some very good friends and spent ten years of my life, will be closed at the end of the academic year. I'm furious, disappointed, and sad, but I'm still not ready to put it all into words. This entry will be a two-parter; check back tomorrow.