Vintage Fridays: Boog Powell, 1974 Topps #460

One of the things that I've missed most during my recent blogging hiatus is the Vintage Fridays feature. It has been nine months since I've featured a pre-1981 card on this site, and it is my firm belief that old cards are the best. So let's make things right with good old Boog, and recap my most recent meeting with the 1970 American League MVP.

As I recently mentioned, I celebrated my 35th birthday last August 5 with a family trip to Oriole Park at Camden Yards. There were four of us in all - my sister, my wife Janet, our son Finn, and myself. The O's were kind enough to give out Jonathan Schoop bobbleheads for the occasion. After we collected our freebies, we headed down Eutaw Street for some pit beef. As is often his wont, Boog Powell was holding court in front of his eponymous barbecue stand, seated on a tall chair with an umbrella for shade. I couldn't pass up a photo op on my special day, so we waited in Boog's line before getting our sandwiches. Number 26 was gracious as always, and even tried to give Finn a high-five. Unfortunately, my baby boy had stopped paying attention by that point. But before he lost interest, we did get this excellent picture.

It's not really apparent from the photo, but I was wearing my Danny Valencia game-worn jersey...because he was #35 during his 2013 stint in Baltimore. And because you're probably wondering, yes, Finn enjoyed the pit beef. We're trying to raise him right.

Boog Powell, 2002 Topps Archives Reserve #86

Did everyone survive that hellacious winter storm? Total snowfall in our neck of the woods was about 26 inches, making me think that the storm should have been named for Boog Powell. For our part, we came through the first blizzard in our new home no worse for the wear, aside from some minor aches and pains due to shoveling. I had a rare five-day weekend, as my office was uncharacteristically closed on Friday, Monday, and Tuesday, but my days at home were much more labor-intensive than they would have been if I'd been cubicle-bound. I would estimate that my wife and I each spent at least seven hours clearing snow from our driveway; of course, it was preferable by far to clearing the steps, sidewalk, and street-side parking area at our old row house. Besides, I did listen to a big chunk of my current audiobook of choice (Angel of Darkness by Caleb Carr) while I toiled. I do have to remember to order a new shovel or two online before the next snowfall. One of our two current shovels is a crummy, bent-up aluminum number, and the other is a sturdy plastic model that is nonetheless about to split in two along the handle. Better tools will make the next winter cleanup a bit easier.

I had intended to do more organizing and decorating inside the house as long as we were going to be confined there, but all of the yard work (driveway work, really) ate up a good chunk of time, energy, and motivation. I did manage to hang a few items next to my wet bar in the basement - a wooden cutout of the continental United States that functions as a bottle cap display (yes, my collector's impulses bleed over into pursuits even more ephemeral than baseball cards) and a pegboard featuring an Orioles logo. I found the latter at a craft fair in Wrightsville Beach, NC during our Thanksgiving getaway, and figured I could hang a couple early-1990s O's promotional giveaway steins from it. They are hand-me-downs from my grandma Boots, and I wanted them to have a prominent place in my makeshift lounge. I'm pretty pleased with the results.

Though it would have been nice to cross a couple more items off of my to-do list during this unexpected January holiday, I was grateful to spend some extra leisure time with Janet. We watched some movies - Home, Frozen (of course), and the Mystery Science Theater 3000 take on the 1975 Joe Don Baker "action" flick Mitchell. We tried out Dominion, a deck-building strategy game that I'd received for Christmas; it would be unsportsmanlike for me to mention that I won. Whoops, ignore that. I enjoyed some of Janet's incredible cooking, including the best batch of beef stew she's ever made. And, though my plans to have some friends over on Sunday night to watch WWE's Royal Rumble pay-per-view event were scotched by the slick and snowy roads, I still had a blast watching it with my very patient and accommodating wife. (To be fair, I did brave the elements earlier in the evening, enduring a somewhat tricky six-mile round trip in order to bring home a Pizza Hut dinner.)

So, that's how I kept sane during Winter Storm Jonas. How about you?

Boog Powell, 1994 Upper Deck All-Time Heroes #195

On this date in 1966, the Orioles wrenched victory from the jaws of defeat with some timely pinch hitting. It was a run-of-the-mill Friday game pitting the first-place Orioles against the tenth-place Red Sox, and only 13,657 fans turned out to Memorial Stadium to witness it. They didn't have much to cheer about through eight and a half innings, as Boston pitcher Lee Stange had scattered six singles and a pair of walks while striking out only one batter. John Miller was even better for the O's, yielding just three singles and two walks and striking out seven. But the Sox bunched their runners together and scraped together single runs in the eighth and ninth innings, positioning Miller for a hard-luck loss.

With catcher Larry Haney and reliever Eddie Fisher due up against Stange in the last half of the ninth, manager Hank Bauer called upon his reserves. First he sent another catcher, Vic Roznovsky, up to bat for Haney. The result was a pinch-hit home run, spoiling the shutout. Bauer's next move was a true no-brainer. Curt Blefary had started the game for the Birds at first base, leaving Boog Powell free to bat in the pitcher's spot representing the tying run. Next thing you know, BOOM, the ball was gone, the game was tied, and Stange had been pulled. It was only the third time in major league history that two pinch hitters had slugged back-to-back home runs. The Orioles loaded the bases against reliever Don McMahon with one out, but Russ Snyder was forced at home on a Blefary grounder and Bob Johnson popped out to send it to extra innings.

Finally, in the bottom of the 12th, the O's were victorious against Boston relievers Dan Osinski and Jose Santiago. Paul Blair led off with a single, Roznovsky (who had stayed in to catch) bunted him to second, Boog was intentionally walked, and Luis Aparicio earned a free pass to load the bases. Santiago was summoned from the bullpen and promptly gave up the walkoff single to Snyder. Baltimore won 3-2 and extended their considerable lead over the second-place Tigers to 12.5 games. And so few were there to see it all happen!

Vintage Fridays: Boog Powell, 1971 Topps #195

1971 Topps. Boog Powell getting some love from Frank Robinson. An umpire in a necktie. A recap of the Orioles' ALCS trouncing of the Twins, in this case a 10-6 win in the 1970 playoff opener. Boog's homer was the third and final four-bagger in a seven-run outburst in the top of the fourth inning, following back-to-back blasts by Mike Cuellar (a grand slam!) and Don Buford. The opposing pitcher for Powell's home run was Bill Zepp, whom I had never heard of before this moment. This card has pretty much everything that I'm looking for as a collector.

Boog Powell, 2001 Upper Deck Decades: 1970s #142

In case you were wondering, the American League's Most Valuable Player gets a plaque that looks like this. If I were Boog Powell, I'm sure I'd rather have a sweet trophy like the one depicted on this card. Heck, if it were me, I would rather not accept an award named after a crusty old racist, either. But as I'm not an MVP-caliber ballplayer now, and probably won't be tomorrow, I guess it's a moot point.

Boog Powell, 2004 Maryland Lottery #43

I'm already going through baseball withdrawal, so much so that I found myself half-watching Arizona Fall League games on TV this weekend. That's how I learned that the Athletics have a minor league outfielder named Boog Powell. Well, he goes by "Boog", anyway, but his given name is Hershel Mack Powell IV. He's no relation to the 1970 American League MVP and pit beef maven, and at 5'10" and 10 pounds, he doesn't bear much resemblance to #26 either. But his grandfather went by Hershel, his father went by Mack, and the family began calling the younger Powell "Boog". It stuck. Whether the 21-year-old sticks in the big leagues remains to be seen. Through 177 pro games, he's batted a strong .317/.412/.384, but so far he's untested at the AA level or higher. The younger Boog also served a 50-game suspension in 2014 for amphetamine use, and he's certainly not the first to make that mistake. If Powell does land in Oakland some day, I don't know that I'll ever get used to hearing the announcers talk about "Boog Powell".

Boog Powell, 1990 Pacific Legends #46

In their three-homer, six-run explosion in the 12th inning of Monday night's win at Washington, the Orioles initially took the lead on back-to-back home runs by Chris Davis and J.J. Hardy, a pair of down-on-their-luck power hitters who really needed that boost. (Thanks, Craig Stammen!) The last time a pair of Baltimore batters hit consecutive homers in extra innings, it was 45 years ago, and it was an even more prominent duo than Davis and Hardy.

The date was June 3, 1969, and the opponent was the Oakland Athletics. Just like this past Monday's contest, it was a low-scoring game through nine, as Mike Cuellar and Johnny "Blue Moon" Odom held the hitters to one run per side. A first-inning Boog Powell sac fly and a seventh-inning Reggie Jackson home run accounted for the score until the 11th inning. Lew Krausse relieved Odom, but relief might not be the most apt term in this situation. Frank Robinson led off the frame by taking Krausse deep to break the stalemate. Before ol' Lew knew what had hit him, Boog Powell had followed with another four-bagger to give the O's a 3-1 lead. Oakland skipper Hank Bauer, who had been fired by the Birds the previous year, yanked Krausse and called on rookie Rollie Fingers. After the next two batters were retired, Bobby Floyd and Mark Belanger hit back-to-back singles, but Earl Weaver allowed reliever Eddie Watt to bat for himself and he grounded out harmlessly to strand both men. No worries, as Watt returned to the mound and retired Jackson, Sal Bando, and Danny Cater in order to seal the win in a tidy two hours and 40 minutes...making that game an hour shorter than its 12-inning counterpart in 2014. Sheesh.

Vintage Fridays: Boog Powell, 1963 Post #62

On a chilly, rainy Friday evening, when I'm exhausted after a long week, and the O's have been shut out by the cruddy Royals, and Chris Davis has a nagging oblique injury (those things always seem to linger), and I'm still churning through my 1994 cards in the seemingly endless ordeal of chronologically sorting and organizing my collection, and I can't stop typing this sentence, I need the cardboard equivalent of comfort food. It doesn't get any more comforting than a stained second-year Boog Powell card cut from the back of a cereal box over half a century ago. Max surely knew that when he tossed this piece of Boogalicious memorabilia in the padded envelope that traveled down the Eastern seaboard to my front porch earlier this week. He's a smart dude.

Boog Powell, 1993 Ted Williams #84

The Orioles are taking the day off, and so am I. Let's look at a beautiful card from my adolescence, when getting Boog Powell and other retired stars in contemporary packs of cards was still a big deal. Here is not one, but two full-color action photos of the Booger, showing off his massive forearms and his impeccable fashion sense. A single black batting glove? Socks pulled up to mid-calf? I think Powell pulls it off.

Boog Powell, 2003 Fleer Tradition #68

Hey, would you like to see another piece of ephemera rescued from my grandmother's former basement apartment in my childhood home? If not, then why are you here, exactly?

There's a strong possibility that the photo above was taken on the same "photo day" as the Brooks Robinson and Jim Palmer snapshots that I showed off way back in 2009. I used carbon dating (or, ya know, uniform-based context clues) to determine that those pictures were taken in the 1971-1974 window of time. The presence of one John "Boog" Powell, though he looks awfully blurry and kind of disinterested, does nothing to disabuse me of that notion. Tomorrow I'll share another photo from this set that may help narrow down the date range further. Are you intrigued? Why do I ask so many rhetorical questions on this blog? Aw crap, that was another rhetorical question, wasn't it?

Vintage Fridays: Boog Powell, 1966 Topps #167

Last night, Adam Jones collected his 30th home run and 100th RBI in the 2013 season. Since Chris Davis is already sitting at 48 home runs and 123 RBI, the Orioles have at least two 100-RBI guys on the same team for the tenth time in team history. The first such occasion was the first O's World Championship team in 1966. That club actually had a trio of hitters reach the century mark, with Triple Crown winner Frank Robinson (122 RBI), future league MVP Boog Powell (109), and 1964 MVP Brooks Robinson (100) all doing the honors.

Speaking of Davis, I had the occasion to witness "Crush" 's 48th home run live and in the flesh tonight. It was part of a three-homer effort by the Baltimore offense, as Danny Valencia and Matt Wieters also went deep to support a great pitching performance by Scott Feldman. The righthander held the White Sox to five hits to notch his first career complete-game shutout, and the first one-man whitewash by an Oriole pitcher since Jason Hammel blanked the Braves last June. I believe it's the first time I've ever seen a complete-game shutout by an Oriole in person; it really was a special night.

Vintage Fridays: Boog Powell, 1971 Topps Super #5

Now that I've fully committed to the "oddball week" theme, let's super-size it. There are few better subjects for an extra-large, extra-thick card than the Orioles' heavyweight first baseman and the American League's Most Valuable Player of 1970. If you want more details about the 1971 Topps Super set, I wrote up Dave McNally's card a few years ago. There's a lot to take in when it comes to Boog's card, from his confident smirk to his reproduced signature of John "Boog" Powell, and of course the unmistakable white frieze of the old Yankee Stadium. There are a few other Orioles players or coaches preparing for the afternoon's game in the background. My favorite thing about the photo may be the clear signs of strain as Powell's gray road jersey struggles to contain his bulging torso. The Booger was truly one of a kind.

Vintage Fridays: Boog Powell, 1964 Topps #89

Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to respond to yesterday's blog post. I wasn't fishing for compliments, but you were all very forthcoming with them anyhow. I can certainly identify with GCA's sentiment; I know that when I read something that I enjoy, I don't often go out of my way to comment if I don't have much more to say than "nice job". I just wanted to make sure that I was still giving you something that you wanted to read. I'll do my best to keep it that way.

Moving on, I think there's no finer way to start the weekend than by checking in with Boog Powell. I once read an anecdote about the Orioles' scouting and signing of Boog as an amateur. According to Rob Neyer and Eddie Epstein in Baseball Dynasties: The Greatest Teams of All Time, both the Orioles and the Cardinals were very interested in procuring the services of the teenaged Booger back in 1959. Of course, baseball scouts and executives have always looked to cut costs wherever they can, especially in the days before the players' union. So the scouts for the O's and Redbirds made a gentleman's agreement to avoid a bidding war for Boog's rights. Instead, they settled matters the old-fashioned way...with a coin flip. Baltimore came out on top, and probably resisted the Cards' pleas of "best two outta three!". When building a winning team, it doesn't hurt to be lucky.

Vintage Fridays: Boog Powell, 1970 Topps #410

As I was leafing through my 1970 Topps Orioles cards this evening, it struck me that several of them have other O's players clearly visible in the background. I've already featured Dick Hall's card, with cameos by Gene Brabender and Russ Snyder. Now I'm showing you Boog Powell posing for the camera at Yankee Stadium, but he's not the only one getting photographed. To his left, our right, you can see Mark Belanger standing with bat on shoulder and wearing his trademark #7. It's a shame that Topps went with such a dull design in 1970, because they really had some unique snapshots.

Boog Powell, 2001 Upper Deck Decades: 1970s #20

Look at Boog Powell rockin' the shades. He looks like he's basking in the sun's rays, and if he just happens to catch a popup, all the better. Do you think he's a Ray-Bans type of guy?

Boog Powell, 1999 Fleer Sports Illustrated Greats of the Game #26

If you follow the Orioles closely enough, you'll learn not to doubt the memory of Jim Palmer. On tonight's MASN telecast, Mark Reynolds hit a towering home run over the Green Monster at Fenway Park, his 35th longball of the year. This prompted the O's Hall of Fame pitcher and broadcaster to recall a game in which Boog Powell hit not one, not two, but three home runs over the 37-foot left field wall. Just to satisfy my curiosity, I bopped on over to Baseball Reference. With a couple clicks of the mouse, I found the game in question: August 15, 1966, a Monday night affair between the first-place Orioles and ninth-place Red Sox.

Boog's first clout came with two outs and nobody on in the fourth inning, and it broke a scoreless tie between starters Jim Lonborg and Dave McNally. McNally continued blanking Boston until the sixth, when Tony Conigliaro's two-run homer put Boston ahead 2-1. Powell gave the Birds new life with another solo shot off Lonborg in the ninth, ultimately sending the game to extra innings. It stayed tied at two apiece until the eleventh frame. John Wyatt relieved Lonborg and walked Frank Robinson. Brooksie came up next and lined out to right, and then Boog capped his excellent night with a two-run homer, which provided the winning margin as Dick Hall wriggled out of a bases-loaded situation for the save. It was a 4-2 final, with all four Baltimore runs coming via Boog Powell homers. There's a statistic known as Win Probability Added, or WPA - it assigns values to each at-bat in a game. Boog's WPA for this game was 0.920, which essentially means that he was 92% responsible for the O's winning that game! I can certainly see why a feat like that would stick in Jim Palmer's memory.

Boog Powell, 2003 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites #28

It's the Big 7-0 for Big 2-6 today - Boog Powell's 70th birthday! He's gotta be the best baseball player ever born on this day, right? Let's see:

-That prematurely balding runt Dustin Pedroia is 28 today. Aww crap, he's younger than me. Then again, I don't resemble a common vampire bat.

-Ex-Phillie and current Astro pitcher Brett Myers is 31. He's also a pig.

-Jorge Posada, who seems to be slowly decomposing in a Yankee uniform in 2011, is blowing out 40 candles. 271 homers is nice, but it ain't 339, right Boog?

-Ex-pitcher Diego Segui is 74. His claims to fame are fathering ex-Oriole David Segui and pitching for both Seattle teams (Pilots and Mariners). A 3.81 ERA isn't too impressive for a guy who did his work in the 1960s and 1970s.

-Rudy York was born 98 years ago today (he passed away in 1970). Rudy was an All-Star catcher for Detroit and Boston and hit 277 home runs, but our guy wins the OPS+ battle, 134 to 123.

So there you have it. In my totally unbiased opinion, the massive slugger from Florida is the pre-eminent ballplayer in the August 17 club. Happy birthday, and many more, Boog!

Vintage Fridays: Boog Powell, 1978 TCMA The 1960's #80

This is the first of two Saturday night posts, this one being backdated to Friday. You didn't really think that I'd make it through a whole week of prescheduled vacation posts without incident, did you? When I was scanning cards last week, I miscounted and finished one short. By the time I realized this, I just didn't have the time to go back and correct my mistake. So now that I'm home again, I'm putting it right. I went with Boog Powell since I saw his likeness looming large over the Ocean City Boardwalk several times over the past week. There is of course a Boog's Barbecue down near the Inlet, and another being built nearby on Route 50. It's always nice to have a little Baltimore flavor at hand when you're away from home.

Vintage Fridays: Boog Powell, 1970 Topps #200

Two Boogs for the price of one this week! This is a fantastic photo, and I'd never seen it up until a few weeks ago. While Ed and I were driving to a card show, I flipped through his 1985 copy of Topps Baseball Cards: A Complete Picture Collection. It was then that I came across this classic. I was surprised that I didn't have it already, since I owned all but four Orioles cards from the 1970 set. Sure enough, Ed tracked down a copy of it at the show and I was able to mark it off my checklist.

As the heading indicates, this action took place in Game Two of the first-ever American League Championship Series, on Sunday, October 5, 1969 in Baltimore. The 109-win Eastern Division Champion Orioles had squeaked by the 97-win Western Champ Twins in twelve innings in Game One, 4-3. The second game was a tense pitchers' duel between the Orioles' Dave McNally and Minnesota's Dave Boswell. The O's squandered an early opportunity, failing to score after loading the bases with nobody out in the second inning. The bottom third of the O's order went 1-2-3, popout, shallow fly to left, strikeout. The following inning, Frank Robinson popped out with runners on the corners. But there were no other serious threats by either team, and the game moved to extra innings with no score.

In the top of the tenth, McNally struck out the side to give him 11 K's on the day. Boswell showed no signs of fatigue either, setting the Birds down in order in the home half. On to the eleventh, and both starters hung in. McNally retired the first two batters before issuing back-to-back walks to Harmon Killebrew and Tony Oliva, but manager Earl Weaver stuck with the 20-game winner and he rewarded him by coaxing Bob Allison to line out to Don Buford. Boswell was not so lucky. Boog Powell led off with a walk, and Brooks Robinson bunted him to second base. Davey Johnson was intentionally walked to get to Mark Belanger, who popped out for the second out. Twins manager Billy Martin flinched, calling lefty fireman Ron Perranoski in from the bullpen to face Elrod Hendricks. The chess game continued with Weaver sending righthanded batter Curt Motton in to pinch hit. Motton delivered a single to right, and Boog rumbled home ahead of Tony Oliva's throw. As you can see above, Minny catcher George Mitterwald made a futile lunge as the burly Baltimore first baseman scored the only run of the game to give the O's a walkoff win in a crisp 3 hours, 17 minutes. The Birds would close out the three-game sweep with an 11-2 romp the following day.

Boog Powell, 2002 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Classic #84

My younger sister's 26th birthday is today, which makes me...older than that. I've still got 16 months until the Big Three-Oh, however, so there's no sense in crying about it. Since March 24 is a day practically devoid of Birdland Births, I'll commemorate this special day with the greatest #26 to ever wear the orange and black. Incidentally, one of the many specialty menu items that will be introduced at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in a few weeks will be a double-sized Boog's BBQ sandwich, so there's one more reason to get excited about the 2011 season.

Elizabeth is my only sibling, and I'm grateful that we've stayed close into our adulthood. We always laugh when we're together, and we've even found common ground in sports, which I never would have imagined. She's a hometown loyalist all the way, which makes sense when you consider the popularity and recent successes of the Ravens and Capitals (the latter being the closest thing to an area hockey team that she has). But to root for the Orioles, who haven't fielded a winner since she was 12 and haven't won a World Series in her lifetime, takes true dedication and stubbornness. I can tell you that she has both in spades. So happy birthday, sis. May the O's give you more of a reward for your fandom this year.