Chito Martinez, 1992 Donruss #558

Admit it, you haven't thought about Chito Martinez in a while. You didn't even know that today was his 47th birthday. It's okay, that's why you're here. So here are some other fun facts about every Oriole fan's third-favorite Martinez:

1. His full name is Reyenaldo Ignacio Martinez.

2. He is the only player in MLB history born in Belize, but played high school baseball in Metairie, Louisiana.

3. Chito was drafted by the Royals in 1984, and signed with the O's as a minor league free agent prior to the 1991 season.

4. In 1991, he made his big league debut after hitting .322/.393/.654 with 20 homers and 50 RBI in only 60 games at AAA Rochester.

5. As a 25-year-old rookie, Martinez more than held his own, batting .269 and slugging .564 for the Birds in 67 games.

6. The first of his 13 home runs in his first major league season was a pinch-hit solo shot against Oakland's Gene Nelson on July 11, 1991. With the Orioles trailing 8-0 in the eighth, he batted in place of Billy Ripken.

7. Chito fell out of favor with the O's after an 0-for-15 start to the 1993 season. He spent the rest of that year in the minors, and never returned to the big leagues.

Chito Martinez, 1992 Stadium Club #438

I recently received a thoughtful comment from a reader named Chris, who said that he'd been enjoying my blog for a year or so and wondered if I could post a card of Chito Martinez. I'm always happy to comply with such requests, especially since it means that I don't have to wrack my brain for one night to decide which card to feature. It also gave me an excuse to post this excellent card. Of course that's Mark McGwire playing first base for the Oakland A's as Chito breaks for second, casting his shadow on the Memorial Stadium infield dirt. This photo would have been taken either on July 26 or July 28, 1991. Those were the only two Oakland at Baltimore games that Martinez played in that year in which he reached base. He did not attempt a steal in either game, so that doesn't help us pinpoint it. Both games were Oriole losses, by the way, as was their style in 1991.

Chito Martinez, 1992 Donruss Triple Play #192

When you combine writer's block with the act of choosing a card at random from your "1992 Orioles" box, you get Mr. Reyenaldo Ignacio Martinez and some lovely red-to-orange-to-yellow-and-back-again gradients. This is a funny sort of photo, as Chito is racing toward home plate while the third base umpire flees in the other direction. They're like two ships passing in the night, kicking up clouds of infield dirt as they go. So we begin another week, unsure of whether we're coming or going. At least it's a short week, at least if your employer is kind enough to celebrate Columbus' accidental discovery of America.

The next time I pick blindly from a stack of cards, maybe I should keep going until I find one that is more interesting.

Chito Martinez, 1992 Bowman #19

You may notice that I have tinkered with my widgets, which is the sort of thing that can get you arrested in some states. I had added a slideshow of the O's cards that I'd previously posted to the left side of the blog, but I wasn't thrilled that it stopped at a certain point (about 100 cards in, I think) and returned to the beginning. I thought it might get repetitive. So for now, I've replaced it with the Song O' the Day. In the days before these cards became my blogging focus, I had a LiveJournal that I updated regularly. I tagged every post with a song, usually whatever I was listening to at the time or a tune that I just couldn't get out of my head. Very occasionally, it would be tangentially related to whatever I was writing.

I love music, especially when it comes to sharing it with my friends and family. So I thought a music widget would be a fun diversion for everyone. When applicable, I will provide a YouTube video link. Plus, now you, my readers, can find out how awesome my taste in music is. DISCLAIMER: the proprietor of this blog does not, in fact, have awesome taste in music. Any posting of cool songs and/or artists herein is either coincidental or the result of recommendations by said blogger's much hipper friends and/or family.

With the legalese out of the way, tonight's song is "Orange Sky" by Alexi Murdoch. Based on this song choice, I have scanned and posted early 90s outfielder Chito Martinez, who is wearing a batting practice jersey that happens to be...orange. Plus, he's Chito, which is like Chee-tos, which are of course orange. And delicious.