Rene Gonzales, 1988 Donruss #582

September 25, 1987 was not a great day for the Orioles. Playing out the string on their worst season since 1955 (at least until the following year!), they were pummeled at home by the Yankees, 8-4. It was the 90th loss of the year for the O's, with a young Jose Mesa getting throttled for six runs on three hits and five walks in less than two innings. Don Mattingly's grand slam was the catalyst, and rookie lefty Al Leiter earned the win with ten strikeouts in six and two-thirds innings (along with four runs on eight hits and five walks of his own). One of the few bright spots for Baltimore was the performance of Rene Gonzales, who went 3-for-5 with an RBI triple and a pair of runs scored.

And yet, that day wasn't all that bad in the big picture. Rob Reiner's film The Princess Bride was released in theaters, and although it wasn't a box office success, it's become a beloved classic in subsequent years. It happens to be my wife Janet's favorite movie, and it's near the top of my list as well. In that spirit, five years ago today I bought an ice cream cake from Baskin-Robbins and had the phrase "As You Wish" written on top in icing. I brought it home and put it on ice in a cooler in the tiny back yard of my rowhouse, along with a 750 mL bottle of Dogfish Head's Positive Contact beer. That evening, I set up a couple of camp chairs and our fire pit, and surprised Janet with a cozy bonfire when she came back from babysitting a friend's daughter (a diversion that I had conveniently helped arrange). She was thrilled enough with the fire, but the emerald claddagh engagement ring that I pulled from my pocket seemed to go over pretty well, too.

I'm still pretty pleased that everything went according to plan that night. (In hindsight, my proposal has also given us an excellent excuse to indulge in ice cream cake and craft beer every year at this time.) Even though the ensuing years have brought their share of stresses, fears, and chaos, the scales are still tipped significantly by loads of laughter, joy, and adventure. Happy May Day, everyone.

Rene Gonzales, 1991 Score #638

My friends at Camden Chat have been doing a mitzvah for myself and O's fans everywhere by maintaining a daily countdown to Opening Day 2015. As Mark Brown noted in today's Bird Droppings post, the Orioles will play the first game of the new season at Tampa Bay in just 88 days. That's a hair under three months, folks! I think we're all gonna make it: you, me, and Rene Gonzales.

Rene Gonzales, 1988 Topps Big #209

Even as a kid, I found the Topps Big cards to be a pain in the butt. Their slightly oversized dimensions made them difficult to store without spindling, folding, and otherwise mutilating them. Besides, the cartoons on the back were better in theory than execution. Every player was drawn as a clean-shaven white guy with short black hair. Talk about lazy. But this Rene Gonzales card is better than most, and it's specifically because of the silly cartoons:

They make specific note of Gonzo's distinctive #88 jersey! I'm also mildly surprised that he's wearing black and orange in that first panel, especially since his Dodger Stadium usher getup seems to be some kind of off-purple hue. One step forward, two steps back, right?

Rene Gonzales, 1991 Topps #377

Congratulations to Vladimir Guerrero, who tied Rene Gonzales and 22 others on the Orioles' all-time home run list with his fifth round-tripper today, the 441st of his career.

Sure, I'm being facetious. By the end of the season I would certainly expect Vladi to have more home runs as an Oriole than Steve Barber, Mike Cuellar, Larry Haney, and Marv Throneberry. But as much fun as it's been watching the former Expos slugger slash line drive singles all over the place, the homers have been missing in action. I watched with increasing frustration as Nationals starter Jordan Zimmermann shut down the O's for six innings this afternoon, yielding only a walk and a Mark Reynolds double. The young pitcher had set down 13 in a row before Nick Markakis led off the seventh with a single. That allowed Guerrero to step to the plate representing the go-ahead run in a 1-0 game. A home run would be nice, I thought, but I quickly lowered my expectations as Vlad took a couple of wild hacks to fall behind 0-2. I would have been even less optimistic if I had realized that the designated hitter hadn't left the yard yet in the month of May. But a moment later, he roped a 76-mph curveball from Zimmermann four rows deep in the left field box seats to put the Birds ahead 2-1. That would be the final, as Koji Uehara and Kevin Gregg each tossed a scoreless inning of relief to seal the win and give Baltimore the three-game series over the Nats.

Thanks for the power surge, Vlad. Feel free to make it a habit.

Rene Gonzales, 1989 Donruss #377

Could the more seasoned Orioles fans out there help me
? I didn't get on the O's bus until 1993, so I wasn't around for the Rene Gonzales days. His first couple Donruss cards refer to him as "R.C." Did he ever actually go by that nickname? Or was Donruss going into business for themselves, a la Topps and "Bob" Clemente? Inquiring minds want to know.

Rene Gonzales, 1990 Donruss #401

You probably know by know that one of my quirky preoccupations as an Orioles fan is uniform numbers. For this reason, I have a special appreciation for utility infielder Rene Gonzales. "Gonzo" had worn #19 in the mid-Eighties with the Expos, but his favorite number was 8. When he got to Baltimore, a certain Ripken was entrenched in that number, so Rene doubled it. I believe he was the first player to wear #88 with any regularity, and was certainly the first Oriole to wear any number in the eighties in the regular season. He kept it for his entire stint in Charm City (1987-1990), and wore it at his future destinations of Toronto, California, Cleveland, and Texas. He played two games with the Rockies in 1997 and the spoilsports handed him #28.

Gonzo's legacy was continued by rookie first baseman Paul Carey, who debuted with the Birds in May 1993. His rationale was that #8 had proven pretty lucky for Cal Ripken, so hopefully #88 would be "twice as lucky for me". He played only 18 games in 1993, his first and only year in the majors, so I'm not sure how lucky the crazy eights turned out to be.

The third and final Oriole (to date) to wear #88 was a greater headline-grabber than his predecessors. Surly, hulking outfielder Albert Belle signed with the O's prior to the 1999 season for a bank-breaking five years and $65 million. He had worn #8 since 1990 with the Indians and White Sox, but even his 321 home runs did not trump the Iron Man. So it was that Albert too doubled his favored digit. The mercurial slugger certainly earned his keep in his first season in orange and black, bashing 36 doubles and 37 home runs, driving in 117 runs, and walking 101 times to boot. But things went downhill in a hurry. In 2000, Belle's production dropped notably (though he still lead a weak club in 2B, HR, and RBI) and he abruptly retired at age 33 with a degenerative hip condition.

As soon as Cal Ripken, Jr. hung up his spikes in October 2001, the Orioles retired his #8. Since then, Javy Lopez has been the most likely incoming Oriole to go double-eight. But he blew it by switching from #8 to #18 when he relocated to our fine city. Bo-ring. Will there be more #88s in Baltimore's future? Time will tell.