Sam Horn, 1991 Upper Deck #530

As I mentioned last night, Twins refugee Chris Parmelee had one hell of an Orioles debut, collecting a pair of singles and a pair of home runs in his first four at-bats. In 61-plus years in Baltimore, only one other player hit two round-trippers in his first game for the team: the one and only Sam Horn. On April 9, 1990 - Opening Day - the former Red Sox prospect went 4-for-5 with a pair of three-run homers, nearly single-handedly carrying the O's past the Royals in a 7-6 win. Sam had a nice little three-year stay in Charm City, batting .240/.328/.468 (122 OPS+) with 42 home runs and 125 RBI in 827 plate appearances. I wouldn't bet on Parmelee to stick around that long, but Dan Duquette has found useful players in unlikely places before.

P. S. : No posts from me for the rest of the week. See y'all Monday.

Sam Horn, 1992 Fleer Ultra #6

Last weekend, longtime Orioles Card O' the Day reader and commenter William sent me an email to say that he had just shipped a long-promised "Orioles care package", and that it would be arriving Monday. True to his word, a 12"x10"x8" box was waiting for me when I got home that day. The only thing that I knew about this mysterious package was that William had been on the hunt at thrift stores in his neck of the woods and had found some O's-related items that he thought I'd appreciate. With great amusement and a little trepidation, I tore open the box.

Right on top was the package's lone non-Oriole piece: a Ravens flag football jersey that is so garish, it's wonderful. There was a 1996 Starting Lineup figure of Cal Ripken, Jr. sliding into second base. If you grew up with Starting Lineup toys as I did, you will be relieved to hear that the figure does not really bear a strong resemblance to Junior. There was a Miguel Tejada bobblehead, but his arms broke off in transit. Rafael Palmeiro's bobblehead arrived completely intact. There were replica batting helmets from both the 1980s (tri-color cartoon bird) and 1990s (the original ornithologically-correct bird), a miniature glove with a silver "O's" logo in the pocket, and an Orioles baseball card album with 40 pockets (helpfully filled with an assortment of cards, mostly 1995 Collector's Choice). Last and certainly not least was a baseball autographed by Sam Horn.

I already thanked William in an email, but here's a public thanks as well. He said he considered it a "subscription fee" for the blog. I certainly don't expect anything in return for writing this thing every day, but I'll never turn down free stuff.

Sam Horn, 1991 Studio #5

Thank goodness for Donruss' Studio cards. How else would we have known that Sam Horn used a Big Stick?

Sam Horn, 1992 Studio #125

I think I'm going to have to work terrible Sam Horn puns into every holiday I can. I already went with an Uncle Sam reference last year on July 4. Here on Thanksgiving, we have a Horn o' Plenty. (Please hold your groans until the end of the blog entry.)

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, wherever you might be and whatever you might be doing. I'm going to stop in early in the afternoon to visit with my brother-in-law's family, and then head north to Harford County for a proper holiday dinner at my aunt and uncle's house. Then this evening, because I'm a crazy person, my sister and I will be going downtown to M & T Bank Stadium to root on the Ravens against the NFC West Champion (I'm going to go out on a limb and award them the division) San Francisco 49ers. I'm incredibly excited to attend my first prime-time football game. I'll see you back here tomorrow, though I'll probably be a little hoarse.

Sam Horn, 1993 Topps #109

Today I want to wish a happy birthday to Ryan, a diehard Orioles and Phillies fan who I befriended through the technological wonders of Twitter. We had the opportunity to meet in the meatworld last August at the National Sports Collectors Convention here in Baltimore, and I look forward to catching a game with him some time this season if the timing is right.

The list of January 25th baseball birthdays is pretty weak; former Oriole phenom Wally Bunker might be the best of the lot and he has very few non-vintage cards. The only other ex-O's are reliever Richie Lewis (four games, 12.71 ERA) and first baseman Francisco Melendez (nine games, .273 AVG). So instead I went with a card from 1993 Topps, one of Ryan's favorite sets of all time. The design might not be so hot, but I've got the kind of affection for it that can only be achieved by building your first set at age 11, and doing it the hard way: pack-by-pack, from now-obsolete places like Revco and McCrory's. (I suddenly sound incredibly old for someone under age 30.) The photography is also better than you'd expect at a glance. This is one of my favorite Orioles cards in the set, with the hulking Sam Horn sitting in pregame repose with his hands and chin resting on the knob of a heavily pine-tarred bat. Meanwhile, a female fan leans against the rail behind him, wearing some spiffy neon sunglasses and clutching a baseball in her hand. It's time to play ball.

Sam Horn, 1992 Pinnacle #221

Whoops! Somehow in all the July 4 hub-bub, I forgot to post a card. It probably had something to do with the fact that my girlfriend and I left my house at 2:30 AM to drive to the beach...something about beating the holiday traffic. We spent the morning and afternoon homeless in Ocean City, and then passed out cold after finally checking in at the hotel. We woke up in time for fireworks, and that about did it for the day.

As a belated Independence Day post, here's (Uncle) Sam Horn. It was really just a happy accident that one of the cards I pre-scanned for the week was this one. This morning I read about Night Owl's all-Sam team and decided to piggyback on his idea. So there you have it!

Sam Horn, 1992 Leaf #219

Because the BaltimoreSun.com sports section has major kinks in their RSS feed, it took me a little while to discover their latest blog, "The Toy Department". It's a collaborative effort among a half-dozen or so Sun writers, some of whom have made previous attempts at blogging only to completely fade away in short order. Hopefully the group format will take some pressure off of them. Anyway, they've got several running features, and one I've taken an early interest in is "Catching Up With...". As you might have guessed, Mike Klingaman tracks down sports figures from Baltimore's past and gives a status update. Last week, he caught up with Sam Horn.

ESPN's Chris Berman (NOT one of my favorite people) used to say that all Cris Carter did was catch touchdowns. Well, for two seasons in Baltimore, all that Sam Horn did was hit home runs. In 1990, Horn went deep 14 times in 246 at-bats, a rate of one per 17.6 at-bats. Half of his hoemrs that year either tied the game or gave the O's the lead. The following year he set a career high with 23 longballs in just 317 at-bats, a ratio of one per 13.8 tries. Even with an abbreviated and disappointing 1992, his OPS+ as an Oriole was a strong 122. So, where is he now?

The 45-year-old Sam Horn is a goodwill ambassador for the Red Sox (ugh), his first team in the majors. He also has somewhat of a cult following; he is the namesake for the Sons of Sam Horn (SOSH) message board, a meeting place for the most rabid of Boston fans. He used to broadcast games for the "Sawx" and at one time owned a sports complex in East Greenwich, R.I. Today, the father of three golfs and plays in charity baseball games.

The thing that really tickled me about the blog post was a quote from Sam that he "weigh(s) 285 and...still love(s) sweets". What caused him to share that information? It's especially funny if you imagine Klingaman asking him, "So, Sam, you were a pretty big guy, even back in your playing days. Are you fat as hell now? I bet you are. I can even hear you eating a Snickers on the other end of the phone. C'mon, pal. Fess up." But I digress. It's good to know that he's doing well.