Storm Davis, 1985 Donruss #454

Storm Davis was one of 142 players who made their MLB debuts in the year of my birth, 1982. Other notables on that list include Tony Gwynn, Wade Boggs, Don Mattingly, and Julio Franco. The only one of these men who is still playing professional baseball is...Franco.

Julio, now 56 years of age, will be playing in an independent league in Japan, where he will also perform managerial duties for the Ishikawa Million Stars. I love the notion of somebody who is nearly my father's age still working as a pro athlete. He had a 23-year big league career, and was still an above-average hitter as a reserve for the Braves at age 46. In addition to the 2,527 games he logged in the majors, he also spent time in the top pro leagues in Japan, Mexico, and Korea. Last year he played sparingly as player-manager of the independent Fort Worth Cats, collecting six hits, two walks, and a sac fly in 30 trips to the plate despite being nearly 30 years older than the average player in his league. Now that Minnie Minoso is no longer taking his swings, I'm glad there's another evergreen ballplayer to take up his mantle.

Storm Davis, 1986 Fleer #271

I didn't expect to still be receiving wedding gifts six weeks after saying "I do". But today, a plain white envelope arrived from reader Alan, who is much more proactive about collecting Oriole autographs than I am. As he'd promised some days ago, he sent me five autographed O's cards: Tim Stoddard, Scott McGregor, Tom Niedenfuer, Bob Milacki, and ol' George Earl Davis, pictured above. Storm was a better pitcher for the Birds than I'd realized; he only had one subpar season in his initial five-year tenure in Baltimore. Even though he was only 20 years old when he debuted in 1982, Davis posted a 54-40 record and a 3.65 ERA (110 ERA+) in the first half-decade of his career. He completed 27 of his 121 starts. At that juncture, the Orioles traded their young middle-rotation starter for 31-year-old catcher Terry Kennedy and middle reliever Mark Williamson. Kennedy was gone in two years, and Williamson stuck around for eight mostly-competent seasons out of the bullpen. Storm soon landed in Oakland, won 35 games in a two-season span on the strength of the great team behind him, and wound up as a free-agent flop in Kansas City. He had good seasons as a reliever for the Orioles in 1992 and the Tigers in 1994, but never pitched in the majors again after the strike that ended the latter season. That's certainly not the career path that many would have predicted when ex-teammate Mike Flanagan was referring to him as "Cy Clone" due to his similarity to Jim Palmer. But baseball history is rarely tidy.

Storm Davis, 1992 Stadium Club #728

There are good and bad things about baseball in 2012 as compared to 1992. On the "bad" side of the ledger, most players wear solid colored socks now instead of stirrups. However, you don't see hairstyles quite like Storm Davis' frizzed-out mullet any more either. Call it a push.

Storm Davis, 1993 Score #449

Okay, we're exceptionally late and brief tonight because football takes precedence on certain days, particularly when my Ravens are fighting for their playoff lives in the final game at Texas Stadium against a tough Cowboys team. (In honor of the game, I've posted a card of Dallas native Storm Davis.) It was an exhilarating game, won by Baltimore 33-24 thanks to three quarters of stifling defense followed by an explosive, back-and-forth final fifteen minutes. It's really exciting to watch this team go from the outhouse (5-11) to the penthouse (10-5 with one game remaining). If Charm City's other Birds can beat Jacksonville at home next Sunday, they will be in the postseason. I'm holding out hope that the O's will soon give us two teams that a source of pride.

Storm Davis, 1985 Topps #599

George Earl Davis, aka "Storm", has a classic baseball name, even if his mother did pluck it from a book that she read before he was born. I'm convinced that the superiority of his moniker was worth at least two wins per season above the average, even if there's no way to accurately measure it.

Of course the rich, 55-year history of the Baltimore Orioles is flush with great names. While Drungo Hazewood, Arnie Portocarrero, and Treindad Hubbard may take the crown for most outlandish full birth names in O's lore, none of them ever won 61 games for the Birds. So Storm gets the nod from me today.