Frank Robinson, 1988 Topps Traded #96T

So my plans took a sharp left turn on Monday, and that day's entry is being brought to you on a Tuesday. Better late than never. Let's keep with the Frank Robinson theme, as here we see an older, wiser Robby than the player depicted on the weekend's cards. He's putting his best face forward despite being given the thankless task of managing a rudderless mess of an Orioles team that has started the 1988 season 0-6. They will lose another 15 in a row to set a new record for season-opening futility, and will drop 107 of their 161 games in all. 34 and a half games will separate them from the American League East Champion Red Sox.

I keep coming back to the '88 Birds because I have never followed a team that seemed poised, right from the beginning of the year, to challenge their complete and utter futility...until now. This team was supposed to be much better, but here I am watching an injury and slump-wracked jumble of castoffs and underperformers stumble all over the place. It's now June and they're stuck on 15 wins - five more than Rockies pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez. They are already 18 and a half games behind the Rays. I've had to put up with 34 games of Julio Lugo, 38 games of Garrett Atkins, and 20 of Lou Montanez. Most of the time, the bullpen seems to be comprised entirely of spare parts. I hate this.

This can't be fun to read on a weekly basis. I'm trying to make sense of a disaster of a season, and there are only so many ways to say that the Orioles are crummy.

Frank Robinson, 2004 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts #39

Nice design, "Baltimore" on the jersey, pleasant smile, use of uniform number, and just the slightest hint of afro puff. Thumbs up.

Frank Robinson, 2005 Donruss Leather and Lumber Big Bang #BB-11

Okay, I said I wouldn't comment, but I need to clarify: hidden in all of that foil and crap is a notation that Frank hit 586 career home runs. Nice design, Donruss...but at least you incorporated the classic Oriole Bird.

Vintage Fridays: Frank Robinson, 1972 Topps #88

As mentioned yesterday, I am now miles away from my computer and likely up in the Pennsylvanian mountains without Internet access. So here is a pre-scheduled Frank Robinson weekend, kicking off with an impressive tri-player league leader card from "The Psychedelic Tombstone Set", as Night Owl calls it. You know of course that Harmon Killebrew and Frank Robinson are Hall of Famers, having combined for 1159 home runs in their long and illustrious careers. But Reggie Smith was no slouch - a seven-time All-Star who once won a Gold Glove as an outfielder. He played for 17 seasons, batting .287 with a .366 on-base percentage, 314 home runs and 1092 RBI. As for the 1971 RBI race, it wasn't much of a contest. "Killer" was the only American Leaguer to drive in 100 runners (119 to be exact). Robby was left in his dust, runnering-up with 99; to be fair, injuries limited him to 133 games. Frank's two most popular Oriole teammates, Boog Powell and Brooks Robinson, tied for sixth overall with 92 RBI apiece.

For each of the next two days, I will publish a scan of a fantastic modern-day Frank Robinson card without commentary. I'm going to allow the pretty pictures to speak for themselves...and give me a little break. See you Monday!

Brad Pennington, 1993 Bowman Foil #361

Tomorrow I'll be driving up to my family's lakeside cottage in Northeastern Pennsylvania for a long weekend getaway, but I'll leave a little something behind to tide you over. I was also hoping I'd be able to take a side trip to PNC Field to check out the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees (hey, Yankee affiliate baseball is still baseball), but their homestand ends tomorrow night and I don't think we'll be up for the 40-plus minute drive after the five-hour trip that morning and afternoon.

I'm sitting here reflecting on my past experiences at that ballpark. Since I was an awkward middle schooler, I've enjoyed going to these AAA games with my father every time we got the chance. For much of that time, the team was known as the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons, and they were the highest affiliate of the Phillies. Lackawanna County Stadium (as it was then known) was built in 1989, and it was a nice cozy place by minor league standards. There was a wooded area and rock formations directly beyond the outfield fence, giving the impression that the stadium had been carved right out of the mountain. There were aluminum bleacher benches down the third base line, and they were cheap and general-admission and offered a great view of the field. They also afforded a close proximity to the visitors' bullpen, which meant that you could get a good look at relievers, coaches, and catchers as they made their way to and fro. Over the years, I saw many future stars and starters of the Phillies; I particularly remember the buzz about Chase Utley. The Red Barons faithful sitting near us raved about the young second baseman, and they weren't disappointed.

Of course, the 2007 season brought some unwelcome (to me, at least) changes. Several teams shuffled their AAA affiliations, and the Phils shuffled their allegiance to a new Allentown team. My least favorite team swooped in and unimaginitively rechristened the S/W-B club as the Yankees, lest I try to forget who I was watching. The new ownership did everything they could to make a buck, including selling naming rights to the stadium to PNC Bank, charging a parking fee (it's a minimal one, but $2 is still more than the zero that it once was), draping garish sponsor's ad banners around the upper deck, and - most hurtful of all - reclassifying the bleachers as season ticket sections. That's right. If I want to go to a game now, I'm stuck up in the nosebleeds. Thanks a lot, guys.

But no matter what they do to dampen the fan experience on Montage Mountain, I'll always have my memories. Like the time I heckled Brad Pennington as he strolled to the visitors' clubhouse from the bullpen in his Durham Bulls uniform. Or the night I joined several thousand Red Barons fans in jeering Darryl Strawberry as he went 0-fer while rehabbing with the visiting Columbus Clippers (they played police siren noises every time he came up to bat). Those were the days.

Will Clark, 2000 Pacific Paramount Red #30

It's funny. I don't think of Will Clark as having been a productive player for the Orioles, mostly because he replaced the eye-popping numbers of Rafael Palmeiro and missed chunks of time due to injury. But according to Raphy (no relation) at the Baseball-Reference Blog, "The Thrill" had the seventh-best season among all hitters in the final year of their careers. That was the 2000 season, which he split between Baltimore and St. Louis. The 36-year-old played in 130 games (his second-highest total in seven seasons), hitting .319 with an excellent .418 on-base percentage, 30 doubles, 21 homers, and 70 RBI. His .964 OPS was the highest of his 15-year career, fueled largely by the 28 extra-base hits he stroked in 51 games after being traded to the Cardinals. His efforts totaled up to a 4.1 WAR (Wins Above Replacement), a very solid number.

Among the six players whose swan songs outrank Will's, three come with an asterisk. The 1-2 combo of Shoeless Joe Jackson and Happy Felsch both played their final season at their physical peaks, as they were banned from baseball after the 1920 campaign due to their roles in the Black Sox scandal. Carlos Beltran currently ranks fourth because injuries have kept him out of action thus far in 2010, but he will likely drop back off the list before long. Long story short, an aging Will Clark was still a damn sight better than Garrett Atkins.

Val Majewski, 2005 Playoff Prestige #183

It's time once again for "Where's Kevin?", the thoroughly underwhelming spinoff to "Where's Waldo?". Shortly, I will be traveling to New Brunswick, NJ, proud hometown of Val Majewski, he of the 13-at-bat major league career. Val played college ball at Rutgers University. As coincidence would have it, the purpose of my trip is to represent my employer at a career fair at RU's New Brunswick campus. Send me good-traffic vibes and keep your fingers crossed that the hotel bed is comfortable.

Okay, sure, you're wondering where Val is now. He's right up I-83 with the York Revolution of the Atlantic Baseball League, along with fellow ex-Oriole Matt Riley. The Rutgers grad is acquitting himself well in the indy league, hitting .330 with a .392 on-base percentage, eight doubles, and 22 RBI in 29 games. Riley, however, has allowed ten runs on 15 hits and 11 walks in 14 innings of work. You win some, and you lose some.

Ken Dixon, 1987 Fleer #468

Hey, whaddaya know? Ken Dixon has a place in baseball's record books. According to this post on the Baseball-Reference Blog, Ken is one of just 16 pitchers in the modern era (1901-present) to allow more home runs than walks in a season (with a minimum of 20 HR). In 1987, one of the most homer-happy seasons of all time, the righty served up 31 gopher balls while issuing only 27 free passes in 105 innings. To give you some indication of how many longballs were hit that year, Dixon's 31 didn't even place him in the top ten of the American League. He was edged out for the tenth spot by teammate Eric Bell, who let 32 hitters touch 'em all. In related news, the Orioles lost 95 games that year.

Chris Hoiles, 1994 Topps #295

Chris Hoiles wore four different uniform numbers during his time with the Orioles. Two of those were #23 and #42, which happen to be a couple of the six numbers that have been an ongoing theme in LOST, a show that has been an obsession of mine for much of its six-year run on television. (The Numbers, of course, are 4-8-15-16-23-42. Some have noted that all six have been retired by the Yankees - but then, there aren't many numbers left that they haven't retired!) Tonight, LOST concludes its incredible and often confouding run with a massive two-and-a-half hour series finale. I can't wait to see how it all ends.

Speaking of numbers, I've received a couple emails from readers that indicate that something is awry with my NumerOlogy site. Broken links, virus alerts...I've got no idea what is going on, but for your own security, I wouldn't recommend visiting the site until I can figure it all out. Oh, technology.

Daniel Cabrera, 2003 Bowman #191

I'm in Frederick today as the girlfriend's wedding date. Here's something old (DCab's status as a rising young prospect), something new (I recently received this card in the mail), something borrowed (I assume that Daniel borrowed his hair from Miss Cleo), and something blue (the inner border of the card).

Vintage Fridays: John Orsino, 1964 Topps #63

Today, May 21, is a momentous day. It is the 24th anniversary of the birth of the otherworldly being who will someday deliver all of Birdland from apathy, ennui, and suffering. Happy Wietersmas, everyone!

As coincidence would have it, two other (much less prominent) O's catchers also blow out the candles today: Chris Widger, who ended his career with a forgettable nine-game stint in Baltimore in 2006, is 39 today. Tommy Davis, a 2nd-round draft pick in 1994 whose entire career consisted of five games in mid-1999, hits the big 3-7.

As long as we're talking about catchers, let me throw a little love in the direction of John Orsino. "Horse" didn't have a particularly long career; he played in the majors for parts of seven years, but topped 25 games played only thrice. But he became a cult hero in Charm City in 1963, his only season as a primary starter. It was the Orioles' first season post-Triandos, and the 25-year-old Orsino had just arrived in a six-player trade with the Giants that was most notable for bringing veteran reliever Stu Miller to Baltimore. The new catcher grabbed some headlines in spring training by homering in each of his first five exhibition at-bats. He kept it going with a two-run home run in his first regular-season game, a 5-4 win over the Red Sox. The longballs just kept coming for John, as he finished the season with 19 of them. He posted a strong 133 OPS+ that led the team and ranked third among American League starting catchers, trailing only All-Stars Elston Howard and Earl Battey. He was also something of a Yankee killer, hitting three homers and driving in nine runs while batting .294 with a .940 OPS against the Bronx Bombers. The only team he did more damage against was the Senators (.353 AVG, 1.020 OPS, 3 HR, 11 RBI).

As I said, John wasn't long for this town. After slumping to .227 with 17 home runs over the next two seasons combined, he was traded to Washington and played only 15 games in two seasons to wrap up his big league career. But he's still a household name among longtime O's fans.

Brian Roberts, 2004 Playoff Prestige #23

As a baseball fan, you know it's going to be a long year when it's only mid-May and your favorite player (who is also the senior member of the team and its offensive pace-setter) has already dealt with:

-a herniated disk in his lower back
-a stomach virus/gastrointestinal discomfort
-a strained abdominal muscle
-pneumonia

I may have missed a malady or two, like scabies or Walking Leprechaun Syndrome. The past few months have been beyond belief vis a vis Brian Roberts. If any of my readers happen to know somebody that owns a B-Rob voodoo doll, could you please tell them to give it a rest?

Luke Scott, 2008 Topps Allen and Ginter #42

It's a poorly-kept secret that Luke Scott is a streaky hitter. Sometimes, it can be painful to watch him scuffle for extended periods of time, like the second half of last season (.208 AVG/.292 OBP/.375 SLG). But the upside is that when he gets hot, he's blazing. It's just plain fun to see him blasting the ball all over - and out of - the park.

In his first six games as an Oriole, Luke was 10-for-20 with three doubles and a home run. Over a nine-game stretch in June of 2008, he batted .387 with five homers and ten runs scored. He batted .485 and reached based at a .553 clip in a ten-game run that August, scoring eight times and tallying seven extra-base hits. And of course, there was a ridiculous 13-game swing in May and June of 2009 (interrupted by an injury) in which he batted .465 (20-for-43) and slugged 1.116, thanks to a double and nine home runs. He also drove in 20 runs and scored 14. Y'know, O's fans don't just bellow "LUUUUUKKKKEEEEE!!!" because it sounds neat.

Don't look now, but the soft-spoken, gun-toting, Bible-loving slugger is torching the opposition again. Since an 0-for-4 on May 4 left his average in a crater at .177, he has had 15 hits in his last 33 at-bats entering play tonight (.455). He's slugging 1.030, with a double, six homers, and 11 RBI in those nine games. That paltry batting average has been boosted 82 points to a healthier .259. Last night all he did was go deep twice off of 2009's Cy Young, Zack Greinke.

Enjoy the ride, folks.

Brooks Robinson, 1998 Fleer Sports Illustrated MVP Collection #2

If you see Brooks Robinson today, go ahead and wish him a happy 73rd birthday. Did you know that Brooksie's career batting average was .267 and his career home run total was 268? If he had gotten just two more hits in his 10,654 career at-bats, the two stats would have matched. Most people don't think about the legendary defensive-minded third baseman as a power hitter, but when you play for 23 years, you have plenty of chances to do something interesting with the longball. Here are some more pointless home run tidbits about the Human Vacuum Cleaner:

-He hit his 268 home runs off of 166 different pitchers. He most frequently victimized Bill Monbouquette and Dean Chance (six times each).

-Robinson hit 12 homers off of fellow Hall of Famers, including five against Catfish Hunter and three vs. Whitey Ford.

-37 of his homers were against the Red Sox, with 23 coming in Fenway Park. Those were his most frequently targeted team and opposing ballpark.

-He hit his only leadoff home run on September 1, 1961 against Barry Latman of the Indians. That's right, Brooks used to hit leadoff.

-Brooks hit one home run on his birthday. It was a two-run homer in 1971 against Fritz Peterson of the Yankees, and it gave Baltimore a 3-1 lead in the 4th inning. They won 6-2.

-He totaled eight walkoff homers, including a 14th-inning clout to top the Angels in 1962 and a 10th-inning grand slam in 1970 to frustrate the Yankees and give Mike Cuellar a complete-game victory.

-The final home run of his career was a walkoff shot - a three-run pinch-hit homer to down the Indians in the 10th inning on April 19, 1977! It was the only pinch HR of his storied career. If he had a real flair for the dramatic, he would have retired right then and there. But that wasn't Brooksie's style.

Adam Jones, 2009 Topps Triple Threads #26

Tonight I came home after spending the early evening touching up the paint job at my new house and found a rectangular box wrapped in brown paper on the front porch. I instantly new that it was my new copy of the Strat-O-Matic baseball board game, the spoils of my victory in the White Sox Cards trivia contest. Naturally, I tore right in. I was surprised to find that the game board featured a panoramic photograph of the Oriole Park at Camden Yards playing field! I assume that they have team-specific stadium shots for each club, but that was a nice touch. My previous incarnation of the game featured a generic drawing of a baseball diamond.

After I spent an hour separating all of the player cards from their perforated sheets, I decided to take the 2009 Orioles for a spin. What better opponent than the hapless Kansas City Royals? Since K.C. is actually in town tonight, I chose to go with the actual starting pitching matchup: Brad Bergesen vs. Kyle Davies. This one looked like it would be a laugher as the Birds put up a five-spot in the bottom of the first and chased Davies with two outs in the inning. Five of the first six batters reached and scored, with the big blow coming in the form of a Matt Wieters three-run homer. But reliever Robinson Tejeda blanked the O's through the fifth inning, and they scored their only other run on an Adam Jones home run in the seventh.

Bergesen turned in a strong start, pitching into the eighth inning and allowing only a pair of solo home runs in the third. Danys Baez allowed an inherited run to score, but Nick Markakis ended the threat by gunning down his second runner of the evening at home plate. You just don't run on Nick. Jim Johnson earned the save with a perfect ninth inning, and the lovely final was a 6-3 Baltimore win.

...If only real life were so pleasant. The Royals are still hapless, Bergesen kept his team in the game and allowed three earned, but the bats sputtered for the umpteenth time in 2010. Other guys 4, our guys 3. Yuck. I think the O's need a 20-sided die.

Dorn Taylor, 1991 Crown/Coca-Cola All-Time Orioles #451

Last week there was a request from reader and frequently entertaining commenter William for Dorn Taylor. I take reader feedback very seriously, of course, especially when it allows me to show off a card of a guy who pitched a grand total of three and two-thirds innings in an Orioles uniform, all in 1990. Besides, he's the only "Dorn" in major league history (although his given name is actually Donald Clyde Taylor), and he looks kind of like Dwayne Wayne from the early 1990s sitcom A Different World. He's also from Abingdon, PA, roughly half an hour from my family's lakeside cottage in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Go figure.

In all seriousness, I've got respect for somebody like Dorn, who played college ball at a small Division II school in North Carolina (Pfeiffer College, which is now Pfeiffer University) and wasn't even drafted. He signed with the Pirates in 1981 as an amateur free agent and stuck it out for nine professional seasons, earning only brief cups of coffee in Pittsburgh and Baltimore in 1987, 1989, and 1990. You lived the dream, Dorn, and you did it with style.

Corey Patterson, 2006 Upper Deck #528

Tonight's results notwithstanding, Corey Patterson has been having a great time making my last blog entry about him look dumb. The O's won their first three games with him back in the lineup, and he had leadoff hits to ignite rallies in each game. He threw out the tying run at home plate to end a thrilling 6-5 win over Seattle on Thursday, and had three hits, a walk, and robbed a home run from Shin-Soo Choo in last night's 8-1 victory over the Indians. It's almost like he wants to stick around or something. If he keeps it up, Corey can stay as long as he likes.

Vintage Fridays: Bob Reynolds, 1975 Topps #142

If you like reading about baseball cards on the Internet (and if you don't, I'm not sure why you're here), you probably know that there's an embarrassment of riches in the way of blogs on the hobby. I'm sure there are tons of great ones out that that I never get around to reading. I find the sheer volume to be overwhelming, and tend to stick to the tried-and-true few that have served me well for the last couple of years. One of those is Greg (a.k.a. Night Owl)'s blog, which is well-written with an always-inquisitive approach to cards and a self-effacing humor. Within the past year he started a second blog, which pays tribute to the 1975 Topps set that was a major part of his childhood. It's through the latter that I learned of a fantastic incident involving Bob Reynolds and another more famous Oriole.

Reynolds was known as "Bullet Bob" thanks to a blazing fastball that could register triple digits on the radar gun. He had two great years out of the Baltimore bullpen, appearing in 96 games between the 1973 and 1974 seasons and winning 14 games and saving 16 others. His earned run average was a paltry 2.25. But apart from that, Bob was a true journeyman; he bounced among six teams in parts of six big league seasons. He totaled just 44 games in the other four years.

Bob's last stop in the bigs was Cleveland, where he appeared in five games late in the 1975 season. At the time, the Indians were managed by Frank Robinson, who was also at the tail end of his playing career. Reynolds went to spring training with the club the following year, but didn't make the cut and toiled at AAA Toledo all season. As it happened, he was 34 days short of the minimum service time required to draw a major league pension. In midseason, the Indians played an exhibition game against their top farm team. Reynolds faced Robinson and retired him on a fly ball. As the future Hall of Famer was making his way back to the dugout, the pitcher shouted at him, demanding to know why he had been demoted. Frank didn't appreciate being challenged, even in an exhibition, and charged across the field to knock his ex-player off his feet with a surprise punch.

Reynolds claims it was a misunderstanding. As of the writing of this article (July 2003), the two had not spoken since that exciting game, though Robinson made an attempt to call his victim that very year and could not reach him.

All I know is that I wouldn't look at Frank Robinson sideways if I wanted to keep my teeth.

Cal Ripken, Jr., 1996 Collector's Choice You Make the Play #33

It's time for a pop quiz! Don't worry, it doesn't count toward your final grade. One of my latest time-wasting obsessions is Sporcle, a site full of user-created timed quizzes on any and every subject under the sun: music, television, sports, geography, history, language...you name it. Naturally I gravitate toward the sports quizzes. There are a ton just pertaining to the Orioles, if you do a site search, but I also like to challenge myself with more general-knowledge stuff, like the 20-game winners of the 2000s or the members of the Hall of Fame. It was just a matter of time before I decided to throw my own hat into the ring. I present to the first quiz of my own creation: The Top Ten All-Time Maryland-Born Home Run Leaders. Billy Ripken just missed the cut, but his brother might be on there. I wouldn't want to give away my secrets. So go give it a whirl, and let me know what you think! I'd also appreciate it if you could rate the quiz. Have fun!

Corey Patterson, 2007 Topps Opening Day #44

I've been anticipating this post for at least a week, but it still feels weird. Corey Patterson has returned. The simple fact that Corey and his .290 career on-base percentage are back, much less that he's being counted upon as a breath of fresh air by some, tells you in a nutshell just how poorly the season is going in Baltimore. Still, he's a good baserunner and a strong fielder, both of which are in short supply on this club. No one expects him to hit .368 as he was at AAA Norfolk, but even if he hit 100 points below that he would be miles above most of his new teammates...

...Including Lou Montanez, who must have photos of Andy MacPhail in a compromising position. I understand that Nolan Reimold was demoted so he could continue to get steady playing time and hopefully regain some confidence, but I don't see why Lou couldn't join him on the shuttle bus. He's a 28-year-old minor league veteran who has four singles in 35 at-bats. That's a .114 average to go with a .253 OPS (-30 OPS+). You can't tell me that any AAA outfielder at random couldn't give the Birds something more than that.

If there's anything that concerns me about Corey Patterson II: The Coreying, it's that Diamond Dave Trembley won't be able to resist the urge to bat him leadoff. Hey, he's a fast, slightly built guy, so naturally he bats first, right Dave? Ugh. Yes, the O's miss the steady presence of Brian Roberts at the top of the order, but I'd love it if the skipper could keep a guy with a sub-.300 OBP down low where he belongs. Corey's unfitness for the leadoff position has even been immortalized in t-shirt form.

By the way, Corey Patterson is batting first tonight. Ouch. Prove me wrong, ol' pal.