Frank Robinson, 2009 Topps Legends of the Game #LG-FR

Maybe I'm easily amazed, but I think it's incredible that three Oriole greats celebrate their birthdays in the last two weeks of August. Boog Powell was born on the 17th, Cal Ripken, Jr. on the 24th, and today Frank Robinson turns 75. Robby had such an immense impact on the O's, it's hard to believe that he played in Baltimore for just six years. Needless to say, he made those years count, averaging nearly thirty home runs per year, a .401 on-base percentage, and a .543 slugging percentage. The MVP, Triple Crown, four pennants, and two world championships were pretty nifty too.

In honor of Frank, let me see if I can compile an All-Robinson Team:

C Aaron Robinson (1943-1951) - Career .260 hitter, one-time All-Star, his best season was 1946. He hit .297 with 16 HR and 64 RBI with the Yankees.

1B Eddie Robinson (1942, 1946-1957) - Four-time All-Star drove in 100 runs in three straight years, peaked with .282 AVG (.371 OBP), 29 HR, 117 RBI for White Sox in 1951. Played the final four games of his career with the Orioles.

2B Jackie Robinson (1947-1956) - First African-American player in MLB, inducted into Hall of Fame in 1962. Six-time All-Star, Rookie of the Year, 1949 NL MVP (.342 AVG, .432 OBP, 38 2B, 12 3B, 16 HR, 124 RBI, 37 SB). Batted .311 overall.

SS Yank Robinson (1882, 1884-1892) - Had to dig way back for this one. William H. "Yank" Robinson played all over the infield, and played chiefly for the St. Louis Browns of the American Association. He led his league in walks three times, and had almost as many bases on balls as hits: his career batting average was .241, but his on-base percentage was .375. From the "It Was a Different Game" file, he committed 95 errors at second base in 125 games in 1886!

3B Brooks Robinson (1955-1977) - Do I need to tell you about him? Hall of Famer, 1964 AL MVP, 1970 World Series MVP, 16-time Gold Glover, 18-time All-Star, 268 career home runs. He's also a pretty nice guy.

LF Frank Robinson (1956-1976) - The man of the hour. Hall of Famer, first player to win MVPs in both leagues, 1966 World Series MVP and Triple Crown winner, 586 career home runs, 1812 career RBI, 528 career doubles, .294/.389/.537 slash line. First African-American manager in the majors.

CF Bill Robinson (1966-1969, 1972-1983) - Longtime Pirate had his best years after turning 30, including four 20-homer seasons. Career year was 1977: .304, 32 2B, 26 HR, 104 RBI.

RF Floyd Robinson (1960-1968) - Starred for the White Sox early and ran out of gas quickly. Still hit .283 for his career. 1962: .312, AL-best 45 2B, 109 RBI.

SP Ron Robinson (1984-1992) - Big gregarious ginger went 14-7 with a 3.26 ERA in 1990. Also saved 14 and won 10 out of the bullpen in 1986, and could easily be interchanged with the next man on the list. If you're hard up for a pinch hitter, he batted .202 (18-for-89) for the Reds over a three-year span.

RP Don Robinson (1978-1992) - Won 109 games with a 3.79 ERA and 57 saves for his career in a variety of roles. Won 11 and saved 19 in relief in 1987.

MGR Wilbert Robinson (1902, 1914-1931) - Former Orioles catcher and John McGraw disciple "Uncle Robbie" won 1399 games and two NL pennants, spending all but one of his 19 years as a manager with the Brooklyn "Robins" (Dodgers). Also once had a fine mustache.

So there you have it. A solid team with four Hall of Famers and four one-time Orioles. If I had the patience to put together a full 25-man roster, early 1960s Oriole outfielder Earl Robinson would be there too. Happy birthday, Frank!

Nick Markakis, 2009 Topps Allen and Ginter National Pride #NP34

This is the sort of card that benefits from an artist's touch. But sometimes a third party comes along and adds their own finishing touch to a card that's less-than-welcome.

In general, I avoid comment threads on online articles because they devolve into shouting, posturing, name-calling, and every other brand of ugliness that the anonymity and wide audience of the Internet encourages. But the commenters on sportswriter Joe Posnanski's blog are the refreshing exception that proves the rule. Joe calls them "Brilliant Readers", and he's not being sarcastic. I'm always entertained and enlightened when I move on from his great feature articles to the supplemental remarks provided by his other readers. Over the weekend Poz ranked the current major league managers based on their playing careers, and the mention of Buck Showalter (who never made the majors but did hit .324 with 82 RBI in 1980 for the Yankees' AA Nashville squad) elicited a great anecdote from reader "sansho1". I excerpt it in full below:

"In 1981 I (age 13) was waiting for a flight in the Birmingham airport, absently flipping through the baseball cards I’d brought along to alleviate boredom, when an older gentleman saw what I was doing and asked to see my best Yankee card. I didn’t know what he wanted with it, so after some deliberation I settled on a 1974 Roy White and handed it to him.

He told me his son played in the Yankees farm system and had just been promoted to AAA. Said he was a first baseman and a .300 hitter, and he figured to be in the major leagues probably the following year. Then he took out a pen, scrawled something on the card, and handed it back to me, saying, “Hold on to that card, it’s going to be worth something one day!”

As he walked away, I looked at the card. In the white border along the bottom was etched “Nat Showalter’s Father”. Nat, it turns out, was William Nathaniel “Buck” Showalter.

I was perplexed, and a little pissed, that the guy thought he’d actually ADDED value to my 1974 Roy White by writing on it. But when I think about it now, I think about a guy bursting with such pride at his son’s accomplishments that he’d walk around airports autographing his kid’s name on strangers’ paraphernalia, and how great it must have been for those few months when the sky was the limit for the son he’d raised, and I forgive him."

I think the storyteller has the right idea. In hindsight, he probably realizes that it's pretty cool that he met Buck's father. Even if the guy overstepped his bounds by defacing a 1974 card (and let there be no doubt, he overstepped), he was just a proud father who got carried away. Besides, he did end up making it in the majors...it just took him a little longer than expected. But when he got there, he won 898 games and counting. As good a player as Roy White was, that kid was never going to put his future kids through college with that card anyway.

Scott Kamieniecki, 1997 Fleer Ultra #498

In recent years, the extensive length of the six-month, 162-game baseball season has been more of a curse than a blessing for Orioles fans. No matter how poorly or how well the first two-thirds of the season went, you could count on the Birds to crash and burn in August and September. This year, the "dog days" have actually allowed the club and its rooters to salvage something positive out of a season that ran off the rails from game one.

With one game left in the month, the O's have a record of 16 wins and 10 losses in August, thanks to the weekend road sweep of the Angels (whose ridiculous geographic identifier will not be repeated here). Holding a team - any team - to a single run in 27 innings is reason enough to celebrate, but it's also allowed the Baltimore faithful to breathe a sigh of relief. Before this month, the Orioles had not broken even for a full calendar month since June 2008. More astoundingly, it is the first winning August for the Birds since 1997 (they went 18-10 then, which was their seventh straight winning month spanning two seasons). It's probably not coincidence that there have been 13 straight losing seasons in the interim.

Just how long ago was 1997? Browse the names of the pitchers who won games for the O's that August. Arthur Rhodes swooped in from the bullpen to grab three wins. Mike Mussina had a pair, as did Scott Kamieniecki, Scott Erickson, Jesse Orosco, and Armando Benitez. Shawn Boskie, Terry Mathews, Alan Mills, Jimmy Key, and Rick Krivda rounded out the victory parade. Randy Myers saved ten of those W's, and Benitez slammed the door on one other. Rhodes, of course, is still pitching with the Reds, his sixth team since leaving town in 2000. Benitez, as mentioned last week, is delaying the inevitable by playing out the string with the Newark Bears of the Atlantic League at age 37. Moose retired two years ago with 270 career wins. Scott Erickson sputtered to the finish with nine forgettable games as a Yankee in 2006. The other eight pitchers have all been retired for a decade, save for the ageless Orosco, who hung 'em up in 2003.

If you're curious, the Orioles last posted a winning September in 2004, when they were 18-10. But they've only managed that feat twice in the 13-year-skid, with a 20-8 mark in 1999 being the other. So to crack .500 next month would be monumental as well - even more so, if you consider that all but four games come against the quadruple beasts of the American League East. Make it happen, Buck and Co.

Frank Robinson, 2002 Topps 206 #291

Usually, when you see modern-day cards featuring Frank Robinson, they show him in the prime of his playing career. Classic black Orioles cap, lean body, orange stirrups cut and pulled high, bat whipping through the strike zone. There's a different scene going on here. It's 1988, and Frank is 52 years old. He's been pulled in during the season to pilot a rudderless ship. The club will lose his first 15 games, and 107 in total. You can understand why he looks so rankled, can't you?

Vintage Fridays: Ross Grimsley, 1974 Topps Traded #59T

1974 marked the first year that Topps released a supplement to their basic set late in the year to highlight players who had changed teams during the season. They certainly didn't just dip their toes in, or wade in gradually. Topps absolutely took the plunge, slapping a caution-tape-yellow strip at the bottom of the player picture that took up nearly a quarter of the card's real estate. In case they still didn't have your attention, the blood-red "TRADED" label should have done the trick. It's almost reminiscent of a wanted poster; at any rate, Ross Grimsley's expression is world-weary. He's squinting off into the high noon sun, preparing for an Old West showdown with guns drawn. Ross knows that he's not coming back. In a manner of speaking, this was the end of Grimsley as he had previously been known. In 1975 he grew a bushy mustache and grew his hair out into a shag, and within a year or two it was teased into a buoyant thicket of curls that transformed him into the Caucasian equivalent of Oscar Gamble.

On another note, it's somewhat ironic that the "Traded" name was rendered outdated almost immediately. On December 16, 1974, an arbitrator ruled that Oakland pitcher Catfish Hunter was baseball's first free agent, as owner Charlie Finley had breached his contract. Two weeks later, Hunter signed with the Yankees for big money. Several other players began the 1975 season without signed contracts, as the emergent players' union challenged the reserve clause that had made player movement a one-way street. By the end of the season, pitchers Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally had played all year without inking deals. Again, they were ruled free agents, and this time the reserve clause was gone for good. Topps did not issue a Traded set in 1975, but brought it back the next year. They kept the "Traded" name, even though it would have been more accurate to dub it "Traded and Free Agents". It was another five years before the next supplemental set, but when it returned it was still "Traded". In fact, Topps kept putting out Traded sets through 2004, although the scope of the set had also expanded to incorporate rookies who emerged during the season. Since 2005, Topps has gone with the unwieldy but more inclusive "Updates and Highlights" brand name.

Armando Benitez, 1995 Upper Deck Special Edition #48

Yesterday I saw that Baseball-Reference was featuring a blog post entitled "October Blown Saves" and I immediately thought of Armando Benitez. I pulled up the entry and whaddaya know, our old match-in-the-gas-tank buddy has blown more saves than anyone else in postseason play. He's saved four games in the playoffs and World Series in his career and blown a whopping six saves. His overall postseason ERA is 3.56, which seems decent until you look at the individual series: 1996 ALCS - 7.71 ERA. 1997 ALCS - 12.00 ERA. Those are his two worst October performances, and whaddaya know, both were instrumental in keeping the Orioles out of the World Series. I still see Tony Fernandez in my nightmares...you know, the freaking prehistoric Indians second baseman whose 11th-inning home run off of Armando clinched a 1-0 win for the Tribe in Game Six of the 1997 ALCS and sent them to the Fall Classic. Ugh.

I suppose Benitez could take solace in the fact that the man right behind him on that blown saves list is Mariano Rivera. Of course, Mo is 39-for-44, a slightly higher percentage. Plus he has those five championship rings. But can Rivera say that he's saved ten games in the independent Atlantic League? Case closed.

Koji Uehara, 2009 Upper Deck X Die-Cut #99

I'm way past due in giving the pitchers some love on this blog, and no one is more deserving than Koji Uehara. For the first year and a half of his two-year, $10 million contract, he looked like just another free agent bust for the Orioles. He was as fragile as a Faberge egg, wilting in the heat and humidity and landing on the disabled list multiple times. He missed a chunk of June and all of the second half of the 2009 season, at which point the club decided to minimize their losses and drop him from the rotation. It was a logical move, as he'd spent his last two years in Japan as a closer with some success. His stamina problems would be less of a factor in one-to-two inning bursts, and his excellent control would be a panacea after the heave-and-a-prayer stylings of the Dennis Sarfates and George Sherrills of the world. It was a great idea in theory...but then Uehara tweaked his hamstring once more in spring training and wasn't seen again until May. He pitched effectively in six games, but then went back on the DL with a strained forearm. He returned 40 days later and seemed out of sync, allowing runs in three out of four appearances.

But then something clicked. In his last fourteen games, Koji has given up just one run in 17 innings for an 0.53 ERA. He's allowed 13 hits and only two walks while striking out 19. He has three holds, picked up a win in the wild 11-10 comeback victory against the Rays, and earned his first major league save in Saturday's 8-6 win over Texas. For the season, his ERA has dropped to 1.73 and his strikeout-to-walk ratio is an excellent 5.80-to-1. Oh yeah, and he's rocking an amazing set of sideburns.

It would be great to see Koji back in the Baltimore bullpen in 2011. We just have to make sure he eats his spinach and does his yoga.

Cal Ripken, Jr., 2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes Relic #16

Sorry about the blurry scan, but I was too impatient to free this card from its screw-down case.

I'm sure I'm the last to tell you, but today is Cal Ripken, Jr.'s 50th birthday. Last week, I made note of Boog Powell's birthday by mentioning the two home runs he'd hit on his special day. Well, Cal only homered on his birthday once: August 24, 1983, a Wednesday game in Baltimore. You've probably heard about this game. With the Birds down 3-1 to the Blue Jays in the ninth, Joe Altobelli used a couple of pinch hitters to complete a rally. Having emptied his bench, he deployed an unusual defensive alignment in the top of the tenth: outfielders Gary Roenicke and John Lowenstein played third base and second base, respectively, and diminutive infielder Lenn Sakata became the new catcher. After Tim Stoddard gave up a Cliff Johnson home run and a Barry Bonnell single, Tippy Martinez was brought in to relieve him. That's where the story gets really crazy.

Bonnell, undoubtedly eager to run on Sakata (who hadn't caught since Little League), was picked off by Martinez. Tippy walked the next hitter, Dave Collins, and promptly picked him off as well! With two outs, Willie Upshaw hit a bouncer up the middle that Brother Lo put a glove on, but he had no play at first. Base hit. As Buck Martinez came to bat to try to pad the Jays' lead, Tippy...you guessed it, picked off Upshaw! Toronto manager Bobby Cox blew a gasket, arguing in vain that the O's lefty must have been balking. The umpires didn't see it that way, and the Blue Jay runners' aggressiveness cost them. But they still had the lead heading to the bottom of the tenth.

Cal was the first batter, and he deposited a Joey McLaughlin pitch over the Memorial Stadium wall for a game-tying homer - Happy 23rd Birthday, Cal. Eddie Murray walked, Lowenstein advanced him to second with a grounder, and John Shelby was intentionally walked to set up a double play. Instead, Roenicke struck out, leaving it up to Mr. Sakata and his .616 career OPS. Lenn hit the biggest of his 25 career home runs, a three-run walkoff shot that sparked an eight-game winning streak. In the process, the O's took control of the American League East. They won the division, the pennant, and the World Series. Cal won the first of his two MVP awards and caught the final out in the Fall Classic. I have a feeling that he didn't mind being upstaged on his birthday, either.

P. S.: Read one fan's excellent remembrances of listening to the game on the radio at the blog Swing and a Miss.

Tim Raines, Jr., 2001 Bowman Chrome #279

Today I was researching Orioles home runs, and I uncovered something interesting...to me, anyway. In 174 plate appearances in 75 major league games spanning three seasons, Tim Raines, Jr. never hit a home run for the O's. His father made just a dozen trips to the plate for the Birds in four games in 2001, his penultimate season, and went deep once. Tim Junior was schooled by his 41-year-old Dad!

So why was I preoccupied with round-trippers? I put together another Sporcle quiz, this one asking the taker to list the top 200 players on the Orioles' all-time home run list. Why 200? Because that's the largest number of questions that Sporcle accommodates. Again, why 200? It seems excessive, considering that it encompasses every Oriole with as many as five homers, and even a few with four (there was a 20-way tie, but only three spots left to 200, so I took the three who used the fewest at-bats to get there). I've taken several home run list quizzes that were created for other teams, and had a great time seeing how many players I could pluck from my brain in the 20 minutes allotted. I just figured that the Birds should be represented too. So feel free to kill some time and exercise some brain cells by taking my quiz (and rating it)! I'll even give you a hint: you can enter last names only and kill multiple birds with one stone. Typing "Smith" might hypothetically get you four points. Wink, wink. Good luck!

Curtis Goodwin, 1996 Pinnacle #111

Pictured left to right are Cal Ripken, Jr., Brady Anderson, Rafael Palmeiro, and Curtis Goodwin. How humbling do you think it must be to be the fourth banana on your own card? Goodwin lasted five seasons in the major leagues with five clubs, and totaled three home runs in that time. Brady went deep 210 times in 13 years. Cal touched 'em all 431 times in 21 years. Raffy hit 569 four-baggers in 20 seasons. I guess Pinnacle had Curtis sniffed out when they chose a photo of him congratulating Ripken for the latter's successful turn at bat.

Roberto Alomar, 1997 Stadium Club #240

Suddenly, as Roberto Alomar leaped to corral the wild throw from Chris Hoiles, he witnessed Kenny Lofton being violently vivisected by a Topps Stadium Club name ribbon.

Vintage Fridays: Gus Triandos, 1959 Topps #568

This magnificent fifty-year-old All-Star card of Gus Triandos has lost a bit of its luster. Back in the early 1960s, some towheaded little scamp wanted an easy and affordable way to display his favorite cards. Ultra-Pro binder sheets were just a wonderful fevered dream at that time, so he took his mom’s dumb old photo album and pulled out all those boring pictures of his little sister, and inserted his cardboard treasures in their place. But how to make them stay in place? Luckily, the ‘rents had a roll of Scotch tape lying around! Little Junior didn’t give much thought to the effects that adhesive, combined with six decades of exposure to the elements, might have on his collectibles. After all, some of those words sound vaguely sciencey, and that’s the kind of junk they make you learn in school! So here we are, far into the future, and his card has fallen into the possession of a grown man with a full-time job and a mortgage who has too much time on his hands and is obsessing about those yellowed corners that aren’t even sticky any more.

This is why I don’t obsess about condition when it comes to vintage cards. Think of how dull this card’s backstory would be if Junior had snuck it into Dad’s fireproof document box instead.

Ty Wigginton, 2009 Upper Deck O-Pee-Chee #443

Last night I suggested, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, that Albert Belle was some sort of terrible, hulking creature fueled by his own fury and the fear of mortals. If you watched tonight's Orioles game, you know that the real enforcer is Mister Ty Wigginton. In the top of the sixth inning, with neither team having yet scored, young pitcher Brian Matusz gave up a gapper to right-center field. As Nick Markakis came up with the ball, the hitter (Andres Blanco) tried to stretch it into a triple. Markakis hit his cutoff man, Brian Roberts, who fired a strike to Wigginton at third. It was a bang-bang play, but the hydrant-shaped infielder expertly blocked Blanco's headfirst slide with a well-placed knee. He plucked Roberts' high throw out of the air and slapped the tag down in time for the crucial out. Blanco's momentum caused his head to collide with Wiggy's elbow, adding injury to insult. He popped up from the bag and began jawing at Ty while his third-base coach tried to guide him toward the dugout. Wigginton went chest-to-chest with the Ranger second baseman, shouting back at him and pointing toward the visitor dugout, telling him that he was out and should grab some bench. The bullpens slowly emptied, but the altercation was diffused before it became a fracas. Blanco is a lucky man; if they had come to blows, he might have had to crawl back to the clubhouse afterward.

Oh, and Wiggy went 1-for-4, Matusz pitched eight innings of five-hit, six-strikeout ball, and Corey Patterson, Brian Roberts, and Nick Markakis drove in runs in a four-run seventh inning. Orioles 4, Rangers 0.

Albert Belle, 2001 Fleer Tradition #111

Ho-ly crap. You are staring directly into the face of all of your fears. Do not make any sudden movements around Albert Belle. Do not taunt him. Do not address him directly. Do not blink. He feeds off of your darkest secrets, and luxuriates in your pain. He is older than the mountains, stronger than the redwoods. Albert Belle is the reaper of souls.

Or maybe he's just a big scary dude with an arthritic hip.

Boog Powell, 2006 Fleer Greats of the Game Autographs #15

Not much time to blog today, as I was at the ol' ballpark tonight. Just wanted to pass along birthday wishes to John Wesley Powell, "Boog" to you and me and millions of fans of baseball and barbecued meats. The Booger turns 69 today. Of the 339 home runs that he hit over the course of his career, just two fell on his birthday:

-August 17, 1970: In the bottom of the seventh inning in Milwaukee, Jim Palmer gives up two runs to tie the game. Boog hits an eighth-inning solo shot (his 29th of the season) off of Lew Krausse that gives the Orioles a 3-2 lead over the Brewers. They would win by that score, boosting Palmer's record to 17-7.

-August 17, 1971: Again, the O's are in Milwaukee. Again, they score late and pull out a 3-2 win. Again, Boog shifts the momentum with an eighth-inning blast - this one a game-tying two run shot off of Marty Pattin. It was his 17th homer on the year, as injuries cost him 30 games. Eddie Watt picked up the win in relief of Dave McNally, thanks to an Elrod Hendricks home run to lead off the ninth inning.

Ken Gerhart, 1988 Topps #271

Ah, the eternal question: what to do with all this junk wax?

I've been more or less settled at my house for two months now, but one room in particular is half-finished. I'm using the spare bedroom as something of a hobby room, where my books and sports memorabilia will all be stored and displayed. Because it doesn't get as much traffic and doesn't serve an essential day-to-day purpose, I've dragged my feet on hanging and framing the photos and posters and organizing the baseball cards in a more efficient manner. I'm slowly getting around to it, and I do have the luxury of having an entire modest two-story home to myself, so space is not at an absolute premium. But it just kind of bugs me that I have boxes upon boxes of leftover duplicate (and triplicate and occasionally quadruplicate) cards, oh so many of them spanning the years 1986-1993. By now, anybody who would actually want to trade for them has already done so. I could give them to Goodwill, as I intended to originally, but that seems like a cop-out.

I want to do something creative. Junk wax has gotten a bad name from collectors. Even when we come across cards from that era of overproduction that we don't already own, many of us dismiss it out of hand. It's bland, primitive, derivative. But there must be some greater purpose for all of this 20-year-old cardboard moldering away in shoeboxes, under beds and on shelves and locked away in storage facilities. I want to find that purpose. What could it be? I just don't know. I have vague notions of modern art - mosaics or sculptures or Randy Ready knows what - but nothing concrete.

I'm going to open this up to all of my readers - all seven of you. What should I do with all of my duplicate junk wax? Leave a suggestion, or multiple suggestions, in the comments. Whoever comes up with the best idea, in terms of creativity and feasibility, will get to choose one of the following relic cards: Edgar Martinez, Trevor Hoffman, and Chase Utley (or Yadier Molina, if anyone actually wants him). Solid, star-type guys. Tell your friends, link to this post on your blogs, I want to see what the Card Blogging Universe Hive Mind can concoct. Have a little fun.

Marty Cordova, 2003 Donruss #92

One of the things that's a real treat about action shots taken at Oriole Park at Camden Yards is that you sometimes get a giant hot dog lurking in the distance. That blurry weiner behind Marty Cordova is of course the Esskay ad on the left side of the right field out-of-town scoreboard. Of course, scoreboards are getting more and more advanced all the time, and we now have full-color, high-definition video boards all over stadiums. Some teams put scoreboards directly on the outfield fence...like the Milwaukee Brewers. Today I was putting my 2010 Topps set in its binder when something struck me about Ryan Braun's card. Does that disembodied grinning face looming behind the Brew Crew's left fielder look familiar?It's Brian Roberts, don'tcha know. That's gotta be the most unique player cameo I've ever seen on someone else's card. This picture must have been taken the weekend of June 20-22, 2008, which was the last time that the Orioles and Brewers met in interleague play. By checking the box scores, I can narrow it down to the last two games of that series, as B-Rob didn't hit any balls to left field in Friday night's game. If anyone can narrow it down further, feel free. In the meantime, I'll be here wondering whether Braun made that catch under the watchful gaze of MechaRoberts.

Joe Nolan, 1982 Topps Traded #81T

Joe Nolan's looking pretty orange in this photo, but he's got nothing on the throwback threads the Orioles wore last night. It was Turn Back the Clock Night at the Tropicana Dome, which might have been problematic for the Rays, who have only been in existence since 1998. Since there's nothing fun about reminiscing over the salad days of a dozen years ago, the home team appropriated the uniforms of the 1970 Tampa Tarpons, a former minor league affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. While it was jarring seeing James Shields, B. J. Upton, and Evan Longoria in red and white caps and v-neck pullovers, they had nothing on the O's and their 1971-vintage threads. In an act of sheer genius, the Birds wore the rare all-orange jersey and pants combo that Brooks Robinson's Sporting Goods Company foisted upon his teammates for two whole games that year before they were banished to history. They were a true thing of beauty, particularly for those players like Felix Pie and Koji Uehara who wore era-appropriate black stirrups with white sanitary socks underneath. Manager Buck Showalter was not a fan, as he kept his black pullover on for the entire game and insisted that he'd never be seen in the pumpkin gear again...killjoy. Of course, the Orioles looked even better in their painfully loud duds because they won a solid game over the Rays, 6-0. Jeremy Guthrie kept on rolling, Luke Scott hit yet another homer, and Uehara and Mike Gonzalez slammed the door on Tampa Bay. Come back soon, orange uni's! Well...maybe not too soon.

Vintage Fridays: Jim Palmer, 1976 Kellogg's #37

If you've been an Orioles fan since the glory days (and even if you haven't), you might be shocked to hear that today marks the 41st anniversary of Jim Palmer's no-hitter against the Oakland Athletics. It wasn't Friday the 13th, but rather Wednesday, August 13, 1969. I guess "Cakes" wasn't triskaidekaphobic!

It was a night game at Memorial Stadium, and only 16,826 Baltimore fans were on hand to cheer on the steamrolling O's, who at 80-35 stood 14.5 games ahead of the second-place Tigers and had the best record in all of baseball by 7.5 games over the Cubs. The A's were no slouches; at 66-47, they were just a game off the pace of the A.L. West-leading Twins. Oakland manager Hank Bauer, having been fired by the Birds the previous season despite piloting their first World Champion club in 1966, might have had payback on his mind. But it was not to be on this night.

Palmer was making just his second start after a month-plus stay on the disabled list, but it was the opposing batters who looked rusty. He pitched around walks in each of the first two innings, racking up four strikeouts in the process. Meanwhile, Don Buford led off the Oriole first with a triple and scored on a Paul Blair flyout to stake the pitcher to an early lead.

After failing to score on a bases-loaded threat in the second, the Birds broke out in the fourth. Oakland starter Chuck Dobson walked Elrod Hendricks and Merv Rettenmund to start things off, and Bobby Floyd bunted them into scoring position for...Jim Palmer? Palmer, hitting .118 entering the game, had singled in his first at-bat. This time he doubled to center field, scoring Hendricks. Don Buford followed with a single to left that scored Rettenmund, but left fielder Tommie Reynolds cut down Palmer at the plate. 3-0, Orioles.

Oakland got their first runner to second base in the sixth inning thanks to an error by Floyd (playing shortstop in place of the defensively gifted Mark Belanger) and a walk to Reggie Jackson. But Jim coaxed flyball outs from the next two hitters to frustrate the visitors once again.

The O's exploded for five runs in the home half of the seventh, and Palmer was once again at the heart of the rally. He led off with a walk against Vida Blue, who had retired the first six batters he'd faced in relief. A passed ball and a Buford single scored Palmer, and a stolen base and a Frank Robinson single plated Buford. Boog Powell followed with a single to chase Blue, and Brooks Robinson greeted reliever George Lazerique rudely with a three-run homer. 8-0, Orioles.

Palmer cruised through the eighth, but battled in the final inning. Whether it was nerves, an insistence not to give in and surrender that first hit, or something else, he wound up walking the bases loaded. The first of these walks was given to Reggie Jackson, the third time he'd gotten a free pass that evening. I'd suspect that some of that was by design, at least. Sal Bando lined out to Blair in center field and Jackson was forced at second on a Danny Cater grounder, leaving Palmer one out away from a little piece of history. He got two quick strikes on Dick Green before losing him with four straight balls. Reynolds followed with another walk, Palmer's sixth of the evening. Ex-Oriole Larry Haney stepped to the plate and there was nowhere to put him. Fortunately, he grounded the ball to Floyd at short, and he flipped to Buford at second for that pesky 27th out! Palmer improved to 11-2 with the win, his ERA a scant 1.77. He struck out eight batters, tying a career high.

There have undoubtedly been scores of great days in the life of Jim Palmer, but this one has to have been near the top.

Mike Boddicker, 1985 Leaf #109

For the past two nights, I had the pleasure of listening to Mike Boddicker add his insights and humor to the Orioles' broadcasts. Tuesday night he was the third man in WBAL's radio booth, and last night (and tonight) he had the same role on MASN's TV coverage. I hadn't watched/listened to any other games that he'd covered this season, but now that I have I think he's the best of the guest analysts in 2010. He sounds comfortable and articulate, as if he'd been at it for years. He's knowledgeable about the O's and their opponents, and he might just be clairvoyant. At the start of the fourth inning on Tuesday, the Birds were trailing 1-0 and Cleveland starter Justin Masterson had set down nine batters in a row. Boddicker noted that Masterson had the talent to get batters out, but that he has a tendency to come unraveled quickly. As if on cue, the Orioles touched him up for four runs on their way to a 14-8 laugher.

In last night's game, Boddicker was reunited with former teammate Mike Flanagan. The pair were mainstays in the Baltimore rotation from 1983-1987, and they had an easy and collegial chemistry in the booth. They swapped anecdotes, jokes, and good-natured insults as Brad Bergesen breezed through a complete-game victory. Late in the game, as Bergy was polishing off another quick inning, Boddicker observed that the game was much less tense than you would expect, given a two-run margin between the teams. Flanagan astutely added that it was as though Bergesen had put the Indians in a sleeper hold.

So if you're in the MASN viewing area tonight and you're not sufficiently football-mad to watch an exhibition game, check out Mike Boddicker's work. I don't think you'll be disappointed.