As the Orioles celebrate their 20th season at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, I take a look back at the top 20 moments in the history of the ballpark. Selected moments had to relate directly to the action on the field at the time. No orchestrated events such as World Series anniversary celebrations or Orioles Hall of Fame inductions were eligible.

Previous selections:
20. Wieters’ debut
19. Nomo tosses only no-hitter in Oriole Park history
18. Orioles rally from nine-run deficit against Boston
17. 30-3
16. Showalter takes the helm
15. Palmeiro homers in Oriole debut
14. Griffey’s Warehouse shot
13. Sparring with Seattle
12. Davis defies the odds
11. Hoiles’ slam stuns Mariners
10. Game 6 of 1997 ALCS
9. 1993 All-Star Game
8. Moose misses perfection
7. Eddie comes home
6. Bonilla’s slam in first playoff win
5. The first Opening Day
4. Birds shrink Big Unit to win 1997 ALDS
3. No. 500 for Eddie
2. Farewell to Cal

1. 2131 (and 2130) – Sept. 5-6, 1995

Was there ever a doubt what the No. 1 choice would be?

For anyone who’s ever invested the tiniest amount of emotion in sport, there are no words to describe those two nights at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in 1995. To attempt to find the prose to describe the experience does it no justice, whether you were one of the lucky in attendance or simply watched in your living room.

If it were a movie, no one would have believed it as Ripken homered in both the record-tying and record-breaking games against the California Angels.

The endless number of curtain calls, the flashbulbs popping every millisecond, the victory lap around the field, and the many tears of joy that were shed.

You won’t find a more emotional, beautiful moment in which a city expressed its love and appreciation for a sports hero.

The simple act of showing up to play everyday, ignoring the aches and pains and the fatigue of a 162-game baseball season, wasn’t the most impressive feat in baseball history, but it was one to which we all could relate and, more importantly, respect. Cal Ripken’s journey toward Lou Gehrig’s incredible streak of 2,130 consecutive games played was a quest we all felt a part of in some odd way.

At a time when baseball was at its lowest point following a strike that wiped out the World Series and delayed the start of the 1995 season, fans around the country needed a player in which they could begin to reinvest their love for baseball. Ripken was that man, and the Streak became bigger than the game despite his desire to downplay its significance.

The 22-minute standing ovation that culminated with Ripken’s jog around the perimeter of Camden Yards, shaking hands and offering smiles to the many fans who had watched the Streak transform from a unique piece of trivia into a symbol of dedication and tenacity over the course of 14 seasons, was an experience unlike any other in professional sports.

Despite all his accomplishments in an eventual Hall of Fame career, those two nights cemented Ripken’s legacy not only in Baltimore but in the history of the national pastime. For two nights, the Charm City shared Ripken with the rest of the baseball world while swelling up with pride that he was our own.

It lacked the exhilaration of a world championship, but the euphoric emotion shared by all would never be eclipsed anywhere else in any arena.

It wasn’t just the top moment in the history of Oriole Park at Camden Yards, but it was the proudest a city could feel for a professional athlete who had provided so much joy over a tremendous career.

Sweepity sweep sweep! I’m not about to proclaim that happy days are here again, but I must admit that I’ve been pleased with what I’ve seen so far from the 2011 Orioles. The pitching has been stellar, defense is excellent, and offense is good AND timely. And of course, the one year I don’t grab Brian Roberts for my fantasy team, he goes on a tear. Oh well. About now, I should be putting away my winter coat, only turning the heat on at night, and sharpening my axe and chainsaw in anticipation of pleasant evenings spent out in the meadow chopping firewood while listening to the Orioles on my truck’s radio. Instead, it snowed a little bit here in Franklin County PA again on Thursday, thunderstormed tonight, and the temperature isn’t supposed to get above 50 for at least another week and a half. Out like a lamb indeed…

And unfortunately, the weather is not the only thing raining on baseball’s parade this year. The NFL’s labor woes have been getting all the attention lately (enough people have already chimed in on what a jackass Adrian Peterson is, so I needn’t go into that), but MLB’s current labor agreement also expires at the end of this season. And Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, at the behest of the Campaign For Tobacco Free Kids and US Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) has decided to push for a ban of smokeless tobacco to be included in the new contract.

The rationale for this is nothing new. Tobacco causes cancer, spitting can spread tuberculosis and other diseases, blah blah blah… As a semi-reformed smoker myself, I don’t necessarily disagree with any of their points. But what I do have a problem with is the nanny-state mentality behind it, and this notion that it is the job of this upright citizens brigade to tell grown men that they’re not allowed to use a legal product and to censor the image that players project to the public.

If the use of chewing tobacco in baseball is still running rampant today, I never noticed it. Thinking back to my own formative years, the only baseball player I can clearly remember seeing on the chaw was Randy Johnson. Perhaps this is because the only guy the TV camera really ever stays on long enough for you to observe it is the pitcher, but I don’t know. I just always assumed that most of them were either chomping on bubble gum or sunflower seeds, but I could have been wrong.

My childhood idol was Cal Ripken, and I know that he didn’t chew. I also know that it wouldn’t have made me any more likely to take it up if he had (my mother would have skinned me). I don’t really buy into the argument that baseball players using tobacco makes kids much more likely to do it. If that were true, then teenage alcoholism and venereal disease in America would have quadrupled in the last couple years thanks to Snooki. In the last 15 years or so, the anti-tobacco crusaders have managed to ban smoking just about everywhere else in Creation- restaurants and bars, college campuses, magazines, billboards, in movies and TV shows. And yet, the piece of the teenage population who use tobacco has steadily remained at around 20% for the last decade. In other words, erasing it from our popular culture has had little if any effect on the efforts to curtail its use by the younger general public.

And there’s another question I just have to ask. Where was Frank Lautenberg, Dick Durbin, and Bud Selig’s moral outrage when Tim Lincecum appeared on the cover of the November 2009 issue of “High Times” Magazine holding a baseball with a pot plant on it? If baseball players chewing tobacco is a bad influence for children, then a Cy Young Award winner endorsing the use of a drug that’s actually illegal should be way worse, right?

In cases like these, I will always err on the side of freedom and individual responsibility. I really wish Senators Lautenberg and Durbin would spend less time worrying about things like this and more time concentrating on getting our country’s trillion-dollar debt paid off. As Thomas Jefferson said, “I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.” In other words, if baseball players or any other American adult wants to chew or smoke tobacco, it’s nobody’s business but theirs; and if the sight of brown spit offends you, feel free to go watch golf instead. Every pack of cigarettes and can of snuff sold in this country has a warning label on it that tells you of the health risks, and being free to make your own choice, even if it turns out to be a bad one, is what makes America great.

As the Orioles begin their 20th season at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, I take a look back at the top 20 moments in the history of the ballpark. Selected moments had to relate directly to the action on the field at the time. No orchestrated events such as World Series anniversary celebrations or Orioles Hall of Fame inductions were eligible.

Previous selections:
20. Wieters’ debut
19. Nomo tosses only no-hitter in Oriole Park history
18. Orioles rally from nine-run deficit against Boston
17. 30-3
16. Showalter takes the helm
15. Palmeiro homers in Oriole debut
14. Griffey’s Warehouse shot
13. Sparring with Seattle
12. Davis defies the odds
11. Hoiles’ slam stuns Mariners
10. Game 6 of 1997 ALCS
9. 1993 All-Star Game
8. Moose misses perfection
7. Eddie comes home
6. Bonilla’s slam in first playoff win
5. The first Opening Day
4. Birds shrink Big Unit to win 1997 ALDS
3. No. 500 for Eddie

2. Farewell to Cal – Oct. 6, 2001

You know it’s not a typical game when your team is wearing special commemorative patches and the league ordered special baseballs for the occasion. Despite entering the night with 97 losses and closing out a miserable season on the field, the Orioles hosted the Boston Red Sox with all the glitz and hype of a postseason game, or at least Opening Day.

After all, it wasn’t going to be easy saying goodbye to Cal Ripken.

On June 19, Ripken announced his intention to retire at the end of the season, which led to a memorable farewell tour as the future Hall of Famer was honored in ballparks throughout the league, proving the entire baseball was just as appreciative to Maryland’s favorite son.

However, Baltimore was going to give Cal Ripken a farewell unlike any other after his 21 years with the club he grew up rooting for as a kid in nearby Aberdeen. Ripken was much more than a great player, a Hall of Famer, or one of the best to ever play the game. He was an icon, not just in the Charm City but everywhere.

The Orioles had originally been scheduled to play their final series of the year at Yankee Stadium, but the tragic events of September 11 had canceled a week’s worth of games as the nation mourned the many deaths in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pa. As a result, the final game of the season would take place on a memorable Saturday night at Camden Yards.

The flashbulbs popped with Ripken’s every move, reminiscent of the night six year earlier when Orioles fans showed more adulation for a professional athlete than had ever been witnessed anywhere else. The game itself was forgettable as Boston won 5-1, but none of that mattered as the 48,807 on hand wanted a final glimpse of their hometown hero.

Ripken went 0 for 3 against Red Sox starter David Cone despite fans trying to will the 41-year-old to one more memorable moment. In the bottom of the eighth, he came to the plate for the final time in his career, a moment Orioles fans will never forget as Ripken flew out to center.

As the game moved to the bottom of the ninth, the Orioles tried to get Ripken to the plate one more time as Brady Anderson — also playing in his final game as an Oriole — stepped in against Boston closer Ugueth Urbina. With Ripken waiting on deck and the fans firmly behind Anderson, Urbina struck him out to end the game and the career of No. 8.

A dejected Anderson walked to the dugout, but the dramatic finish made for intriguing theater. It was the epitome of the old adage of leaving the crowd wanting more.

The post-game ceremony was a made-for-TV event with the stadium lights extinguished and the spotlight on Ripken for a final curtain call on the last night in which he’d wear an Orioles uniform. His final words to the faithful at Camden Yards, “The House that Cal Built,” were heartfelt but unassuming. Typical Cal.

“One question I’ve been repeatedly asked these past few weeks is, ‘How do I want to be remembered?’ My answer has been simple: to be remembered at all is pretty special. I might also add that if, if I am remembered, I hope it’s because, by living my dream, I was able to make a difference.”

A difference made, indeed. For Orioles fans of all ages, but particularly those who grew up in the 1980s and 90s, Ripken defined what it meant to be an Oriole in the same way Brooks Robinson had done a generation earlier. Simply put, Ripken was the Orioles for fans too young to enjoy the glory days of three world championships, six league pennants, and the fruits of the Oriole Way.

His departure not only symbolized the end of an era and the last link to the franchise’s glory days, but it sparked feelings similar to the ones felt by fans who witnessed Robinson’s farewell in 1977.

It was never going to be the same.

Players come and go, hits and strikeouts fade from memory, but you never forget how the special ones made you feel.

As the Orioles begin their 20th season at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, I take a look back at the top 20 moments in the history of the ballpark. Selected moments had to relate directly to the action on the field at the time. No orchestrated events such as World Series anniversary celebrations or Orioles Hall of Fame inductions were eligible.

Previous selections:
20. Wieters’ debut
19. Nomo tosses only no-hitter in Oriole Park history
18. Orioles rally from nine-run deficit against Boston
17. 30-3
16. Showalter takes the helm
15. Palmeiro homers in Oriole debut
14. Griffey’s Warehouse shot
13. Sparring with Seattle
12. Davis defies the odds
11. Hoiles’ slam stuns Mariners
10. Game 6 of 1997 ALCS
9. 1993 All-Star Game
8. Moose misses perfection
7. Eddie comes home
6. Bonilla’s slam in first playoff win
5. The first Opening Day
4. Birds shrink Big Unit to win 1997 ALDS

3. Steady Eddie hits No. 500 – Sept. 6, 1996

Leave it to Eddie Murray to find the perfect timing to reach a monumental achievement that still left him flying under the radar the same way he did throughout his brilliant Hall of Fame career.

After making his return to the Orioles six weeks earlier, Murray had crept ever closer to his 500th home run, hitting No. 499 on Aug. 30 in Seattle. The designated hitter then went five straight games on the road without a round-tripper, setting up the Orioles’ return to Camden Yards on Sept. 6, 1996.

Exactly one year earlier, the baseball world had celebrated Cal Ripken’s record-breaking 2,131st consecutive game in one of the most memorable moments in baseball history. However, the first anniversary was a rainy, ugly night that threatened to cancel a scheduled game against the Detroit Tigers.

A rain delay lasting more than two hours forced many of the announced 46,708 to either leave early or stay home altogether by the time the game got underway just before 10 o’clock. Those absent would miss the moment we’d all been waiting for since Murray had returned to the place where he started it all.

With the Orioles trailing 3-2 with one out in the bottom of the seventh, Murray dug in from the left side of the plate against Detroit starter Felipe Lira. With roughly 20,000 fans in the ballpark and the clock hovering around midnight, Murray became the 15th man in baseball history — and the first since Mike Schmidt in 1987 — to join the 500 home run club with a soaring drive into the bleachers in right-center.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl6956rN838[/youtube]

Confetti flew as Murray circled the bases, tying the game in the process. The rain-soaked fans who remained gave him an eight-minute standing ovation, applauding him for becoming the third man in history — the other two being Hank Aaron and Willie Mays before Rafael Palmeiro joined the trio nine years later — to reach both 3,000 hits and 500 home runs. Not one for pomp and circumstance throughout his career, Murray took two curtain calls and beamed with appreciation for a fan base so happy to have him back in Baltimore after a bitter departure eight years earlier.

It couldn’t top the outpouring of emotion for Ripken a year ago, but Murray’s feat was no less memorable for the people who witnessed it.

What had been a perfect night despite the long rain delay ended imperfectly with the Orioles losing 5-4 in 12 innings. “Steady Eddie” was his typical unassuming self following the game, citing deep appreciation for the recognition but stating what he wanted most from a wet Friday night in early September.

“I’d have preferred to get a win,” Murray said after the game. “We’re running out of games. It would have been nice to get a win.”

Of course, the Orioles would clinch a playoff spot via the wild card berth as Murray hit one more homer in the regular season. His last at-bat with the club came in Game 5 of the 1996 ALCS. With the Orioles losing 6-1 and on the verge of elimination to the hated Yankees, Murray homered to left field off Andy Pettitte in the bottom of the eighth in a final salute to Baltimore fans.

Murray would sign with the Angels in the offseason and play one more season before retiring, but his reconciliation with the Orioles and his milestone 500th homer rank among the greatest moments in club history, much less the history of Oriole Park at Camden Yards. An orange seat marks the spot where Murray’s 500th home run landed, immortalizing the event for future generations.

As we move closer to the start of the 20th season at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, I take a look back at the top 20 moments in the history of the ballpark. Selected moments had to relate directly to the action on the field at the time. No orchestrated events such as World Series anniversary celebrations or Orioles Hall of Fame inductions were eligible.

Previous selections:
20. Wieters’ debut
19. Nomo tosses only no-hitter in Oriole Park history
18. Orioles rally from nine-run deficit against Boston
17. 30-3
16. Showalter takes the helm
15. Palmeiro homers in Oriole debut
14. Griffey’s Warehouse shot
13. Sparring with Seattle
12. Davis defies the odds
11. Hoiles’ slam stuns Mariners
10. Game 6 of 1997 ALCS
9. 1993 All-Star Game
8. Moose misses perfection
7. Eddie comes home
6. Bonilla’s slam in first playoff win

5. A beautiful place for a ballgame – April 6, 1992

It was both unusual and perfectly natural.

The Orioles had never played a home opener away from 33rd Street, but, still, it felt very much like home at 333 West Camden Street with the historic B&O Warehouse, the Bromo Seltzer tower, and the city skyline providing a beautiful backdrop.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened 19 years ago as the new “old” ballpark that would become the standard by which new parks are judged. The dignitaries came, including President George H. W. Bush who threw out the honorary first pitch — in the dirt — to catcher Chris Hoiles.

Then, after years of waiting for a new ballpark, the Orioles took the field at their downtown home as newly-signed veteran Rick Sutcliffe took the mound to deliver the first pitch in Camden Yards history. After making just 24 starts in his final two seasons with the Cubs, Sutcliffe was brilliant in his first game in Baltimore, stifling the Cleveland Indians in an old-fashioned contest that lasted just over two hours.

Sutcliffe delivered a five-hit shutout, striking out six and walking one in a 2-0 victory for the Orioles.

Baltimore received all the runs it needed in the fifth when Hoiles’ automatic double over the left-center wall plated Sam Horn with the first run in Camden Yards history and Billy Ripken’s suicide squeeze drove in Leo Gomez with the second and final run of the afternoon.

With 44,568 rising to their feet with two outs in the ninth — as they had hundreds of times at Memorial Stadium — Sutcliffe fanned Indians first baseman Paul Sorrento looking on an away fastball. The first game and the first win was in the books at the new home of the Baltimore Orioles.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1SCJlk7Zuw[/youtube]

The opening win set the tone for a surprising season after the 1991 club had lost 95 games in its final season on 33rd Street. The Orioles went an impressive 89-73, finishing seven games behind the Toronto Blue Jays and in third place.

All these years later, it still feels like it was only yesterday when Cal Ripken and the Orioles took the diamond at the Yard for the first time. It was both new and familiar. But most importantly, it was perfect.

Camden Yards firsts on Opening Day
First pitch – Rick Sutcliffe delivers a high fastball for a ball at 3:20 on April 6, 1992

First batter – Kenny Lofton flies out to right fielder Joe Orsulak

First hit – Paul Sorrento singles to left-center in the top of the second

First strikeout – Sutcliffe fans Mark Whiten in the top of the second

First Orioles hit – Glenn Davis singles up the middle in the bottom of the second

First run and first extra-base hit - Sam Horn scores on a Chris Hoiles automatic double in the bottom of the fifth

First win - Sutcliffe strikes out Sorrento to earn the 2-0 shutout

As we move closer to the start of the 20th season at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, I take a look back at the top 20 moments in the history of the ballpark. Selected moments had to relate directly to the action on the field at the time. No orchestrated events such as World Series anniversary celebrations or Orioles Hall of Fame inductions were eligible.

Previous selections:
20. Wieters’ debut
19. Nomo tosses only no-hitter in Oriole Park history
18. Orioles rally from nine-run deficit against Boston
17. 30-3
16. Showalter takes the helm
15. Palmeiro homers in Oriole debut
14. Griffey’s Warehouse shot
13. Sparring with Seattle
12. Davis defies the odds

11. Hoiles’ dreamlike slam stuns Mariners - May 17, 1996

A unique moment in sports is occasionally so memorable that it takes on a life of itself.

An event where only several thousand were present gradually transforms into an occasion witnessed by hundreds of thousands, if only for its improbable nature and the euphoria its aftermath creates.

There’s nothing more cliched in sports than the boyhood dream of stepping to the plate in the bottom of the ninth with your team trailing by three runs.

Full count, two outs, and the bases loaded.

It’s the stuff of wide-eyed boys playing in the backyard on a July afternoon, dreaming of one day playing in the big leagues.

And it was the exact scenario presented to Chris Hoiles, who capitalized on that dream in one of the wildest games in Orioles history.

It was a typical slugfest that characterized the 1996 season. Both the Orioles and Seattle Mariners were short on pitching but could mash opponents into submission with an offensive onslaught — the two clubs hit a combined 502 home runs in 1996 — that wore out scoreboard operators around the league.

After jumping out to a 7-2 lead through five innings, the Orioles bullpen proceeded to surrender an inexcusable 11 runs in four innings of work. A grand slam by 20-year-old Alex Rodriguez off Alan Mills had given the Mariners an 11-9 lead in the eighth, and the lead grew to 13-10 as Seattle closer Norm Charlton worked in the bottom of the ninth.

Many of the 47,259 in attendance had gone home after the game had eclipsed the four-hour mark and appeared destined to be a deflating loss thanks to the ineffective bullpen. Even more at home had surely turned off the television set as the clock approached midnight.

Yet, what happened next would have many more thousands claiming they were there, or had at least hung on to watch the bottom of the ninth on TV.

The erratic Charlton — who would bring his high-wire act to Baltimore two years later to the tune of a 6.94 earned run average in 1998 — walked Roberto Alomar, allowed a Bobby Bonilla double, and issued a free pass to Cal Ripken in the process of getting the first two outs of the inning. Hoiles came to the plate with a chance to become the 20th man in major league history to hit a walk-off grand slam to erase a three-run deficit.

The count went full as the several thousand still in attendance rose to their feet with the imagined scenario playing out before their eyes. Then, Hoiles deposited the 3-2 pitch into the left field seats to give the Orioles an inconceivable 14-13 victory as the stunned Mariners walked off the field.

His teammates mobbed him at the plate as Hoiles became the only known player in history to hit his “ultimate” grand slam with a full count and two outs. The select fans who had stuck around Camden Yards that night had seen one of the most exciting moments in franchise history.

And thousands more would learn of it the next morning, kicking themselves for heading home early or turning off the tube the previous night.

Myself included.

As we count down to the start of the 20th season at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, I take a look back at the top 20 moments in the history of the ballpark. Selected moments had to relate directly to the action on the field at the time. No orchestrated events such as World Series anniversary celebrations or Orioles Hall of Fame inductions were eligible.

Previous selections:
20. Wieters’ debut
19. Nomo tosses the only no-hitter in Oriole Park history
18. Orioles rally from nine-run deficit against Boston
17. 30-3
16. Showalter takes the helm
15. Palmeiro homers in Oriole debut
14. Griffey’s Warehouse shot

13. Sparring with Seattle – June 6, 1993

The next choice on the list would easily top a list of the ugliest moments in Camden Yards history, but it’s a scene those in attendance will never forget.

After sleepwalking through the first two months of the season, the Orioles found themselves in sixth place and nine games out in the seven-team AL East when the Seattle Mariners came to town in early June. Baltimore took the first two games of the series and was thinking sweep with ace Mike Mussina taking the hill on a Sunday afternoon.

The Orioles got their sweep, but it came in the aftermath of one of the ugliest, longest brawls in big league history. After Seattle starter Chris Bosio had thrown behind Harold Reynolds and Mark McLemore earlier in the game, Mussina drilled Mariners catcher Bill Haselman — who had hit a home run earlier — in the top of the seventh, touching off a 20-minute brawl that resulted in eight ejections and the near-end of Cal Ripken’s consecutive games streak.

Unlike the typical baseball brawl that amounts to plenty of jawing and halfhearted pushing, punches were thrown and the grappling continued at several different points after it looked like order had been restored. When the dust finally settled, Rick Sutcliffe, David Segui, and Alan Mills — who also landed a memorable punch on Darryl Strawberry during a fight in the Bronx five years later — were the three Orioles tossed while Seattle ejections included manager Lou Piniella along with Haselman, Bosio, Mackey Sasser, and Norm Charlton.

The Orioles won the game 5-2 as Mussina improved to 8-2 on his way to an All-Star selection. However, his season would soon be derailed by shoulder issues, posting a 6.37 earned run average in 13 starts following the brawl and spending a month on the disabled list later that summer.

The most significant footnote from the marathon scuffle was the injury sustained by Ripken, who twisted his right knee when his spikes got caught in the infield grass. He finished the game, but his marathon streak was in serious doubt the next morning when he woke up with severe pain and swelling in the knee. “It was the closest I’ve come to not playing,” he later said as he closed in on Lou Gehrig’s historic mark in 1995.

Ripken would play the next night, and his streak of 1,790 consecutive games at the time would continue for five more years. Instead of the melee bringing a nightmarish end to “The Streak,” it only added to the legend of Ripken’s tenacity.

The brawl also boosted the start of a hot streak for the Orioles, who were occasionally criticized as a passive group under Johnny Oates. Baltimore would win 16 of its next 19 games to climb back into the division race, but would ultimately finish the season in third place, 10 games behind eventual World Series champion Toronto.

Regardless of the black eyes it left on each organization — figuratively and literally — the temporary transformation of the Camden Yards diamond into the squared circle would become a benchmark for baseball’s ugliest brawls.

“It happens,” Oates said after the game. “It’s nothing to brag about. It’s not something you look forward to, but it’s part of the game.”

With the start of the 20th season at Oriole Park at Camden Yards only two weeks away, I take a look back at the top 20 moments in the history of the ballpark. Selected moments had to relate directly to the action on the field at the time. No orchestrated events such as World Series anniversary celebrations or Orioles Hall of Fame inductions were eligible.

Previous selections:
20. Matt Wieters’ debut
19. Hideo Nomo tosses the only no-hitter in Oriole Park history
18. Orioles rally from nine-run deficit against Boston
17. 30-3
16. Buck Showalter takes the helm

15. Raffy goes deep in first game with Orioles – April 4, 1994

His disgraced name will forever be linked to steroids and the infamous pointing of a finger while testifying at a congressional hearing on performance-enhancing drugs months before failing a drug test in the final year of his career — as a member of the Orioles.

He’ll likely never earn a spot in the National Baseball Hall of Fame or even induction to the Orioles Hall of Fame after serving a 10-day suspension for testing positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol only days after accumulating his 3,000th hit in 2005.

But there were happier times for first baseman Rafael Palmeiro, especially when he arrived in Baltimore the first time around in 1994.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=br08YLrrvG4[/youtube]

The Orioles had completed two consecutive third-place finishes in 1992 and 1993 and entered their first offseason under new majority owner Peter Angelos, who appeared committed to bringing a championship to Baltimore for the first time since 1983. A free-agent spending spree began, with general manager Roland Hemond inking third baseman Chris Sabo, starting pitcher Sid Fernandez, and closer Lee Smith to contracts.

However, Palmeiro was the shining jewel of the class as the 29-year-old first baseman had just been kicked to the curb by the Texas Rangers, who ironically bested the Orioles in the Will Clark sweepstakes. The Orioles received the overwhelmingly superior “consolation” prize when Palmeiro signed a five-year, $30 million contract on Dec. 12, 1993.

The sweet-swinging lefty made his Orioles debut on April 4, 1994 as fans were thrilled to have a franchise bat in the heart of the order to take the pressure off veterans Cal Ripken and Harold Baines.

Palmeiro had made great impressions with his new club all spring, homering in the first intrasquad game and the first exhibition game, but now was his chance to impress the hometown fans. With the Orioles leading the Kansas City Royals, 5-1, in the bottom of the seventh, the sweet-swinging lefty homered to right to cap off a perfect afternoon, earning a standing ovation from the 47,459 on hand.

Mike Mussina pitched the Orioles to a 6-3 victory with Smith earning the save, but the day belonged to Palmeiro as he put the painful divorce from the Rangers behind him and began the greatest five-year stretch of any player in franchise history (.292, 182 home runs, 553 runs batted in).

His arrival was the first of several big-name acquisitions over the next few seasons, leading to the Orioles’ only two postseason appearances (1996 and 1997) of the Camden Yards era. No player would play a bigger role in that success than Palmeiro.

Upon hearing that former SS Mike Bordick had been elected to the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame Saturday morning, I will admit that at first I thought to myself, “huh?”

But after a few minutes of thinking about it, it struck me that Mike Bordick is a fine choice for what isn’t a particularly significant honor.

Many Baltimore sports fans are particularly disappointed when they look towards the Baltimore Ravens’ Ring of Honor at M&T Bank Stadium and see the name Earnest Byner listed with the young franchise’s best players (Jonathan Ogden, Peter Boulware, Michael McCrary); the man who returned football to Charm City (Art Modell) and the players who represented the Baltimore Colts franchise that captivated this city for over 30 years.

Earnest Byner was a marginal contributor for two seasons and an assistant coach for a few years after that. It is well known that Modell wanted to honor Byner and decided the Ring of Honor was the way to do just that.

When Ravens fans in ten years see the names of Ray Lewis, Todd Heap, Jamal Lewis, Chris McAlister, Matt Stover and Brian Billick honored at their “Purple Palace”, Byner’s inclusion will seem out of place at best, but could be somewhat embarrassing when opposing fans visiting town ask “Byner? Why don’t you go ahead and put Kyle Boller up there too?”

The reality of Bordick’s induction to the Orioles Hall of Fame is that the honor itself isn’t significant enough to warrant such opposition. The Orioles honor their greatest players in franchise history by retiring their numbers and featuring them with figures outside Orioles Park at Camden Yards and commemorative signs inside OPACY as well.

As an organization, the O’s do a good job of separating the all-time greats (Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Jim Palmer, Earl Weaver, Eddie Murray, Cal Ripken) from those who simply warrant a “thank you” for their time in orange and black (BJ Surhoff, Harold Baines, Rick Dempsey, Mark Belanger).

Make no mistake. Mike Bordick does not deserved to be remembered in the same way as some other Birds who have received Hall of Fame status. Ken Singleton, Boog Powell, Dave McNally, Mike Flanagan and others had a much more significant impact on the franchise than Bordick.

Instead of being featured prominently at The Yard, Bordick will only receive mention on a small Eutaw Street wall plaque. The Orioles will hold their annual luncheon and pre-game ceremony for fans to thank Bordick, then he will mostly be a name on a list.

They’re not trying to compare Bordick to Ripken-even if Bordick was the player to replace the “Iron Man” at shortstop.

With the only criteria for induction being that the player must have played for the team for at least three seasons, Bordick (parts of six seasons) qualifies. He’ll be remembered for his All-Star Game appearance in 200 and a stellar defensive season in 2002. He’ll be remembered by myself as being the piece that brought Melvin Mora to Baltimore from the New York Mets.

For these reasons, I applaud Bordick’s election. It will be nice for me to clap for one of the few players I have enjoyed watching during these dreadful 13 seasons of Orioles baseball.

-G

The man who drew the unenviable task of permanently replacing Cal Ripken at shortstop will now join the Baltimore legend in the Orioles Hall of Fame.

Former shortstop and current minor league instructor Mike Bordick has been elected to the team’s Hall of Fame, the Orioles announced in a press release Saturday. Head athletic trainer Richie Bancells was named this year’s Herb Armstrong Award winner.

Signed prior to the 1997 season to take over the shortstop position with Ripken sliding over to third base, Bordick spent six years with the Orioles and was named to the 2000 All-Star team before being traded to the New York Mets at the trade deadline that season. He re-signed with Baltimore that offseason, playing two more years with the Orioles.

Bordick owns the third-highest fielding percentage (.982) among shortstops with at least 1,000 games played in major league history, trailing only Omar Vizquel and Jimmy Roberts. His defense was never better than 2002 when the veteran set big league records in fielding percentage (.998), fewest errors (one), consecutive games without an error (110), and consecutive errorless chances (543). His record-setting year, however, did not net him a Gold Glove award.

Known primarily for his glove at the beginning of his career with the Oakland Athletics, Bordick’s offensive numbers improved in each of his first four seasons with the Orioles, peaking with his All-Star season in which he batted .297 with 16 home runs and 59 runs batted in in 100 games before being dealt to the Mets on July 28, 2000.

The University of Maine product is currently serving his second year as the Orioles’ minor league coordinator of offensive fundamentals. He and his wife Monica have six children and live in Ruxton, Md.

Bancells is this year’s recipient of the Herb Armstrong Award, an honor given to non-uniformed personnel who have made significant contributions to the club and the game of baseball. 2011 will mark his 24th season as head athletic trainer and 35th year in the organization.

He has also been named the athletic trainer for two All-Star teams, in 1993 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards and in 2004 in Houston. In 2002, Bancells was the trainer for the MLB All-Stars’ postseason exhibition tour in Japan.

Bordick and Bancells will be honored at the induction ceremony prior to the Orioles-Tigers game on Saturday, Aug. 13.