Top Ten Yankee Killers - Oriole Hitters

Things look bleak as the O's head north to The Bronx. But I decided to look at some of the top Oriole "Yankee Killers" as a diversion from the present. We need some Yankee killers for this series.

10. Eddie Murray

          OPS  AVG   OBP   SLG   HR
Murray   .800 .269  .346  .454   25

I almost didn't include Steady Eddie since his .800 OPS vs. the Yanks is less than his career levels but he OPSed 1.363 vs Catfish Hunter so I guess he's legit.

9. Boog Powell

          OPS  AVG   OBP   SLG   HR
Powell   .833 .273  .364  .468   34

Boooooog! Boog hit more home runs against the Yankees than any other team during his fantastic career. Powell got to beat up on a bunch of lousy Yankee teams from the 60's and 70's but he still destroyed the likes of Mel Sottlemyre.

8. Miguel Tejada

          OPS  AVG   OBP   SLG   HR
Tejada   .841 .327  .378  .463    8

Miggy comes up large against the men in the pinstripes. Tejada hit especially well against David Wells and let's hope he continues against Javier Vasquez and company.



7. Gene Woodling

          OPS  AVG   OBP   SLG   HR
Woodling .846 .301  .415  .431    7

Who is Gene Woodling? Woodling was a key player on 5 Yankee world championships but came to Baltimore in the twilight of his career at age 35. From 1958-1960, Woodling had a revival of sorts for the Orioles and wore out his former club.



6. Chris Hoiles

          OPS  AVG   OBP   SLG   HR
Hoiles   .848 .267  .378  .471   13

Hoiles destroyed Yankee pitching with 13 homers in just 78 career games and against Andy Pettite, David Cone and Sterling Hitchcock put up OPS's of .949, 1.008 and 1.083 respectively.



5. Nick Markakis

          OPS  AVG   OBP   SLG   HR
Markakis .863 .311  .373  .490   11

If only Nick slugged this well against the rest of the league.





4. Bob Nieman

          OPS  AVG   OBP   SLG   HR
Nieman   .879 .309  .395  .484    9

Another late-1950's veteran outfielder. Nieman put up these numbers against some of the greatest Yankee teams of all time.




3. Frank Robinson

          OPS  AVG   OBP   SLG   HR
Robinson .937 .333  .414  .523   13

Robinson crushed everybody so this is of little surprise to see that he poured it on against the bad New York teams of the late 60's.



2. Rafael Palmeiro

            OPS  AVG   OBP   SLG   HR
Palmeiro   .970 .310  .402  .567   20

The greatest free agent signing in Oriole history? Could be. Before his steroid troubles, Palmeiro was a fan favorite for good reason; he hit well and did it against the O's biggest rival of the 90's.




1. Curt Blefary

          OPS  AVG   OBP   SLG   HR
Blefary  .979 .300  .407  .571   12

A guy who only hit .239 and slugged .417 over the 4 years of his Oriole career hit .300 and sluigged .571 against the Yankees. He truly deserves the title of Top Yankee Killer.


Honorable Mentions: John Lowenstein, Kevin Millar, Ramon Hernandez, Harold Baines, Roberto Alomar, Randy Milligan, Leo Gomez, Brian Roberts, Andy Etchebarren, Benny Ayala