Orioles in Asheville

We're still waiting for the season to start so I figured I'd share this little nugget as filler while there's a lull in the action...

I was up near Asheville, NC doing some hiking this past January and I headed into Asheville for some food and a beer run. I was cruising around, took a wrong turn and ended up out by McCormick Field where the Asheville Tourists play and where Crash Davis finished up his baseball career.

Anyway, I pulled in to take a look and the whole place was plastered with Orioles:

So there's Cal Sr., Cal, Jr., and Billy Ripken up top and there's Eddie Murray on the office door. What's the connection?

Evidently, Asheville was an Oriole farm club for a short time in the early 1970's. Eddie Murray played for Asheville in 1975 hitting .264 with 17 home runs at the tender age of 19. Cal Ripken, Sr. was a coach in Asheville in 1972.

However, connecting Billy and Cal Jr. to the 1972 Asheville Tourists is a bit sketchy. Cal, Jr. was 12 and Billy was 8 at the time. I'm sure they were on the field, shagging flies during batting practice or serving as batboys...but that's a huge stretch to claim the Ripken boys as part of the Asheville Tourist heritage.

And here's a banner with an interesting juxtaposition; a young Eddie Murray and a very young Willie Stargell who faced off against each other during the 1979 World Series.

By the way, when in Asheville, visit Bruisin' Ales for all your beery needs.

More BHI Analysis

There is close to nothing going on in the world of the Orioles so...time to look at some more Orioles and discern their Big Homer Index (BHI). What's BHI? It's a made up stat that examines who hits the clutch homer and the homer in "garbage time". Look here if you want to see how I determine the score.

Eddie Murray - 343 Oriole HR

I filtered Eddie's homers to only include his Oriole career, both stints. Eddie only hit solo shots just over 50% of the time which is a pretty good number. And nearly 48% of his homers either tied the game or put the Orioles ahead. Add to that the 7 Game Ending homeruns and his clutch homer stats are stellar. He's right up there behind Brooks Robinson on the BHI scale.

BHI - 469

Brian Roberts - 61 Oriole HR

Roberts' career with the Orioles isn't over...yet. But with the possibility of his exodus from Baltimore, I thought it was as good a time as any to put him under the BHI microscope.

Even though he has only 61 career homeruns, his percentage of Go Ahead and Tying homeruns is a Murray-like 47%. A ton of solo shots but he is a leadoff hitter and has a game winner under his belt. To compare him to another lead-off hitter, Brady Anderson, he actually acquits himself quite well. B-Rob doesn't hit many but he tends to make them count.

BHI - 138

Larry Sheets - 84 Oriole HR

A shooting star, Sheets was a heck of a slugger but had trouble with consistency. However, he didn't hit a ton of solo homers, more than half came with men on base. But only 30% of his homers tied or put the O's ahead and close to 40% came in garbage time. Three walk-off homers bring Larry up to respectability.

BHI - 266

So, the new list...

BHI Leaders - Oriole Career
Brooks Robinson - 495
Eddie Murray - 469
Larry Sheets - 266
Chris Hoiles - 240
Brian Roberts - 224
Cal Ripken - 197
Brady Anderson - 138
Jay Gibbons - 42

If the offseason continues to be this quiet, there will be quite a few more of these posts!

Nestor Takes Aim At Our Ace

Nestor Aparicio has a blog. Perhaps you've seen it.



From Nestor Aparicio's blog entry 8/18:



Your Orioles Cy Young candidate at work ...



Erik Bedard has made few friends within the local media, which has now led to a new "national" perspective on his churlish behavior en route to a possible Cy Young Award this fall.



You know that little saying about not learning history and being doomed to repeat it? May I invoke the name of Eddie Murray here? Nestor is not alone in criticizing Bedard's lack of grace with the media but I think everyone needs to remember one name: Eddie Murray.



Yes, it's a joy watching him pitch, but



Allow me to use the wayback machine here. "Yes it's a joy watching Eddie switch hit with power not witnessed since the days of Mickey Mantle but..."



apparently he has become a real pain in the ass to deal with for everyone.



"...apparently Eddie is a real pain in the ass so lets ship him to L.A. for Juan Bell, Brian Holton and Ken Howell." My God, people! Am I the only one who sees the parallels here? (Now Nestor has me raving like a lunatic...)



In this story on ESPN.com, the cat is out of the bag on his asinine behavior toward the media, fans and the like.



First, the story primarily focuses on Erik Bedard's breakout season. Second, there is not one mention of him being rude to the fans. Not one. In my lone interaction with Bedard, he was nothing if not polite even if he wasn't particularly chatty. So rudeness to the media automatically means he is antagonistic to the Baltimore Oriole fans? According to Nestor, yes.



But of course, when your owner is an ass, insulting the fans again and again and encourages his employees to do the same...I suppose your star Cy Young candidate can treat people like garbage as well.



Not people Nestor, just the media! I keed, I keed...



Bedard is a Cy Young candidate, but I don't see the stands filling up on nights when he pitches.



To their detriment. Fans don't know what they're missing. The team is losing so I blame no one for staying away but it's one of the finest performances by an Oriole pitcher in the history of the franchise. No, really.



Funny, too, is that when I PREVIOUSLY had a press pass --



Hoo boy, here we go again. He's kind of like a crazy but harmless uncle...



-- one of the 18 years when I had a pass before Peter Angelos went Fidel Castro on me -- Bedard was always pretty cool to me. Seemed like a quiet guy, but he was certainly NOT impolite in any way. I always got along fine with him.



So...you never had an issue with him when you were part of the media but because you hear he's difficult you write this little hatchet piece about how rude he is?



Gee, I can't imagine why Bedard would be distrustful of the media. They're so evenhanded and logical...



Guess I'm not missing much there these days ...Just what I need -- one MORE person in the organization treating me like crap and making up lies about me!



OK, Crazy Uncle Nestor needs to take his medicine now kids. Good night!



Nestor just implied that a man who has been criticized for not being talkative would make up lies about him. Why? To amuse himself? It wouldn't be to spread to the media now would it? This is forgetting the fact that Bedard would have no motive to make up lies about Nestor Aparicio. Oh wait, I missed this quote in the ESPN article: "Nestor Aparicio likes to dress up goats in women's clothing," remarked Bedard, "Why would I want to grant him an interview?"



Lies! Damn lies!



(In case there are some of you who don't get jokes, Bedard did not say anything of the sort...see the irony?)



Think about this kids. Nestor now is so paranoid (with delusions of grandeur) that he believes the ace pitcher of the Baltimore Orioles is out to get him. Really, take a few minutes and ponder what that means...



The biggest joke is on the Orioles, themselves. They think winning is ALL that matters. And here they have the best pitcher in baseball and NO ONE in town really cares enough to spend a few bucks and come downtown to watch him work.



Let's walk through this.



They think winning is ALL that matters.



They're right. They haven't done that in 9 years so they are really bad at it but WINNING IS ALL THAT MATTERS! You couldn't even get Free The Birds 2 off the ground when the O's had a winning month! If this team started to compete, all would be forgiven by the casual (and 99% of the hardcore) fans.



And here they have the best pitcher in baseball and NO ONE in town really cares enough to spend a few bucks and come downtown to watch him work.



Because...(bangs head on desk)...this is a losing team! They've lost for going on ten years now. You have stated this yourself ad nauseum. If this team was winning Bedard's season would be of more interest. Because they lose, it isn't. Thank you and good night!



And everybody leave Erik Bedard alone. I'll take a surly Cy Young candidate over a cheerful 4-15 hurler anyday.