Unpossible Autograph Friday- Tom Underwood & A Breakdown of All Former Orioles' Death Years

The Orioles family lost it's twelfth former player this year when Tom Underwood died on Monday, November 22 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. After doing some research, 2010 has seen the most former O's pass away while 2004 had the second most deaths, when 10 Orioles players died. After only one death in 2008 and three in 2009, I guess that the numbers were bound to even out, but it's been hard to see so many guys that I've been following and collecting die in such a short time span.

Since the modern Orioles franchise began playing in 1954, many of the players who played in the '50s & '60s are now getting old and no one lives forever. As I mentioned, I did some research into the years that former O's passed away and here's what I found:
1950s- 2
1960s- 3
1970s- 9
1980s- 18
1990s- 31
2000s- 48
2010s- 12 (in 1 year!!)

I expect that this decade will easily see a record number of deaths. I'm not exactly going out on a limb considering that we're already a quarter of the way to total number of deaths in the 2000s. Prepare for the worst, O's fans.


Back to Tom. He pitched 11 seasons in the Majors from 1974-84 for the Phillies, Cardinals, Blue Jays, Yankees, A's & O's. He was mainly a starter for his first seven seasons, but was chiefly a reliever by the end of his career. His last professional season was 1984, which was also his only season with the Orioles; he had a 1-0 record with a 3.52 ERA over 37 appearances. His brother, Pat, also pitched in the Majors, and they faced each other at least once, with Pat coming out the victor. RIP Tom. And let's hope that the Orioles family doesn't lose anyone else over the next 29 days.