It had been nearly three months since a former Orioles player had passed away (Jack Harshman died on 8/15) and it was a nice break from writing about O's who were no longer with us. Sadly though, Werner "Babe" Birrer passed away this past Tuesday.
-during his time with the Tigers in 1955, he hit two 3 run homers and pitched 4 shutout innings in a single game, coincidentally against the Orioles; that game earned him his nickname "Babe"
-those 2 HRs and the resulting 6 RBI were the entire extent of his career HR and RBI totals
-he gave up one of Mickey Mantle's 3 longest home runs
- he put his baseball career on hold to serve with the Army during the Korean War
-he taught for 20 years after his baseball playing days were over
-he was an avid photographer
-and he was a featured visitor at local German festivals (I'm not sure what it means, but it sounds cool)
I obtained my autographed Orioles Crown card of Birrer way back in December 2010, and included him in a post I wrote about the trade. It seems as those he was a good TTM signer for a number of years but I believe he was unable to sign by the time I sent a request to him.
RIP "Babe", it sounds like you led quite a great life.
To briefly explain the misspelled/made up title of these weekly posts: Every Friday, I profile a former Oriole who has passed away. I've substituted the word unpossible for impossible as an homage to a line from "The Simpsons". Young Ralph Wiggum, who is not very smart, says "Me fail English? That's unpossible."
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