1984 Orioles Debuts, #386-396

Oh boy, 1984 was not a banner year for new Orioles players. There was pretty much Larry Sheets, and I guess one could mention Nate Snell and Ken Dixon, who both stuck around in Baltimore for a few years, but beyond that, there are quite a few "who's that?" type of players.

I might need to consider starting to cover multiple years in these posts, both to add some meat to them and to bump up the number of pictures. But that's not going to happen today.

Here's the older posts in the series...
(2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988, 1987, 1986, 1985)


Wayne Gross #386, 4/2/84 (1984-85)

Tom Underwood #387, 4/7/84 (1984)

Orlando Sanchez #388, 5/20/84 (1984)

Mark Brown #389, 8/9/84 MLB Debut (1984)

John Pacella #390, 9/1/84 (1984)

Vic Rodriguez #391, 9/5/84 MLB Debut (1984)

Ron Jackson #392, 9/7/84 (1984)

Larry Sheets #393, 9/18/84 MLB Debut (1984-89)

Nate Snell #394, 9/20/84 MLB Debut (1984-86)

Jim Traber #395, 9/21/84 MLB Debut (1984, 86, 88-89)

"The Whammer" played in parts of four seasons with the Orioles before moving on the play in Japan and Mexico. He played in 264 games during his time with the O's, and played mostly first base.

Probably the most notable thing that occurred during Jim's playing career is an incident in Japan in which Jim charged the mound and the pitcher retreated all the way to the outfield.

He is currently an Oklahoma City Sports Radio host, and seems to be a bit of a blowhard from some comments I've heard from other collectors.

Ken Dixon #396, 9/22/84 MLB Debut (1984-87)

Unpossible Autograph Wednesday- Walt Dropo

(I'm moving this week's unpossible autograph feature up from Friday since I don't think it seems right to do a sad post on Christmas Eve)

The Orioles family painfully lost another former member when Walt Dropo passed away on Friday, December 17 of natural causes after a long battle with Alzheimer's. It has been just under a month since Tom Underwood died and I examined how bad 2010 has been in regards to former O's passing away. Walt is the 13th former Oriole to die this year, further extending the record number of former Oriole deaths in a single calendar year.

Walt played for the Red Sox, Tigers, White Sox, Redlegs & Orioles over his 13 season MLB career from 1949-61. The highlight of his career was being selected the 1950 A.L. Rookie of the Year and leading the league in RBI and total bases, also making his only All-Star team. He would never find that level of success again, but forged a solid career as a first base platoon player.

Walt earned the nickname "Moose" because he grew up in Moosup, Connecticut where his parents had emigrated to from Yugoslavia. He was a three sport star at UConn, also excelling in football and basketball, before he decided to pursue a career in baseball.

RIP Walt. Let's hope that 2010 ends without anymore sadness in Birdland.

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.