New Statues at Camden Yards

I can't get over how great these new statues look. It really does a lot for the bullpen picnic area. 

Bobblehead of the Week- EDDIE

Since I've been "showing off" some of my back row bobbleheads (my least favorite bobbleheads that reside in the rear row of my bobblehead display) in recent weeks, I figured it was about time to show off one of my favorite Orioles bobbles.

 

Hall of Famer Eddie Murray rocking an orange uniform...what's not to like?!?! This thing is awesome.

 

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know that Cal is my all-time favorite Oriole, but Eddie is right up there, and I kind of like really love the orange unis. Not to mention Eddie's stupendous facial hair. I dare another bobblehead to top Eddie's mutton-chops/huge mustache/afro combo.

 

Since I bought this bobblehead on ebay, I honestly don't know too much about it. If you squint, you can see that it says HOF 2003 at the bottom of this picture, so that gives me a clue. As far as I can tell, this was a stadium giveaway that was handed out to the first 20,000 fans on July 20, 2003 to celebrate Eddie's induction to the Hall of Fame. I was in college in '03 and my Orioles fan-dom was tuned down a notch at the time. But once I saw a picture of this bobble, I just knew that I had to have it and was outbid on a few before I was finally won this one for about $25.

I'm happy that I was able to share a bobblehead that I actually like this week. Eddie is firmly entrenched in the front row of my bobbleheads and will likely stay there indefinitely.

And for a little preview of tomorrow, another bobblehead is coming your way, but this might be my least favorite bobble of all time...

Orioles Hall of Fame Week- EDDIE

HOF week (don't forget to enter the contest) rolls on with one of the greatest switch-hitters of all-time, Eddie Murray.

Eddie played in the Major Leagues for 21 seasons from 1977-97, and is best remembered for the twelve seasons he spent with the O's at the start of his career. Over that time, Eddie was one of the most feared hitters in all of baseball. He won the 1977 AL ROY, was voted into eight All-Star games, received MVP votes for nine seasons, and won three Gold Gloves and three Silver Slugger awards during his career, the majority of those honors coming between 1977-86. While not the worst trade in Orioles history, when the Orioles sent Eddie to the Dodgers in 1988 for Juan Bell, Brian Holton and Ken Howell, it was probably the worst trade in O's history at that time. Frankly put, Eddie's bag of bats would've been a fairer trade for those three.

Later in his career, Eddie reached the 3000 hit and 500 HR plateaus, and appropriately hit his 500th HR during his second stint with the Orioles in 1996. He is one of only four players to ever reach both of those magical numbers, the others being Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Rafael Palmeiro. Eddie was elected to the baseball Hall of Fame in 2003. I took this picture of his plaque on my trip to Cooperstown with Kalina during our Cooperstown-Niagara Falls-Toronto road trip in 2009.

I will always remember the EDDIE-EDDIE-EDDIE chants echoing through Memorial Stadium and later Camden Yards.

HOF TTM Success: Robin Roberts

Robin Roberts 1962-65 (HOF 1976)

I recently realized that my site is severely lacking in regards to some of the most famous former Orioles. Very little action on Cal, Eddie, Brooks, Frank etc. But the problem is that I don't have any of their autographs scanned as of today. So today, I share with you my Robin Roberts autograph. Robin is nice enough to sign TTM for a small fee ($10 for cards, not sure the cost for other items) and he signed my card this past fall and also included a nice signed HOF Induction card as well.

Robin had an amazing career; his achievements and accomplishments are numerous and impressive. I'm going to share some of them with you, but can't come close to including everything. Most of his greatest accomplishments came during his time with the Phillies from 1948-61. He was inducted to the HOF in 1976 and received 86.86% of the vote.

Robin went to 7 consecutive All-Star games from 1950-56 and also received MVP votes in all of those seasons. He led the NL in wins 4 times, games started 6 times, complete games & innings pitched 5 times, strikeouts 2 times, and shutouts once. With all of those games and innings pitched he also led his league in some not so good categories such as hits & HR allowed 5 times, earned runs 3 times and losses 2 times. With the good comes the bad I suppose but his positives far outweighed the negatives.

During his three and a half seasons with the Orioles, he was 42-36 with a 3.09 ERA in 113 games (109 starts).

His career record is 286-245 with a 3.41 ERA in 676 games totaling 4688 innings pitched.


Here are some random, interesting facts about him that I found:

-He allowed 505 HRs, the most in MLB history

-The Phillies retired his #36 in 1962, while he was still an active player, it was the Phils' first retired number, and the first time an active player had his number retired since the Yankees did it with Babe Ruth

-He coached the USF Bulls baseball team from 1977-85 and led them to their first NCAA tournament appearance

-July 21 is Robin Roberts Day in Vermont- an honor he received since he played there in the Minor Leagues in the 1940s

-Has the 27th most Wins in baseball history

-Has written two books about his baseball experiences

-His hometown of Springfield, IL named their baseball stadium after him





Matt, an eagle-eyed reader of this site, brought up that Robin was not listed either on my have or need lists. I obviously have his autograph but have to thank Matt for helping me to keep my lists as updated as possible. Anytime you see something that needs fixed, please let me know. I seem to have a hard time keeping up with what I have!

I'm Back from my Trip, also my 100th Post!

Now that I am back from my week away from computers, blogging, fantasy baseball, and the rest of my normal routine, I am ready to share where I went and what I did. Since I took a lot of pictures and have a lot to talk about, I will split this up into at least 2 posts.

I took a trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, traveled through Niagara Falls (which has nothing to do with baseball so I won't really cover that) and caught the Orioles' series against the Blue Jays in Toronto.

In this post I will share some pictures and thoughts about the HOF. This is my third time visiting it, but my first time in nearly ten years and I definitely appreciated it more this time than I did when I was younger.

This is a shot of part of the exterior of the Hall. As far as I know this was the original wing which has been greatly expanded over the years.

It was also my first chance to see Cal's plaque, which was a major thrill.

I think I did a lame little jump when I spotted it.


Since the Orioles have only been around for 50 years and don't have the history that many of the other baseball teams do, there aren't all that many O's displays in the Hall. Here are a few of the better ones...


This was by far the most extensive collection of Orioles jerseys/memorabilia in the entire Hall. It's nice to have some representation alongside the greatest collection of baseball artifacts in the world.

There was also an Orioles locker (disclaimer: it was shown with lockers from the other 29 teams).


And here are the other Orioles that are in the HOF. I only took pictures of the players that are shown representing the O's.

The Earl of Baltimore

Brooks!

EDDIE

Cakes

and Frank

All-in-all the Hall of Fame is a place that every baseball fan should visit at least once in their life. My pictures don't do it justice, as there are thousands of things to see and check out while you are there. I highly recommend it. The town also has many baseball related memorabilia shops and other baseball themed things to do.