1991 Orioles Debuts, #497-512

Today, I'm continuing the Orioles Yearly Debut Series (2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992).

1991 saw 16 players make their Baltimore debuts, including two players, Mike Mussina and Arthur Rhodes, who would go on to play with the Orioles for most of the following decade. 

Glenn Davis #497, 4/8/91 (1991-93)

Dwight Evans #498, 4/8/91 (1991)

Paul Kilgus #499, 4/8/91 (1991)

It took me quite some time to track down a signed copy of Paul's one and only Orioles card, but I finally was able to knock his name completely off of my list. 

Jeff Robinson #500, 4/14/91 (1991)

Ernie Whitt #501, 4/14/91 (1991)

Roy Smith #502, 5/25/91 (1991)

Todd Frohwirth #503, 5/28/91 (1991-93)

Chito Martinez #504, 7/5/91 (1991-93)

Chito was the first, and still the only, MLB player to hail from the country of Belize. He's also the only Oriole to share a name, albeit spelled differently, with a snack food. 

Shane Turner #505, 7/17/91 (1991)

Shane played in 56 major league games for three teams over three seasons, and only four of those were with the Orioles. This Line Drive Red Wings card is the only cardboard testament to Steve's time in the Orioles organization. 

After his playing career ended, he became a minor league manager in the Giants farm system and held that position at various levels between 1996-2007. He is currently the Coordinator of Instruction for San Francisco. 

Jimmy Poole #506, 7/30/91 (1991-94)

Jim pitched 11 seasons in the Majors from 1990-2000 with eight different franchises, most notably the Indians, Orioles, and Giants. Over his parts of four seasons in Baltimore, he had a 6-3 record with a 2.86 ERA over 123 games. 

Stacy Jones #507, 7/30/91 (1991)

Mike Mussina #508, 8/4/91 (1991-2000)

Arthur Rhodes #509, 8/21/91 (1991-99)

This awesome Arthur Rhodes signed black and white postcard was given to me by my wonderful wife from her personal collection. She's so good to me, and understands me and my collection, for the most part at least.

Francisco de la Rosa #510, 9/7/91 (1991)

Luis Mercedes #511, 9/8/91 (1991-93)

It seems like almost all of Luis's cards picture him wearing the orange uniform, and I'm fine with that, as I kind of enjoy orange uniform autographs.

Jeff Tackett #512, 9/11/91 (1991-94)

The Anniversary of an Awful Trade

Exactly twenty years ago today, the Orioles made what is widely thought to be the worst trade in their 57 year history.

They acquired an unknowingly past-his-prime Glenn Davis from Houston for three young players who you might have heard of...
( I really like this card. Cal Sr. is on it. It looks like Glenn hit one of his few homers for the O's. And they are both wearing that wonderful shade of orange.)

Six-time All-Star, three-time World Series Champ, three-time Cy Young runner-up, occasional blowhard, and likely HOF inductee, Curt Schilling. Yes he started his career as an Oriole over parts of three seasons from 1988-90. His attitude might have been hard to handle at times, but you can't argue with his stats. The guy led his league in almost every pitching category at some point over his career.

Yep, Steve Finley began his 19 season MLB career in Birdland too. He spent 1989-90 in Baltimore before being sent packing. He would only win five Gold Gloves, make two All-Star teams, and win one World Series Championship on his way to playing the fourth most games in centerfield in the baseball history. Like that wouldn't have been nice to have in Baltimore.

Last and, I guess also, least, the O's included Pete Harnisch in the trade, who went on to have a 14 season career, but never found the ridiculous amount of success that Schilling and Finley did. He made the 1991 All-Star team but struggled to remain on the field during the late '90s. 

It's not as if all three of these guys would have played their entire careers in Baltimore (oh if they had...) but the Orioles essentially got parts of three disappointing seasons from Davis for a trio of young players who all went on to find varied degrees of success in the Majors. Without the trade, the Orioles undoubtedly would have been a better team in the early to mid '90s. And Davis played his last game in Baltimore on May 23, 1993 after getting his jaw broken in a bar fight.

I'm glad that the current O's front office hasn't made any boneheadded trades like this one and held onto the young talent. Now if guys like Zach Britton, Chris Tillman, and Adam Jones can find the kind of success that Schilling, Finley, and Harnisch had, the O's might actually get out of the cellar this year.