The 40 Greatest Orioles of All-Time - No. 20 - Mark Belanger

by SC on Mar 1, 2006 10:57 PM EST in News Comment 4 comments

20. Mark Belanger, SS (1965-1981)

All-Star: 1976
Gold Glove: 1969, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978

Mark Belanger had a .280 slugging percentage for his career. He hit .228. His on-base percentage was an even .300. His park-adjusted OPS+ was 68.

In short, Belanger was a brutally awful hitter, absolutely terribly bad. It took him 6602 plate appearances to hit 20 home runs. But the man could play shortstop. He could pick it with the best of them.

Belanger was very thin, with an official listing of 6'1", 170 pounds. He had outstanding range and turned a mean double play. He replaced Luis Aparicio after the 1967 season, when Aparicio was traded back to the White Sox.

"Blade" was signed by the Orioles in 1962, just 11 days after he'd turned 18 years old. He was up by 1965, and stuck in 1967 as a utility man, playing 38 games at shortstop, 26 at second base and a couple at the hot corner. He was 24 when he took over as Baltimore's starting shortstop, a role he didn't give up, really, until he was done playing baseball.

From 1968 through 1978, Belanger won eight Gold Gloves and played in at least 140 games every year except for 1972 (105) and 1978 (134). Weaver had the pitching and the three-run homers covered by others. Belanger was there to be a golden example of the fundamentals, and he did his job excellently.

Belanger was not a great player. A great shortstop, sure, but that and a little bit of speed were basically his entire game. He never once posted an OPS better than the league average, and his best offensive season in comparison to the league was 1976 (.270/.336/.326 with one homer, 40 RBI, 22 doubles and 27 steals).

The other notable thing about Belanger was that he was a great believer in the MLBPA, serving as a representative for several years with the Orioles and becoming a special assistant after retiring in 1982, after one failed season with the Dodgers. In 1998, Belanger (who had been a smoker for years) died of lung cancer at age 54. He was known as a gentleman both on and off the field, an intelligent man and an overachiever. Belanger might not have been one of the best all-around players in Orioles history necessarily, but he is certainly one of the greatest Orioles.

"(Aparicio in 1966) wouldn't talk to me at all. He'd say, 'Get away from me, kid, get away from me.' So instead... I watched him all the time. I watched every move he made."

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My favorite player of all time

Somewhere in my basement I have a faded old scrapbook of Oriole clippings from 1968-69, one featuring Belanger talking about his high calorie diet as he attempted to "bulk up" to be the O's shortstop (he never could). I also have a faded picture of a ten year old howie14 taken at Camera Day 1968, the Blade's first year as the starter. My fingers are clutched together nervously as my hero has his arm around my shoulders. I remember Mark saying, "Hi, kid. Glad you like the Orioles!" I said nothing.

My dad and I had hours of arguments over who was better defensively, Brinkman or Belanger, Willie Miranda or Belanger, ANYBODY or Belanger. That some of the guys had played before I was born never mattered, I always took Belanger.

Late in his career, Mark hit a homerun in a game I attended. Earlier that inning, DeCinces had hit a tape measured shot to moderate acclaim. Mark's was a 309er, gently falling into the foul pole's screen. You would have thought the fans had just seen the most gargantuan clout of all time as much noise as was made.

After Mark was released by the Birds and signed with the Dodgers in 1982, I had a Dodgers jersey with "Belanger 8" on the back (Yeager had 7). I wore it to every game while Lenn Sakata, Bob Bonner and company tried to be the Orioles' shortstop. I put it away when Cal established himself there.

Mark came by his union beliefs honestly, his mother had been an activist while working in Massachusetts for GE, I believe. He never came across as one who wanted to s***w over management, but his and DeCinces' union activities may have accelerated their exits from Baltimore by a year or two.

I never knew about the smoking until Mark's last year or so with the club. I finally saw a picture of the 1969 Orioles watching the National League playoffs in the locker room and Mark puffing away. Had I seen that in my youth, I would have been crushed. Ironically, he and my father both quit smoking in the early 1990's only to die of lung cancer a few years later.

I've always been upset that the team barely noted Belanger's death when compared with the loss of Cal Sr. that same year. Since they shared the same uniform number (Cal taking 7 after Mark left)and Mark played 15 seasons in Baltimore, I thought the response from the team should have been closer to equal.

by howie14 on Mar 2, 2006 11:28 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Gee, I'm replying to myself

Sorry, if this is a break in etiquette. I have a couple more things to say and I can't edit a comment.

Apparently, Mark was somewhat sour toward Weaver when he left. I remember reading an article in the WaPost that spring where Mark compared Earl to Lasorda by saying,"I busted my butt for both of them, but with Earl it was never enough." He also described taking off his spikes to tiptoe past Lasorda's office as he always had to do with Weaver only to have Tommy bark, "Don't you ever pass by without stopping to say hello."

Despite Mark's horrendous offensive numbers, Maury Allen still saw fit to put him at number 97 in his 1981 book, Baseball's 100. This upsets SABRmetricians to this day, but not yours truly.

by howie14 on Mar 2, 2006 3:15 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Re:

I always viewed Belanger as one of the shining examples why the Orioles of his era were so good. He was an intelligent man, both on and off the field. He knew his role and played it very well. The Orioles infield had a great run of gold gloves from '69-'76 where at least two of the 2B, SS, 3B won the awards. The O's won all three positions in '69, '71, '73, '74, '75. Blair won in CF from '69-'75. Those defensive teams were a pitcher's dream.

The O's had enough bats coupled sterling pitching and defense. They were a team that was much stronger than the sum of the individual parts (the Partiots copied them ;-)). I think they are generally overlooked by the general baseball fan, but the late 60's and early 70's O's were one of the best teams of all time.

"Mike will be absolutely in charge." Peter Angelos

by drj on Mar 2, 2006 4:17 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs