It was a 5 (yes 5) game set in August. My dad didn’t (and still doesn’t) like baseball, but once a year, we’d go see the O’s, mostly for my mom.

Well, we went with a group from his job at DuPont in Seaford, DE. So 12-year-old me rides there on a bus full of factory workers and their families with my mom and dad. Had no idea what was in the cooler that was being slid down the aisle a lot, but it sure was popular. :)

Anyway, it’s a weekend game, and we’ve got 2nd row seats down the RF line. It’s a glorious day, and Reggie Jakson makes it that much better.

I got his autograph (after yelling out “Mr. Jackson!” in a sea of O’s fans yelling “Reggie!”) and proceeded to watch him strike out three times and then knock himself unconscious attempting to get a ball going into the RF wall. I mean, knocked the mess out.

He gained consciousness after a few seconds, and was walked off the field. And the O’s won the game.

It’s between that, and seeing Mark Belanger hit a HR off the LF foul pole when I was 10 or so.

My funniest O’s memory is short: that day in the mid 80s as a kid when I choose them as my favorite team, little did I know that I would be giving myself a lifetime of stress. The makers of Tums are happy though. I suppose if I chose my other option, the Phillies, it would have been much the same.

The camp said we could only let them sign the stuff they distributed like posters or baseball cards. I was a little asshole and brought a baseball that everyone signed anyway.

Either that or going to the Luke Scott sliding into home plate last year.

It was four or five years ago, I suspect. Maybe longer. I have no idea what possessed me to go to that game. It was freezing and both teams stank.

Fun inning, though.

Great memory!

I’m sure most of you that have been here for a while have gathered that I used to be a really big pro wrestling fan. I still like the stuff I used to like, but the new stuff doesn’t excite me anymore.

Anyway, in 2004/2005 I was going to shows run by an independent promotion called IWA Mid-South when they were at the peak of being worth a shit. Basically every good indy pro wrestler on the circuit in what I consider a bit of a golden period for the indies went through these shows at this little gym in Highland, Indiana, or at the armory in Valparaiso or Hammond. CM Punk, Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Matt Sydal (Evan Bourne in WWE now), Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Mike Quackenbush, Super Dragon, Colt Cabana, Ace Steel, Bryan Danielson, Nigel McGuinness, Claudio Castagnoli — all these guys. Anyone that watches wrestling now will know at least a few of those names, and I got to see them all in this intimate sort of setting — 300, 400 people tops in that place. I also got to see and meet legends like Terry Funk and Dusty Rhodes, plus guys like despicable ass New Jack and the late, great Chris Candido.

Anyway, I wear my O’s cap a lot, and I didn’t know that the promoter (a pro wrestler named Ian Rotten, who frankly I would class somewhere near New Jack but for different reasons) was a huge O’s fan, because I didn’t know Ian had lived in Baltimore for a long time. He usually came out and talked about the show and upcoming stuff and what was going on before the first match went on, or right after the first match, and one time he noticed my cap and pointed it out and said, “Hey nice hat, man. I wish they didn’t suck” or whatever it was.

During intermission we wound up talking about the Orioles for a solid 10 minutes, which can be forever considering how much crap he’s trying to organize on these fucking five-hour long shows. He has Cal’s number 8 tattooed on himself, which I’d never noticed because I didn’t pay much attention.

It is without question the oddest I’ve ever felt talking baseball, but it was fun.

after the game I go with some friends over to Edgar’s Billiards. Eddie Murray is there with Kenny Lofton. Friends of my friends are with them. We’re told that hanging out is cool, but no autographs & no baseball questions. No problem! Everyone’s drinking & having a good time. Eventually I finagle a game with Eddie & Kenny. My buddy & I step up to the table, Eddie breaks. He then runs the table. We don’t get to take a single shot. Game over, Eddie & Kenny are moving the party elsewhere, goodnight.

We were in. And then we were right back out again.

I got interviewed by one of the Baltimore news stations about Joe Orsulak in 1989, and another game in 96 or 97 where my friends and I sat right by the bullpen and chatted w/Elrod the whole game.

1. Gotta be driving to the game in Chuck Thompson’s back seat with my girlfriend… I mean, how many times have you been listening to the radio on the way to the game and listening to that voice? So I was really in the car with that voice. To me, it was just completely crazy.
1a. Seeing Chuck at an autograph signing at a Hecht’s up on a platform with a couple hundred people in line and having him wave and say, “Hi, Dave!”
1b. Fooling around with my girlfriend at Chuck Thompson’s house when he wasn’t home.
1c. Having tickets to the 1993 Home Run Derby from Chuck, but not knowing until the next day. Grrr.

2. Cheering in the press box. Mark Viviano letting me know that there is no cheering in the press box.
2a. Watching an amazing pitching duel that night between Mussina (CG, 3-hit shutout) and Eddie Guardado (iirc… he had a CG 1-hitter… the one hit was a HR to CF by Baines… O’s win 1-0.)
2b. Sticking a microphone in Mussina’s face after the game.

3. Going into the visitors’ dugout at Memorial Stadium… my Dad knew the A’s… Dave Kingman was on his last legs. Don Sutton was literally getting dressed before the game in the Umpire’s room. I kid you not. Clete Boyer was a coach. Tommy John was also there. Pretty crazy… It was right before the Bash Brothers, so apparently they were signing old guys as stopgaps before the young guys came up.

4. Going to the 1993 All Star game… We were in the LF lower deck. When the ball got stuck in the padding in the LF wall we couldn’t see it, but we could see Barry Bonds go after it and look like he was learning to ride roller skates.
5a. Same game… Kruk v. Johnson.

5. Meeting Harold Reynolds at ESPN and telling him that I was a huge fan because of his game-winning hit off of Duane Ward the previous year… and later that same day hearing him call out my full name across the ESPN press room to come and meet someone… He introduced me to Keith Olberman. Can’t make this stuff up.
6a. Got to cut Orioles highlights for SportsCenter.

Man, I’ve lead a pretty charmed Orioles life. I’ve worn the Oriole mascot head, too. :) LOL And went to the 1983 World Series (the one game we lost… but we were in the first row of the upper deck on the 1B side)… and was at the “Tallest Pitching Duel of All-Time” when Ben McDonald and Randy Johnson squared off at Memorial Stadium…

And then having an opportunity to score when home plate was left uncovered, but instead fell down again and then scrambled/crawled only to be tagged out. I believe it would have been the tying run against the Yanks in extra innings, but whatever fat guys falling down is always hilarious.

Sitting in the right field bleachers for a May 1994 day game vs. Detroit. My mom pulled me out of school (I was in sixth grade) to go. The O’s crushed the Tigers 11-5: Cal had a HR and reached first on a strikeout + wild pitch, and Scott Klingenbeck won his ML debut. Some drunk guys behind me were heckling Detroit’s RF Junior Felix, who was on the short side (“Hey Junior, where’d the rest of your legs go?”, “Hey Junior, can you pitch?”), and he turned and waved once. In the late innings, Jack Voigt was playing RF for the O’s and some like nine-year-old punks were heckling him: “Hey Jack, you suck!”, etc. He ignored them til they shouted, “We want Jeffrey!” (Hammonds of course.) Then he turned and gave them a dirty look.

I met two of the guys from Good Charlotte. As many of you guys know, they are from Waldorf and at least some of them are O’s fans. I imagine this was late April or early May and things were pretty fucking awesome with the Orioles and I was a bit less snarky when it came to the team.

Anyway, I was at an event and I saw someone decked out in an O’s jersey and cap, so I went up to talk to him and his friend (I didn’t realize it was members of GC until the conversation began — I am not a fan). So we started talking and it was apparent that neither guy had any interest in talking baseball — they looked a bit tired, but I really lost them when I started mentioning current players.

Could it be that they are fairweather O’s fans?

Ed Rogers playing left field against the Mets, and a Wright single bounced and went up his sleeve. He had to retrieve it from the back of his collar. Truly one of the bizarrest plays ever. You can find the play on this page if you scroll down to June 18.

Also, Elrod Hendricks and Larry Harlow pitching in a game in 1978 when Earl had run out of arms. It’s always bizarre when a position player has to throw pitches, but your bullpen coach? An account of that game is here.

But I remember late in the ’83 season, Aug. or Sep., watching as ESPN showed Tippy Martinez walk & then pick off 3 Jays in succession in extra innings.

There’s something you don’t see every day. And back then ESPN was only 30 minutes, so they had to be selective.