Bye Kevbo, I'll miss you!

by Stacey on Jan 30, 2009 8:11 AM EST in News Comment 24 comments

We all love Kevin Millar. Let's all stop acting like everyone here doesn't know that Millar is the s%^t. He is. He is the s%$t. Millar is our boy. ~SC

Per Peter Schmuck, the O's have officially informed Kevin Millar that his services won't be necessary next year. With the moves that have been made this off season it's been pretty clear that he wouldn't be back, but I never put anything past the Orioles. I'm slowly getting over that attitude with MacPhail in charge but it's a hard habit to break.

When Kevin Millar signed with the O's I wasn't thrilled. He was the Cowboy Up guy from the Red Sox and actually seemed pretty annoying. I could have never predicted how much joy Kevin would bring me over the last three years. Sure, Kevin was never a big star and we all know he secretly wished the Red Sox never broke up with him, but he made the most of his time here. He truly seemed to enjoy Baltimore and really just enjoyed playing baseball in general.

I know that people have split opinions on Kevin Millar, but to me he was a bright spot in a very dark period for the Orioles. Always good for a quote, always having fun, and maybe it was an act, but he actually seemed to believe in this team. As a player he may not have been a star but I always thought his glove was very underrated, and he was probably our most patient hitter other than Nick Markakis. The two images in my head of Millar playing will always be him dropping the bat right at home plate to head down to 1st with a walk and picking the ball out of the dirt at first.

If baseball remembers Kevin Millar, it will be for his time on the Red Sox (and rightly so). But in the end he spent as much time as an Oriole as he did a Red Sox and even though I believe he no longer has a place on the team, I'll miss his personality and his antics, and I'll always be a little bummed that I never got to go to Hooters with him.

0 recs | Comment 24 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

He brought back Oriole Magic.

Not just the ridiculously awesome video, either – he beat the Red Sox in extra innings with a walk-off 3-run HR. He’s the stuff of Oriole Legend & if the team had been better while he had been here he’d go down in Oriole Lore like the tomato patch & Wild Bill Hagy.

Come to think of it, he’s like Hagy reincarnated as a player.

From the Land of Pleasant Living...

by OEutaw on Jan 30, 2009 8:43 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I think I have to agree

If the team weren’t total shit, Os fans would love this guy to death.

I will miss his walks and his defense at first but I won’t cry any tears about him leaving. He can’t hit enough anymore to hold down the positions he’s capable of playing.

"Might as well just win this game." - Adam Jones, 4/17/2008

Adam Jones is the tits.

by KenDixonFanClub on Jan 30, 2009 9:53 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I know I'm in the minority here..

But, good riddance, I never liked you.

by dkdc on Jan 30, 2009 9:01 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Vaya con dios, Kev

The aforementioned Oriole Magic video should be his legacy. He’s a fantastic clubhouse guy, and as I’ve said recently, I wish we could keep him as a coach of some sort. I’ll also remember:

-His opinion that the Opening Day ’08 boos directed at Huff were “hilarious”, and his assertion that “I was booing him too”.

-Him clowning on Peter Schmuck for his lousy March Madness picks.

-Beards for Birds. Someday, Kevbo. Someday.

by Brotz13 on Jan 30, 2009 9:42 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Can't we give him the Crow's job

Millar might teach some of the O’s hitters patience at the plate.
He played above his head most of the time and the best part about that is that he knew it too.

by Fred Sanford on Jan 30, 2009 10:10 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Yep

You gotta hand it to the guy. He overcame the stigma of being a 1995 replacement player during the strike and has had a ten-year career thus far. Even when his bat bottomed out last year (.234), he still coaxed 71 walks, which was third on the team.

by Brotz13 on Jan 30, 2009 11:02 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

He might

also teach them to pull EVERYTHING. You gotta give it to him…he wasn’t going to let someone throw the heat by him.

Always trust your cape. -Guy Clark

by BPinOK on Jan 30, 2009 12:01 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

excellent point

and I would be all for this

"This world extends way beyond this little field of dreams we're dancing in and I want to see that world"

by exitfare on Jan 30, 2009 5:54 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

As for that Hooters date - you never know the future.

by drj on Jan 30, 2009 11:18 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Hey hey hey! GOODBYE!

I can’t tell you how happy I am to see that Red Sox wannabe kicked out the door! Throwing out the first pitch in the playoffs for Boston pushed me over the edge. I’m sure he’s funny as hell and I hope he has a great career as a stand up comedian or Carnival Cruise variety show host but I did the Ray Lewis dance in my office when I read the story this morning to celebrate.

by OriolesDawg on Jan 30, 2009 2:30 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

you know who ELSE has done the Ray Lewis dance?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA08jcrT-sY

Bad Left Hook
Camden Chat

"I was trying to rob him. And he took my gun from me. And the gun was full of blanks. And he shot a blank into my eye. And now I cannot see from this eye ever again, the doctors say."

"Well to be honest it sounds like it's all your fault."

by SC on Jan 30, 2009 6:01 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

you know what's depressing about that clip?

he was batting cleanup

by pipkin on Jan 31, 2009 11:44 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

could've been worse

Bad Left Hook
Camden Chat

"I was trying to rob him. And he took my gun from me. And the gun was full of blanks. And he shot a blank into my eye. And now I cannot see from this eye ever again, the doctors say."

"Well to be honest it sounds like it's all your fault."

by SC on Feb 3, 2009 4:58 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I'm with Stacey

I’m going to miss the crap outta that guy. Thanks for the memories, Millahhhh!

by blawk359 on Jan 30, 2009 3:25 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

In other news

Michael Steele just won the RNC Chair.

My best game plan is to sit on the bench and call out specific instructions like 'C'mon Boog,' 'Get ahold of one, Frank,' or 'Let's go, Brooks.' -Earl Weaver

by Baltimo on Jan 30, 2009 4:06 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

oh no

Who is going to sing the lead for Orioles Magic now?

by Kooz on Jan 30, 2009 5:02 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Loewen?

My best game plan is to sit on the bench and call out specific instructions like 'C'mon Boog,' 'Get ahold of one, Frank,' or 'Let's go, Brooks.' -Earl Weaver

by Baltimo on Jan 30, 2009 5:03 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Bad Left Hook
Camden Chat

"I was trying to rob him. And he took my gun from me. And the gun was full of blanks. And he shot a blank into my eye. And now I cannot see from this eye ever again, the doctors say."

"Well to be honest it sounds like it's all your fault."

by SC on Jan 30, 2009 6:00 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I was mad as a hatter at the first pitch ordeal

But I got over it. Kevbo was hella fun. His outrageously awkward high fives will live on forever.

Bad Left Hook
Camden Chat

"I was trying to rob him. And he took my gun from me. And the gun was full of blanks. And he shot a blank into my eye. And now I cannot see from this eye ever again, the doctors say."

"Well to be honest it sounds like it's all your fault."

by SC on Jan 30, 2009 6:02 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Enduring Millar memory

Opening Day 2005, I was in the stands thanks to my dad getting some tickets through his company. It may even have been Millar’s first at-bat. Hits one that gets into the corner a little bit, would be an easy double for anyone with a little speed, but you know the sluggers are just stopping at first.

Millar makes a big turn and keeps going. The crowd goes wild. The OF fetches the ball and throws it back in and suddenly the cheering turns to dread – he’s surely about to get cut down. Somehow, though, he managed to beat the throw, sliding in safely for what I am pretty sure was his first Orioles hit.

He was always OK in my book after that. Take that plus Oriole Magic 2008 and I’ll remember his time here fondly, playoffs first pitch stuff or not. He was a good guy to have while we had him – not like there was anybody else to play first base. I agree with the notion that now’s a good time to move on from that era. He tailed pretty bad last year in terms of average and power.

At least we’ll always have the Theoharis Gatorade bath.

Cry havoc and unleash the Esskay hot dogs of war! - The Wayward Oriole, Opening Day 2008

by Eat More Esskay on Jan 30, 2009 6:15 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I'm going to miss him

far too many guys were just painful to watch in post game interviews. Millar always made things interesting.

"When they get drafted by the Baltimore Ravens, we expect them to play like that. Are we surprised? No."

by UMBC Oriole fan on Jan 30, 2009 7:27 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

+1

He took the Bull Durham formula and mixed with some of his own smiling wiseass. I used to look for him on the MASN postgame video clips. Millar’s postgame vs Diamond Dave’s postgame were always a funny comparison.

by typozzz on Jan 31, 2009 5:15 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, I was there for the walk-off that won our first series from the Sawx since, what was it,1959 or something.

It was a great at bat (he’d looked really bad earlier in it) and a terrific way to end a game. It was So Great to walk out of OPACY with the stunned and unbelieving Sawx fenz, telling them “Thanks so much, ya’ll come down and see us again now, y’heah?” Hee-hee, ice-holes, you lost to us.

But other than that— meh. Our problems will never be solved by keeping Kevbo or acquiring others like him. Happy trails, dude.

"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." Churchill,1942-- a rebuilding year.

by Titov on Jan 31, 2009 5:20 AM EST reply actions 0 recs