Uni Smackdown: Brian Roberts vs. Al Bumbry

by Stacey on Nov 29, 2009 11:12 AM EST in O's History Comment 18 comments

Many Orioles uniform numbers are identifiable with one person in particular. We all know 4, 5, 8, 20, 22, and 33. 44 will only ever make me think of Elrod Hendricks, and it doesn't matter how many backup catchers are assigned #9, it belongs to Brady Anderson.

But some numbers aren't so clear, especially when two popular players donned the same uniform number for many years. Case-in-point: Brian Roberts and Al Bumbry, the two best Orioles to ever wear the number 1.

Bumbry's career started off with a bang as he took home the 1974 Rookie of the Year, batting .337/.398/.500. His rookie year would actually end up being his best year at the plate as he only topped an .800 OPS once more in his career (1980). In his 13 seasons with the Orioles, Bumbry racked up 252 stolen bases with a 73% success rate. He finished in the top ten for stolen bases in the league 5 times and is currently 3rd in Orioles history in the category behind Brady Anderson (307) and Roberts (256). Bumbry was considered a very good defensive outfielder, mostly attributable to his speed. He also had the good fortune to be a part of four playoff teams, two of which went to the World Series.

Roberts didn't get going quite as fast as Bumbry in the beginning of his career. They both started when they were 25 years old, but Brian had to contend with Jerry Hairston and the concern he wouldn't be good enough to play every day. In 2004 he got his first chance to play everyday and put up his best offensive year yet, hitting .273/.344/.376 and he's only gotten better from there. Brian has 313 career doubles and 256 career stolen bases (80% success rate). When it's all said and done he will probably be the Orioles all time leader in steals. Defensively, Brian has always held his own at 2B but certainly isn't a wizard over there. Unfortunately for Roberts he's never been part of a winning team, let alone a playoff one (let's cross our fingers that changes soon).

So, who's better? A rundown of their stats with All-Time O's rank in parentheses:

	Al Bumbry	Brian Roberts
G	1428 (9th)	1135 (13th)
H	1403 (8th)	1274 (11th)
2B	217 (10th)	318 (5th)
3B	52 (3rd)	33 (8th)
HR	53 (41st)	77 (25th)
R	772 (6th)	729 (8th)
RBI	392 (21st)	443 (14th)
BB	464 (11th)	512 (8th)
SB	252 (3rd)	256 (2nd)
BA/OBP/SLG	.283/.345/.380	.285/.356/.421
OPS+	105	105

My vote goes to Brian Roberts and it's not as close as I thought it would be. What do you think?

Poll

Who is the better #1, Brian Roberts or Al Bumbry?

Brian Roberts

203 votes

Al Bumbry

35 votes

238 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs | Comment 18 comments |

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Comments

Andy the Orioles draft Bumbry's son in the 2009 draft!

Check out my website, it has scouting reports for all the Orioles' top prospects and is updated daily. www.oriolesprospects.com

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by ravensfan3 on Nov 29, 2009 11:16 AM EST reply actions

Al Bumbry never lollygagged or

(whisper) roided (/whisper)

by b_duardo on Nov 29, 2009 12:00 PM EST reply actions

how do you know what he did or didn't do?

by O'sFan21 on Nov 29, 2009 3:12 PM EST up reply actions

fangraphs, dude

OPS+lollygagging

by b_duardo on Nov 29, 2009 6:58 PM EST up reply actions

lol

I meant about the steroids.

by O'sFan21 on Nov 29, 2009 7:06 PM EST up reply actions

Oh

Well, it’s a known fact that back in the days of yore life was harder, the walks were longer, the weather nastier and only two men were doing the steroids: Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ivan Drago.

One was responsible for the collapse of California and the other, the Soviet Union.
Don’t do drugs.

by b_duardo on Nov 29, 2009 7:25 PM EST up reply actions

I’m seeing Roberts and Bumbry in 27th and 37th respectively in RBIs.
http://baltimore.orioles.mlb.com/stats/historical/player_stats.jsp?c_id=bal&baseballScope=MLA&teamPosCode=all&statType=1&sitSplit=&venueID=&timeFrame=3&timeSubFrame2=0&Submit=Submit&timeSubFrame=0&&sortByStat=RBI

by Knubles and Bits on Nov 29, 2009 12:45 PM EST reply actions

O's history

Not franchise history

Some Day, Matt Wieters Will Make The Cooperstown Crowd Laugh By Talking About The Time He Batted Behind Melvin Mora And Luke Scott. -Keith Law via Matt Wieters Facts

by Stacey on Nov 29, 2009 1:29 PM EST up reply actions

Fair enough

by Knubles and Bits on Nov 29, 2009 3:47 PM EST up reply actions

Roberts is better across the board

I was somewhat surprise that Brian’s stats are only marginally better than Bumbry’s, although the first few years of Roberts’ career probably drive his average line down.

"There's only one cure for what's wrong with all of us pitchers, and that's to take a year off. Then, after you've gone a year without throwing, quit altogether." -Jim Palmer

by Baltimo on Nov 29, 2009 1:21 PM EST reply actions

Yeah

If you take out Brian’s years when he played part time, his numbers are .290/.365/.438 with an OPS+ of 111. I almost put that in there but didn’t want to look like I was cherry picking stats.

Some Day, Matt Wieters Will Make The Cooperstown Crowd Laugh By Talking About The Time He Batted Behind Melvin Mora And Luke Scott. -Keith Law via Matt Wieters Facts

by Stacey on Nov 29, 2009 1:32 PM EST up reply actions

close

yeah, i voted for roberts only because i think that when he’s done, his stats will be better than bumbry’s but let’s not forget how good al was. he actually was my batting instructor (down at grand slam for anyone who lives in baltimore) for a day where the regular was out. he taught me a whole lot about the game and it’s clear that he was a pretty good contact guy back in the day.

Tennessee Born Baltimore Raised

by danielreese05 on Nov 29, 2009 9:33 PM EST reply actions

I dunno

But thanks for posting all that about Al Bumbry. I didn’t know he was that good! It’s also kind of crazy that Roberts has the 5th most doubles in Oriole history. That’s pretty fucking good.

Librarians are hiding something

by dfa on Nov 30, 2009 2:41 AM EST reply actions

A fine debate

A year ago, this would have been a much more agonizing decision, but I think Brian put the Bee in the rear view with his great 2009 season. He passed Bumbry in steals and hit a million doubles.

The next uni smackdown should be Tippy vs. Chris Hoiles (#23). That’s a toughie.

"The United States is the New York Yankees of countries...powerful and respected until the year 2000." - Homer J. Simpson

by Brotz13 on Nov 30, 2009 8:05 AM EST reply actions

I made a list

Tippy vs Hoiles is def on there.

Some Day, Matt Wieters Will Make The Cooperstown Crowd Laugh By Talking About The Time He Batted Behind Melvin Mora And Luke Scott. -Keith Law via Matt Wieters Facts

by Stacey on Nov 30, 2009 8:39 AM EST up reply actions

In 10 years...

Hopefully we’ll have a debate about #35. And I don’t mean Danny Cabs.

"(Brock Lesnar) is never in good spirits and he's not in good spirits now." - Dana White

by duck on Nov 30, 2009 10:26 AM EST up reply actions

If Brad Bergesen ends up better than Mike Mussina

I’ll eat my hat.

Some Day, Matt Wieters Will Make The Cooperstown Crowd Laugh By Talking About The Time He Batted Behind Melvin Mora And Luke Scott. -Keith Law via Matt Wieters Facts

by Stacey on Nov 30, 2009 11:10 AM EST up reply actions