Thursday Bird Droppings: Where the Orioles have their coaches

Hello, friends.

There are now 63 days remaining until the next Orioles game. We’re down to fewer than three weeks until pitchers and catchers report to start spring training, and even closer than that, just two days until FanFest.

Two days until FanFest is as good of a time as any to at last have a coaching staff. If you missed yesterday evening’s news, the Orioles finally announced theirs. There are four former MLBers including two who played for the O’s, and three of the eight coaches were in the O’s organization last year. There is no bench coach, but there is a major league field coordinator/catching instructor.

The Orioles are going to be a bad baseball team this season. They were going to be bad no matter who was hired for their coaching staff or when. It’s nice that it’s finally settled, though, and the O’s can move on to... whatever is next. Maybe they will actually sign a free agent just for fun? I make this request mostly as a blogger who would like for there to be some news for content on his website over the next month.

Around the blogO’sphere

Esskay Orioles franks to soon disappear from Camden Yards, store shelves (Baltimore Sun)
Longtime readers of Camden Chat know what a tragedy this is for me on a personal level.

The trip started in Montoursville and will end up in Cooperstown (Steve Melewski)
Can I get enough “Mussina is in the HOF” content? The answer is no. I cannot get enough.

Martinez, Rivera, Mussina humbled by HOF news (Orioles.com)
I’m not even going to get offended that Mussina listed two Yankees moments as his most memorable pitching outings.

This, that, and the other (School of Roch)
Roch predicted a coaching staff announcement “soon” and it happened yesterday. He also expects minor league coaching staffs and spring training invites soon. Maybe today!

Birthdays and anniversaries

A pair of former Orioles were born on this day. They are: 2016 reliever Ashur Tolliver, and 1978-83 reliever Tim Stoddard, who turns 66 today.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: wall-building Roman emperor Hadrian (76), Prussia’s Frederick the Great (1712), novelist Edith Wharton (1862), musician Warren Zevon (1947), actor John Belushi (1949), comedian Yakov Smirnoff (1951), gold medal gymnast Mary Lou Retton (1968), and early Hamilton actor Daveed Diggs (1982).

On this day in history...

In 41, the infamously cruel Roman emperor Caligula was assassinated by his own Praetorian Guards.

In 1848, the California Gold Rush began upon the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill near Sacramento by James W. Marshall.

In 1933, after ratification by four states the previous day, the 20th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified nationwide. The main purpose of the amendment was to move the beginning of Congressional and presidential terms from March to January.

In 1972, a Japanese soldier, Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi, was found hiding in the jungle of Guam, where he had been since the island fell to the Allies in 1944. Upon returning to Japan, he reportedly said, “It is with much embarrassment that I return.”

In 1984, Apple’s Macintosh computer was first placed on sale in America.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on January 24 - or at least, unless something happens later. Have a safe Thursday.