Sunday Bird Droppings: Elrod Hendricks’ birthday edition

Happy Sunday, Camden Chatters! And a Happy Hanukkah as well. We’re nearing the end of the year and the Orioles’ news is few and far between. I plan on spending the next week or so not thinking about the Orioles at all. Except when I check in daily at Camden Chat, of course!

Links

The Orioles spent a year building their analytics department. Now they’re putting those tools to use. - Baltimore Sun
The nerds have been assembled!

Orioles Should Seriously Consider RHP Chance Adams - Birds Watcher
Recently designated for assignment to make room for Gerrit Cole, the Baltimore Orioles should take a serious look at Chance Adams, argues Birds Watcher.

Bailey on Rule 5 selection: "It was pretty surreal" - School of Roch
Brandon Bailey on why he's looking forward to joining the Orioles.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have so many Orioles birthday buddies.

First and foremost, it’s the birthday of late Elrod Hendricks. Hendricks played 657 of his 710 career games with the Orioles from 1968-1979, with stops in the middle with the Cubs (1972) and Yankees (1976-77). And he was the O’s bullpen coach from 1978-2005 (partly as a player coach!). Hendricks passed away on December 21st, 2005, one day before his 65th birthday. Today would have been his 79th birthday. You can read more about Hedricks at SABR.org.

It’s also the birthday of another recent favorite Oriole, Zack Britton. We knew him as Zach, and he spent 2011-2018 with the Orioles. For part of that time he baseball’s best closer. Today is his 32nd birthday.

Other Orioles born on this date are current Oriole Richie Martin (25) and former O’s Rey Navarro (30), Blake Davis (32), Chris Jakubauskas (41), Lonnie Smith (64), and Tom Underwood (b. 1953, d. 2010).

On this day in 1953, Jack Dunn III turned over the name “Orioles” to the team that will become the MLB Baltimore Orioles. Dunn had used the name for his International League team in Baltimore.