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Hello, friends.
There are now three months and one day remaining until the next scheduled Orioles game, which is Opening Day 2022. A mere month and 16 days away from today, pitchers and catchers are set to report to Sarasota. This does continue to assume that the ongoing ownership imposed lockout of MLB players is resolved in time to avoid disruptions to the 2022 season calendar. Your guess is as good as mine on that one.
The year 2021 was not a great one for the Orioles or for being an Orioles fan, so in that sense it will be nice for the calendar to turn over in a couple more days. The fact that this planet has completed one more full orbit around its star is, on its own, a bit of an arbitrary distinction. Nothing is guaranteed to change because it goes from December 31 to January 1.
Still, it’s a nice way to mark gradual change we are hoping for. Going from 2021 to 2022 does mean (we hope) that the Orioles are getting closer to when they will be good again. As much as 2021 was a hectic year in the world, overall, it was a positive one for the Orioles farm system.
Prospects with big names and less-heralded ones as well have kept up success as they’ve climbed the ladder. The outline of the plan is visible in a way that it was not a year ago. Maybe if we’re lucky we’ll start to see more of the results at the MLB level in the coming year. A guy can dream. That’s why I bought a Powerball ticket for last night’s drawing. The 2022 Orioles probably have better odds of success than I did at that $441 million jackpot.
Around the blogO’sphere
A couple of leftovers for breakfast (School of Roch)
For the first time in history, there is more than one set of leftovers for breakfast. Roch runs through the potential for the pre-Adley Rutschman catchers again.
All-Time Orioles Team: The Pitchers (Baltimore Baseball)
Rich Dubroff put together his thoughts on the Orioles best seven starting pitchers and best three relievers.
Despite questions, Hall of Fame ballot adds Jimmy Rollins, David Ortiz (The Athletic)
The Athletic’s Orioles writer Dan Connolly is one of the voters for the Baseball Hall of Fame. He explains his ten choices for this year’s balloting, including a vote for a notorious Camden Yards vandal.
An English teacher by day, Orioles co-hitting coach Ryan Fuller used ‘virtual portfolio’ on social media for rapid rise in coaching (The Baltimore Sun)
The two new Orioles hitting coaches both have great origin stories. Hopefully that translates to young Orioles players and coming prospects developing into their best selves as hitters, and hopefully their best selves (plus maybe even, gasp, external additions) add up to a great team.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
A few former Orioles were born on this day. They are: 2006-07 reliever Jim Hoey, 1996 reliever Archie Corbin, and 1981-82 reserve Jose Morales. Also born today was almost-Oriole Grant Balfour.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: author Rudyard Kipling (1865), baseball Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax (1935), golfer Tiger Woods (1975), basketballer LeBron James (1984), and actress Caity Lotz (1986).
On this day in history...
In 1460, the Yorkists and Lancastrians fought the Battle of Wakefield as part of the Wars of the Roses over the English throne. The York claimant for the throne, Richard, Duke of York, was killed in the battle, along with his son, Edmund, Earl of Rutland. Eventually, another son of Richard was put on the throne as Edward IV.
In 1853, the United States of America completed the Gadsden Purchase, acquiring about 30,000 square miles of territory from Mexico in parts of present day Arizona and New Mexico, meant to help the building of railroads in the American southwest.
In 1916, the tsar’s mystic advisor Rasputin was murdered, though his body wasn’t discovered until three days later. As the 1978 song closes: They shot him til he was dead.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on December 30. Have a safe Thursday.