A disturbing fifth of ...July

I started the morning reading a blog about the  AL/NL rivalry  at  the beginning of the 20th century and found my way to tales of John McGraw,who managed the Baltimore Orioles(1901-02). That O's team became NY Highlanders/Yankees  (1903-til now).Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew the Yankees started out as the Baltimore Orioles, one of  the eight charter American League teams in 1901  Resentment or dislike  of the Yankees flows out of the water of Lake Montebello and stays with most Baltimoreans so  am I experiencing  self- hatred MLB style. :wink:

Our president has disturbed both sides in the Egyptian political battle while Sec  of State Kerry yachted. I guess they were  unable to walk like a n egyptian


As for those fifths: it's been 19 years since since I guzzled Jameson Irish Whiskey or sipped Rumpleminze Peppermint Schnapps.


 Ice tea and oreos beckon- you can 't give up all bad habits.

6/30/14

About a year later  and while  eating a powdered donut, I thought I post a photo of McGraw (above) and  lighten up on politics. The 1901 O's played at what  is AKA Oriole Park IV located then at Greenmount & East 29th st

7/4/14

Lou Gehrig made his famous final speech 75 years ago . Yes, I can give props to Yankees

9/20/14

Howards on N.Charles near Preston St in Baltimore City  sometime in the late 1980's: The Rumpleminz (100 proof Peppermint Schnapps) sales crew was handing out miniature peppermint paddies  with the shots. Really ?  how about some free beers to chase this kick-ass liquor.

11/7/14

Felt like re-visiting a trade that helped the Yanks more in 1976, but had a longer lasting impact on the O's. Rick Dempsey, Tippy & Scott stayed with the O's for nearly a decade

06-15-1976

Traded by New York Yankees with Rudy May, Tippy Martinez, Dave Pagan and Scott McGregor toBaltimore Orioles in exchange for Ken Holtzman, Doyle Alexander, Grant Jackson, Elrod Hendricks andJimmy Freeman (June 15, 1976).

3/21/15

Although, I haven't consumed booze in nearly 21 years, I still think any bar that serves  good whiskey in a plastic cup should have their license  nixed immediately. Sometime in the late 80's during a pub crawl in Fells Point, the Admirals Cup served  me a poorly measured shot of Jameson in a plastic cup.

5/3/15

Sometimes, reading a hard copy newspaper takes you to stories you wouldn't cyber-surf. Old Oriole Park located between 29th and 30th streets in the Waverly section of Baltimore City burned down on July 4, 1944, and this week surveyors found  the home plate that belonged to the 1914 Baltimore Terrapins.This section of the city was once  part of Baltimore County when North Avenue was the northern border in the late 1800s.

6/19/15

Feeling old when it's been 39 years since  the O's/Yanks blockbuster deal that made Scott McGregor,Tippy Martinez , & Rick Dempsey  O's

7/3/15

Talking old Orioles's stories last night with lontime friends and woke up this  query about the left side of the infield Brooksy/Belanger or Manny/JJ. I'm an old dude so you can guess where my vote goes.

9/7/15

I haven't consumed booze in over 21 years but had a discussion  about Jameson yesterday at an FF draft. If  Jameson is your #1 choice, what's your back up selection. My choice was Black Bushmills.

11/14/15

Paul Blair should've been an Oriole for his entire career. I've never understood this 1977 trade: Blair was traded to the New York Yankees for outfielders Elliot Maddox and Rick Bladt

6/11/16

Nearly 40 years since  the O's acquired McGregor and Tippy Martinez. over 50 years since they acquired Frank Robinson on 12/9/65.
Here's one that was a bit controversial, and riled Jim Palmer 
11-30-1972 Traded by Atlanta Braves  Earl Williams with Taylor Duncan to Baltimore Orioles in exchange for Davey Johnson, Pat Dobson, Roric Harrison and Johnny Oates 

8/25/16

This date fifty years ago in O's history. Curt Blefary,  a regular O's outfielder player first base the entire eleven innings of a 4-3 win at 33rd St on 8/25/66. Stu Miller got the W and Luis Tiant the L. 8/25/66

12/10/16

 do you remember? Lee MacPhail negotiated the deal with the Reds during the 1965 Winter meetings that sent #Frank Robinson to the Orioles for Jack Baldschun, Milt Pappas and Dick Simpson.

12/25/2016

 The first documented indoor baseball game was played on Dec 25, 1888 at the #Philadelphia State Fairground Building. The #Downtowners beat the #Uptowners, 6-1, in front of 2,000 spectators.

2/5/17

This #MLB note grabbed my attention: 2/5/1886:The #StLouisMaroons (NL) returned #FattyBriody to league control. The Maroons  became the Indianapolis Hoosiers for a few years , then folded in 1889. I wonder if having to play Sunday games outside #Indianapolis City limits due to blue laws was a factor in the franchise's collapse.

3/3/17

In my boozing days, if a bar was out of #Jameson, I'd drink  #BushmillsBlack. It appears they haven't missed me. Bushmills distillery is planning to build possibly 30 warehouses to mature its Irish whiskey.

7/3/17

July 4, 1939. #Gehrig said goodbye to baseball.
July 4, 1959 #USA new 49-star flag honoring Alaska statehood unfurled
Meanwhile, I missed a fifthful of mean tweets capsizing in the twitter sea

7/19/17

As the Mayweather/McGregor fight nears, I was thinking about the photos of mid 20th century boxers on bar-side wall of #scallios, a pub I used to visit often near #HollinsMarket in Baltimore City, and how the owners, particulalry Sonny, would be beyond angry at the shadiness of the bout.

12/15/17

A lot of chatter about the O's trading #Machado to the Yanks.  If he's traded , I hope he's not wearing pinstripes next season. It was bad enough to seeing #PaulBlair wearing them in the 70's  or #mikemussina  in the 2000s. 

1/17/18

I've reading a book on oral histories of some solid baseball players of the 1950s.  The chapter on #genewoodling reminded me that a guy can wear the pinstripes for a few seasons and still be liked in Baltimore. One consistent theme is that #branchrickey  was not well liked while running the #pittsburgpirates.

2/26/18

#HowieFox, #Orioles pitcher who went 1-2 in the O's return to the American League in 1954,  died a year later, stabbed to death in a knife fight at a bar he owned in #SanAntonio.  Violence and athletes is nothing new.

3/7/18

I came across this story in "this side of Cooperstown", a book of baseball stories told by a group of solid MLB veterans. #delcrandall, a rookie catcher for the #BostonBraves, got tossed out of his MLB debut in 1949 in the first inning for arguing balls and strikes over his shoulder to the ump. His parents came to Boston from California and had just found their seats.

4/23/18-  Union Park  was between 24th and 25th Streets in the lower #Waverly section  of Baltimore City, How about that Brooklyn team name #Bridegrooms. #weewilliekeeler

6/30/18

No need for a #SCOTUS judge . #machado is going to get traded. #aparicio or #belanger as #Orioles best fielding Shortstop.

9/8/18

On Sept 8. 1896 :  Baltimore sweeps a twin bill from 12th-place Louisville,  their National League opponents at #OriolePark, 10-9 and 3-1,a day  after winning three games against the #Colonels in a tripleheader, establishing the mark for the most victories (five) in two consecutive days.

10/7/18

#ChuckThompson, an #Orioles announcer from the mid 1960s to the 1980s, used to say "ain't the beer cold" during positive O's moments in games. Do you think #kavanaugh said that yesterday afternoon?

12/24/18

 #andycarey, a 3B for the Yankees and a few other teams in the 1950s ,  mentioned  in a brief oral history that #philrizzuto had a weak arm, which was news to me  so I went searching and found this from a 1949 NYT column:  "Speculation over the condition of Phil Rizzuto's throwing arm was dispelled today when Manager Casey Stengel----

2/7/19

More background on original post: During the off-season, Johnson decided to move the team to New York. Orioles' owner Harry Goldman and team president Sydney Frank, who own a combine 49%, could not block the move. The team was sold to Frank Farrell and Bill Devery on January 9, 1903, for $18,000.It was the beginning of the new York Yankees franchise ( called the "Highlanders" during their first few seasons.

RIP #frankrobinson

12/1/19 

A baseball scout's comment on an eventual MLB Hall of Famer. #honuswagner : "His legs were so bowed he couldn't catch a pig in an alley." Wagner player 21 years in the majors for the Louisville Colonels and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

April 14, 2020

In the 1960's I was intrigued by the Cubs history and followed them mostly in box scores, sometimes a day late in the Baltimore News American Yesterday, Glenn Beckert , who batted .283 in his pro career while playing second base with the Chicago Cubs (1965-73) and the San Diego Padres (1974-75) died yesterday. He and shortstop Don Kessinger were a solid combination up the middle for the Cubs. Another memory of the Cubbies is Rick Monday saving the American flag from being burned at Dodger stadium on April 25, 1976.

April 15

 Jim Frey, a coach for the Orioles in the 1970 and the Cubs manager, who led them to their first post-season appearance since 1945, died yesterday.

June 17, 2020

#MikeMcCormick , a left-handed screwball pitcher who won the 1967 NL Cy Young Award while pitching for the San Francisco Giants, passed away on Saturday. He was 22-10 that season and 134-128 in his career. I had a vague recall of his name when I saw the news and had forgotten that he was on the O's in 1963 and 64.

July 5, 2021

Ted Williams died on 7/5/02. He played for Bosox for four decades: 1939-1960.

August 19, 2021

Another team not named the O's that intrigued me in 1960's, was the Detroit Tigers, mostly because of Al Kaline who was born and raised in south Baltimore. Bill Freehan, longtime Detroit Tigers catcher and 11-time All-Star, died at the age 79. He hit 25 home runs during the Tigers 1968 title season.

sept 10, 2022

A 1919 ‘Black Sox’ World Series baseball that was buried deep in a Tribune Tower in Chicago time capsule for a century.

Dec 24, 2022

Joe Maddon is on a book promotion tour and maintains that he’s not anti-analytics but believes the manager should be the decision-maker during games, not the front-office types waving spreadsheets. I'm with Joe on this one  and value the opinions of players and managers. A computer ain't wearing a glove or swinging a bat. It's a damn shame that any attempt to question analytics is viewed as anti -nerd. 

May 8, 2023

RIP Vida Blue. He gave us some thrills, particularly in his early seasons with the A's. A's catcher Tenace hit four HRs in the 1972 series win over the Reds – tying the all-time WS mark set by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.