The Orioles head to Oakland this weekend to begin a series with the A's at Overstock.com Coliseum, which was once known as McAfee Coliseum, which was previously known as Network Associates Coliseum, which was originally known as Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. But friends just call it The Oakland Coliseum or The Coliseum.

If there's one thing we can be grateful to Peter Angelos for it's not selling the naming rights to Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

Regardless of what you call Oakland's stadium, the A's first game there after moving from Kansas City was on April 17, 1968, and it was against our beloved Baltimore Orioles. Spoiler alert: The Orioles won 4-1.

The debate afterward was not what to call the facility, which the papers referred to as "the new Oakland Coliseum," but rather whether it was a hitter's park or a pitcher's park. The Orioles made it seem like both.

Boog Powell called it a hitter's park. "The ball seems to carry well here," he told reporters after the first game. "I'd like to play here all the time."

Powell hit a 390-foot home run to right field in three at-bats on the day. Mark Belanger and Brooks Robinson also homered for the Orioles. Powell finished his career with six home runs in 42 games at the Coliseum.

Orioles starter Dave McNally called it a pitcher's park. "I don't think there'll be any cheap home runs here," McNally said. "You still have to hit the ball to get it out."

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For the second consecutive year, the Orioles started a pitcher in their home opener age 25 or younger. Brad Bergesen got the call at age 24 last year while Jake Arrieta, 25, did the honors on Monday. Both pitchers had a good three years or more on the Orioles' youngest Opening Day starter.

Jerry Walker was 21 years and 67 days old on April 19, 1960, when he took the Memorial Stadium mound to kick-off the Birds' season against the Washington Senators. Walker was part of the Orioles' original Kiddie Corps along with Steve Barber, 22, Chuck Estrada, 22, Jack Fisher, 21, and Milt Pappas, 21. 

Together with veteran pitchers Hoyt Wilhelm, 37, and Hal "Skinny" Brown, 35, the Kiddie Corps posted a league-best 48 complete games (Arnie Portocarrero, 28, had one of those 48 complete games). The O's overall pitching staff tied the Yankees for lowest ERA at 3.52

Catcher Gus Triandos described what made the staff effective in John Eisenberg's, "From 33rd Street to Camden Yards: An Oral History of the Baltimore Orioles."

"The young guys didn't spot pitches; they just wound up and threw good stuff," said Triandos. "They didn't work on things. They just called a fastball and zinged it. You knew they'd be somewhere around the plate. They had good stuff, had good control. And then when Wilhelm relieved with the knuckler, it was tough on hitters."

Earlier this year, O's broadcaster Fred Manfra identified the Kiddie Corps' "kicking ass in big league baseball" among his childhood baseball memories.

The 1960 Orioles posted the franchise's first winning record, 89-65, since moving to Baltimore from St. Louis (the 1957 Orioles finished an even 76-76). They did so on the arms of a young pitching staff. They'll need a similar effort from their current Kiddie Corps in 2011 to post the franchise's first winning season in 14 years.

[Note: Jerry Walker is currently vice president and special assistant to the GM for the Cincinnati Reds.]

Earlier this week, Nick Markakis become the third major league player to hit 43 or more doubles in four consecutive seasons. The other two players are Hall of Famers: Joe Medwick and Tris Speaker. There's another Hall of Famer, an Orioles legend, who made history by doing half as well for five times as long.

Fourteen years ago this week, on Sept. 24, 1996, Eddie Murray doubled in a 13-8 loss to the Boston Red Sox. Murray, who two weeks prior hit his 500th career home run, became only the second player to have 20 or more doubles in 20 consecutive seasons. The other was Speaker. Murray hit 560 doubles overall.

Speaker is Major League Baseball's career leader for doubles. The lefty outfielder totaled 792 doubles in 22 seasons with Boston, Cleveland, Washington, and Philadelphia. Speaker had 50 or more doubles in a season five times as well as five additional seasons where he hit 40 or more. His single-season best was 59 doubles in 1923.

Cal Ripken Jr. is the Orioles' career leader in the category with 602 doubles, the 13th most overall. Had it not been for the strike-shortened 1994 season, during which he hit 19 doubles, Ripken would have had 20 or more doubles in 18 consecutive seasons. His single-season best was 47 doubles in 1983.

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The Orioles came tantalizingly close to sweeping the New York Yankees this week. It would have been the Birds' first three-game sweep in New York since 1986 when they shut down the Yanks in a series from June 6th through 8th.

Scott McGregor, Mike Boddicker, and Ken Dixon picked up the wins for Baltimore that weekend in a trio of games the O's won by scores of 5-2, 7-5, and 18-9, respectively. Don Aase earned the first two saves of the series while Tippy Martinez finished the sweep with the last of his 115 career saves, his only one during the 1986 season.

Sunday's wild finale in 1986 may as well have been Old Timers Day at the ballpark. The 36-year-old and soon-to-retire Martinez pitched 3.1 innings, allowed three runs on six hits, struck out two, and walked one. His line was better than that of 43-year-old Tommy John, who went three innings, allowed four runs on seven hits, and recorded no strikeouts or walks.

Both pitchers entered the game due to unique circumstances.

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Adam Jones' two-out bunt single against the Mariners in the bottom of the 11th inning on Monday night set off a round of "Holy S---"s on Camden Chat. MASN broadcaster Jim Hunter may have said the same thing off the air, but during the broadcast he instead enthused about the play and stated that Jones may start a trend of walk-off bunts. Actually, Jones was only continuing a trend.

Earlier this season Howie Kendrick's ninth inning, two-out bunt single earned the Angels a 4-3 victory over the Indians and none-too-appreciative pitcher Chris Perez who said: "It was a bad baseball play that happened to work out ... I don't want to say it was bush league, but you never see that ... a stupid play that just happened to work."

Kendrick got the green light from Angels bench coach Ron Roenicke, younger brother of former Oriole Gary Roenicke, who was filling in for Mike Scioscia. You can see Kendrick's bunt single to second base here.

Meanwhile, the most recent two-out, walk-off bunt in extra innings came from Melvin Mora. Mora's bases-loaded bunt single in the bottom of the 10th inning on Sept. 28, 2007, gave the Orioles a 10-9 victory over the Yankees.

You can see Mora's effort (featuring post-game fireworks!) here.

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There are some fun historical facts related to Johnny Oates' career as a player.

He started his major league career in 1970 with a four-game hitting streak in five games for the Orioles.

He was Hank Aaron's teammate when Aaron broke Babe Ruth's career home run record.

He helped Jim Palmer to a 10-0 record in 1972 when he caught for him, leading Palmer to remark: "He was the perfect catcher for me. He was smart, always full of questions. He knew what he could do and what he couldn't. He worked so hard all the time. You have a lot of respect for somebody like that.''

Oates listed his priorities as a player as follows: "My number one goal was to catch a win. Second, I hoped for a shutout. Third, I wanted a complete game for the starter. Fourth, well, if I got a hit, that was fine."

His hitting struggles were no secret. Broadcaster Harry Carey once remarked, 'Johnny Oates just hit his annual home run.' "

Oates played two seasons in Baltimore (1970 and 1972) and 11 seasons in the majors, but he won't be remembered for his contributions to baseball as a player. The Oriole Advocates, who will honor Oates as a member of the team's Hall of Fame this weekend, correctly state, "It is for his work as a manager ... that Oates is best remembered by Baltimore fans."

Oates was Sporting News Manager of the Year with the Orioles in 1993. He replaced Frank Robinson during the 1991 season - inherting a team that had yet to win more than two consecutive games - and became Baltimore's fifth manager in seven seasons. Nevertheless, he turned two consecutive losing seasons into three consecutive winning seasons before being dismissed following the strike-shortened 1994 campaign.

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It took three years and a position player before Baltimore's All-Star representative saw game action in the Midsummer Classic.

Third baseman George Kell started the 1956 All-Star Game after pitchers Bob Turley (1954) and Jim Wilson (1955) failed to get on the field the previous two years. Each player was the Orioles' lone All-Star for the first three years in Baltimore franchise history. It was the longest stretch of lone representation until the 2000s, when the Orioles went four consecutive seasons (2001-2004) with just one All-Star. Their current streak is five. 

Looking back on the Birds' early years, it would be easy - but inaccurate - to cast Wilson as the least-deserving of the team's early All-Stars.

Turley won 14 games and led the league in strikeouts for a 1954 team that finished 54-100. He later won a Cy Young award with the Yankees in 1958 and finished second in MVP voting after posting a league-leading 21 wins that season.

Kell, meanwhile, represented the Orioles during the final two seasons of his Hall of Fame career.

And then there's James Alger Wilson with his 3.7 strikeouts per nine innings and league-worst 18 losses during his All-Star season in Baltimore.

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The Orioles are welcoming back members of the 1970 championship team on Saturday for a 40th anniversary celebration of their World Series victory. Brooks Robinson and Frank Robinson will be on hand, just as they were on June 24, 1979, when the franchise held its Silver Anniversary Celebration of 25 years playing in Baltimore.

Brooks and Frank were the top two vote-getters that year in balloting among fans at Memorial Stadium for the Silver Anniversary Team. Brooks, who had retired just two seasons prior, received 50,295 votes. Frank, who played his final season in Baltimore in 1971, received 45,142 votes. The all-time greats had plenty of constituents as the Birds chased attendance records that season.

The four-game weekend series that culminated in the Silver Anniversary Celebration attracted 122,470 fans, the third-largest draw in team history at the time. More than 41,000 of those fans showed up for the celebration, boosting the team's season total to a franchise-high pace of 577,508 fans in 29 home dates.

Those who arrived two hours prior to the game's three o'clock start saw their top two Silver Anniversary vote-getters join with former teammates including Gus Triandos, Jim Gentile, Mike Cuellar, and Don Buford, for an otherwise scoreless old-timers game that was decided by an Elrod Hendricks two-run homer.

Orioles Manager Earl Weaver, who was in the midst of guiding his squad to 102 wins and the American League championship, made this somewhat expected observation about the old-timers game: "Homers will do it for you every time. Every time."

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Bob Costas listed a Rolodex worth of pitchers during Stephen Strasburg's debut in Washington for historical context. Jim Palmer was the only Oriole mentioned. By the end of the night, Sammy Stewart's name should've been shared as well.

Stewart struck out a record-setting seven consecutive batters during his first major league game, an accomplishment that Strasburg matched on Tuesday. The Sporting News ranked Strasburg's consecutive strikeouts to end his first outing tops among the evening's "five most magical moments." Far less magical is Stewart's story, which after baseball has become a sad mix of drugs, crime, homelessness, and inevitably prison. But it wasn't always so.

On Sept. 1, 1978, a 23-year-old Stewart struck out seven straight White Sox batters, nine total in 5.1 innings of work, as part of a 9-3 Orioles victory and doubleheader sweep at Memorial Stadium.

The Boston Globe recounted the event as part of a 2006 profile of Stewart (be sure to check out the Globe's photo gallery "The story of Sammy Stewart"):

"Rick Dempsey [Orioles catcher] said, 'Turn around. Look at the scoreboard,"' says Stewart, his eyes lighting up. "So I turned around and it said, 'Sammy Stewart has just tied a record by striking out six consecutive batters in his first major league appearance. The record was set by Karl Spooner of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1954.'

"Well, I turned around and threw three of the hardest sliders I've ever thrown and I got the record, and that's 28 years ago, and I still got the record."

Spooner shared the original record with fellow Dodgers pitcher Pete Richert, who tied his mark in 1962. Jim Deshaies later struck out eight consecutive batters as a rookie in 1986; however, it wasn't during his debut. Stewart stood alone atop the mountain.

The burly right-hander drove to Baltimore from Rochester a day before the game with his wife's car in tow. Red Wings manager Frank Robinson had pulled Stewart from a scheduled start on Wednesday and told him: "You're not pitching tonight, you're pitching Friday night. In Baltimore." 

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Former Orioles reliever Wes Stock got more wins in one day than the 2010 team does in a week.

Stock set the club record for wins in a day  on May 26, 1963, during a doubleheader against the Cleveland Indians. Meanwhile, he earned his first big league save against New York back when the Orioles could actually beat the Yankees. Seems this guy was my kind of Oriole.

On his record-setting day, Stock entered the early game at Cleveland Stadium in the fourth inning and provide two innings of quality mound work. He struck out two, walked none, allowed no hits, and was the pitcher of record when the Orioles surged ahead of the Indians with three runs in the top of the seventh. Charlie Lau pinch hit for Stock during the rally, and the O's won 10-6.

Stock was again the good luck charm for the O's offense in the nightcap. The team scored three in the eighth inning and two more in the ninth to turn a 1-1 tie into a 6-1 victory. The right-handed reliever tossed three shutout innings, struck out one, walked one, and allowed one hit to earn his fifth win of the season.

Overall, Stock pitched five innings of one-hit, no-run baseball with three strikeouts, one walk, and two - count 'em, two - wins. His effort helped the Orioles win their seventh and eighth consecutive games in what ended up being a nine-game win streak. (Insert heavy sigh here.)

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Chris Tillman returns to a big league mound on Saturday for the Orioles against the Blue Jays. Tillman got the call to the parent club after a successful stint in Norfolk that included a no-hitter against the Gwinnett Braves on April 28.

The Orioles' most recent no-hitters came against the opponent that just left town, the Oakland Athletics: Bob Milacki, Mike Flanagan, Scott Williamson, and Gregg Olson tossed a combined no-hitter against the A's in 1991; meanwhile, Jim Palmer posted a solo effort in 1969.

Fittingly, the team's website categorizes no-hitters under the heading "Rare Feats." (Pretty soon they'll have to include winning seasons in that category as well.) Also rare is that the O's pitched no-hitters in three consecutive seasons from 1967 to 1969. But when it comes to no-hitter-related novelty, it'd be tough to match the summer of 1978.

Call it "The Summer of the Near Miss." In the span of a little more than two weeks in August 1978, three different Baltimore pitchers carried no-hitters into the seventh inning only to lose them around stretch time.

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Mr. Boh brought baseball to Baltimore. Okay, that statement includes some degree of hyperbole, but there's truth there as well. And the story behind Mr. Boh's role in the Orioles' arrival in Baltimore is fitting given that the O's are preparing for a three-game set this weekend with the "rival" Washington Nationals.

If you head down to D.C. for a game, ask a Nationals fan why he or she "hates" the Orioles. You'll likely get a response that involves Peter Angelos (fair enough, many O's fans hate him as well) and his efforts to block baseball coming to the nation's capital (not quite as fair).

Granted, Peter Angelos got quite a payday when the Nationals moved to D.C. in the form of a 90 percent stake in MASN that shrinks to 67 percent over time. MLB, which temporarily owned the Expos-turned-Nationals, paid $75 million for its 10 percent of MASN.

However, using territorial arguments as leverage for a payday from a new franchise is nothing new in baseball. In fact, Washington pulled the same kind of stunt back in the '50s as Baltimore worked to acquire the St. Louis Browns (Baltimore has always had a thing for stealing franchises nicknamed the Browns).

Washington Senators owner Clark Griffith opposed the Browns' move to Baltimore. Naturally, he didn't want another baseball team so close to his own Washington Senators. It was one of many complications surrounding the deal. Enter Jerry Hoffberger, president of National Brewing Company, makers of National Bohemian beer.

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With the Birds headed out to Minnesota for a four-game set at Target Field, I got to thinking about former Orioles who also played for the Twins. Some kind of "Best Of" list featuring Scott Erickson seemed in order until I remembered the name Marty Cordova.

And that my friends is how this post came to be about one player.

Cordova smacked 18 home runs in 131 games for the 2002 Orioles. He was essentially a lesser version of Kevin Millar for the Birds. Both were players with a little pop, acquired by the O's on the downside of their careers, who made themselves memorable in Baltimore as much for what they did off the field as what they did on it.

Here's a comparison of Cordova and Millar at the plate during their respective first seasons in Baltimore:

Cordova (2002): 131 games, .253 average, 18 HR, 64 RBI, .325 OBP, .759 OPS.

Millar (2006): 132 games, .272 average, 15 HR, 64 RBI, .374 OBP, .811 OPS.

We remember Millar for things like Orioles Magic 2008 and that dousing he received during a post-game interview with Amber Theoharis following his Aug. 12, 2007 walk-off against the Red Sox.

As for Cordova, well, I'm surprised it's taken me this long to mention tanning beds.

Cordova was listed as day-to-day in May 2002 after falling asleep and burning his face in a tanning bed. (Jim Rome had a field day.)

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In his first three games with the Orioles, Rhyne Hughes had as many hits with runners in scoring position as the team did in its first three home games of the season.

Hughes tallied RBI singles on April 24, 25, and 27; the Orioles, meanwhile, went 2-for-8, 0-for-6, and 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position from April 9 to 11 against Toronto.

Perhaps it's too soon to coin Hughes the greatest thing since sliced bread. He is, however, the greatest thing since Jeffrey Hammonds - at least in one regard. Hughes is the first Oriole since Hammonds to have two hits and an RBI in each of his first two big league games.

Nevertheless, Hughes' path to the majors was much longer than that of Hammonds.

The Orioles selected Hammonds with the fourth pick in the 1992 amateur draft. Hammonds was the next big thing, a player considered by many to be the best pick in the draft whose speed and power drew comparisons to Rickey Henderson. His $975,000 signing bonus was larger than that of any other player drafted, including Derek Jeter.

Hammonds broke the PAC-10 single season stolen base record during his freshman year at Stanford and was named NCAA Freshman of the Year. He was an All-College World Series selection in 1990 and a two-time All-American ('90 and '92).

The Hammonds hype only grew from there. He batted .414 for the 1992 Olympic team. He homered in his first intrasquad game during spring training and followed that up with a homer in his first Grapefruit League game.

Assistant General Manager Frank Robinson liked what he saw.

"The more I see of this kid, the more I'm impressed with him," Robinson said. "He's made major strides every time I've seen him, and I liked him from the very first time I saw him in college. Without going overboard, I feel like he's going to be an outstanding major league player for a lot of years -- maybe not this year, but not too far in the future."

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Lately, as in the past 13 seasons, it seems the Orioles theme song should be "I've Seen Better Days." Those words can apply to most any situation for the O's, including their April record.

Perhaps you’ve noticed that the Birds aren't doing so well this month? Mind you, it's not the worst it's ever been. However, the Orioles certainly have seen better days when it comes to their April play, none better than during the 1966 season.

Baltimore went 11-1 in April 1966, the best win percentage for the month in team history. (In terms of victories, the Orioles have totaled 16 April wins on four different occasions: 1969, 1997, 2005, 2008.)

The 1966 Orioles opened the season by taking two straight from the Red Sox at Fenway before returning home to take two-of-three against the Yankees. Overall, the Birds finished the year 12-6 against Boston and 15-3 against New York, the ninth- and tenth-place teams, respectively, in the 10-team American League East that season.

Better days indeed.

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Which Orioles closer comes to mind when you think of blown saves?

I'm not talking present tense. That's easy.

Rather, I'm talking about the guy who so made your stomach turn during his career that, fairly or not, you still feel like grabbing the Maalox at the mere mention of his name. 

(I know, I know, I should've chosen Rolaids instead of Maalox.)

For me, that guy is Gregg Olson. 

Remember the disclaimer I offered in that earlier sentence, "fairly or not"? Well, it's clearly not fair that Gregg Olson is my archetype for the blown save.

Olson was a solid closer.

First reliever to be American League Rookie of the Year.

An All-Star in 1990.

An Orioles Hall of Famer (and Omaha Sports Hall of Famer for that matter), he is the team's all-time saves leader. Olson saved 160 games in Baltimore and had a save percentage of 83 during five full seasons.

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Dave Trembley managed his third Opening Day for the Orioles on Tuesday. That's no small accomplishment. Only one manager - Mike Hargrove - has lasted more than three full seasons at the helm in Baltimore since the O's last won the World Series in 1983.

Clearly, continuity has not been the team's strength in recent years. Let's consider a time when it was: Opening Day 1979.

Earl Weaver managed his 11th straight Opening Day for the O's on April 6, 1979, a blustery day in Baltimore that featured 50 mile-per-hour winds. Fans set trashcan fires in the men's room at Memorial Stadium to keep warm.

The faithful who braved the cold were part of an historic moment as Weaver earned his 1,000th win with a 5-3 victory over the visiting Chicago White Sox.

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Steve Johnson is back in Baltimore, which means that the list of father-son combinations to have played at the major league level for the Orioles may soon grow longer.

First there was Bob Kennedy, the first player in modern O's history to hit a grand slam, and his son Terry, an All-Star catcher for the Birds in 1987.

Next was Dave Mays (1967-1970) and his son Derrick May (1999),  then Don Buford (1968-1972) and his son Damon (1993-1995), followed by Tim Raines (four games in 2001) and Tim Raines Jr. (2001, 2003, 2004).

Future candidates besides Steve Johnson include Steve Bumbry, son of Al (1972-1984), who was drafted by the Orioles in 2009; Toronto minor league pitchers Kyle Drabek, son of Doug (1998), as well as Josh Roenicke and his brother Jason, sons of Gary (1978-1975); and Tug Hulett, son of Tim (1989-1994), who plays in the Boston system.

The list does not include the Ripkens because Cal Sr. played only in the team's farm system.

In 1954, their first year in Baltimore, the Orioles went 11-11 against the Red Sox. It was the team's best record against any opponent that season.

The O's fortunes against the Yankees, however, were squalid that year -- 5-17, the team's second-worst total against any franchise. (Baltimore was 3-19 versus Cleveland, which won 111 games in 1954.)

And so began the longest-running division rivalries in Orioles history.

Of the seven other teams in the 1954 American League, only New York and Boston have shared a division with Baltimore for the franchise's entire modern history.

In other words, the Evil Empires of the American League East have been thorns in the Orioles' side from the get-go.

Last week I provided a look at "A Historically Bad Decade" and contrasted the team's disappointing recent history against its proud past. This week I'm considering how the Birds have fared through the years against the Yankees and Red Sox.

Not surprisingly, the results are similar.

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The Orioles are preparing not only for a new season but also a new decade of baseball in Baltimore. Allow me to speak for O's fans everywhere in saying I hope we never again experience 10 seasons like the ones just completed in Charm City. The results were anything but charming.

When it comes to the 2000-2009 Orioles, optimists and pessimists can agree, albeit in a different tone of voice: "It's never been this bad."

With a 64-98 record in 2009, the Orioles completed their worst decade of baseball since the St. Louis Browns - "First in shoes, first in booze, and last in the American League" - relocated to Baltimore in 1954.

Overall, the O's compiled a 698-920 record during this period. The team's .431 winning percentage was worse than the previous low, a .438 mark recorded from 1954 through 1959.

However, these dispiriting totals are not in keeping with the team's otherwise proud tradition of success on the diamond. Consider that this was the first full decade in which the Orioles had a losing record. It's never happened before.

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The Hot Stove season is likely to be a fairly tepid affair for the Orioles this year. Rather than comb the current class of free-agents and potential trade targets I revisited the team's moves headed into the 1998 season, when the the O's became the first team in baseball to post a $70 million payroll.

Take a minute and let that sink in: the O's were baseball's biggest spenders just a little more than a decade ago. In fact, Baltimore holds the distinction of being the last team to outspend the New York Yankees, who have had baseball's highest payroll every year since 1999.

Unfortunately, the end result for the Birds in '98 was a 79-83 record, the first of an active 12-season losing streak.

Mo' money, mo' problems? Try mo' money, mo' intrigue.

Big bats, frontline pitchers, aging veterans - the O's chased them all back then.

[To be fair, much of the team's '98 payroll went to players who led the team to back-to-back ALCS appearances in 1996 and 1997, including Robert Alomar ($6.3 million), Brady Anderson ($6.2 million), Mike Mussina ($6.5 million), Rafael Palmeiro ($6.5 million), and Cal ($6.3 million).]

Here's a rundown on some of the Birds' 1997/1998 Hot Stove maneuverings:

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Your work day just got a whole lot less productive.

Play RBI Baseball 2 online. (Tip of the cap to The Lost Ogle. See also the clip from "Dream Team" with references to Ken Gerhart and Rene Gonzalez among others.)

Choose your starting pitcher from among Ballard, Milacki, Schmidt, or Harnisch. Keep Joe Orsulak, Randy Milligan, and Craig Worthington in your lineup or bring Steve Finley and Brady Anderson off the bench.

You've got work to do if you're going to take down the Blue Jays.

Kevin Youkilis charged the mound Tuesday night and sent Tigers rookie Rick Porcello backpedaling before earning two points for the take down. According to Keith Law, Youkilis was "acting like a fool."

That's nothing.

You want backpedaling? You want "acting like a fool"? I've got two words for you: Jim Traber.

The former Oriole once chased a Japanese pitcher into center field while charging the mound and later fell on his face, and into a kick, during a return trip to the mound.

Here's a link to the clip: Jim Traber

Awesome piece from the D.C. Sports Bog:

"I mean, I'm sure I've done lots of memorable games, World Series, Cal, all kinds of stuff," he said at Nationals Park yesterday afternoon. "But the one I'll never forget...The Orioles came home from the road trip 1-23 [in May of 1988]. And it was a Monday night with Texas in town. Jay Tibbs was the pitcher. And they had 50,000 at Memorial Stadium.

"When the team's bad, much less historically bad, the response in your home town is basically indifference. Nobody shows up. Crowds are small, they're quiet. But the crowd that night not only was huge; it was like the World Series.

"Oddibe McDowell led off and took a called strike, and it's 'Whoooooaaaaaaah!' You know, then he popped one up. 'He pops it up, Whooooooaaaaaah!!!!' You know, 'Cal's under it and he's got it, Whooaaaaaaaaah!!!!!' It was like Game 7 of the World Series. It was unbelievable.

...

"Somebody called him and said I'm a Baltimorean and I feel bad, I still love the Orioles, and I feel bad that people are making fun of them, and I'm sure they all feel real down about it. I'd like to be able to tell them that I'm really behind them and I still love them. You know, that I still root for them. And so other people started calling in and saying the same thing, so finally he had the idea, why don't we all come out to the ballpark when they get back and tell em that. I mean, you fans are fantastic. And he ended up calling it something like Fantastic Fans night.

"And then before the game they made the announcement that they had struck a deal, signed a contract for what became Camden yards, and that got everyone excited. You know, Edward Bennett Williams and I guess [Gov. William Donald] Schaefer made the announcement jointly on the field before the game, and people went nuts over that. Signed a new [15]-year contract or whatever it was, 'to stay here for now and far into the future,' blah blah blah. 'Whoooooaaaaaa!!!!!' It was an unforgettable night."

And a story I was not familiar with. The stories at the time agreed with Miller's account; that this was one of the most remarkable days in franchise history. The players, too; "Pretty damn impressive, isn't it?" second baseman Bill Ripken told Richard Justice after the game. "We were 1-23 going into tonight, and we had 50,000 people. I could have never imagined it."