How about an O-Timer’s Day Celebration?

Written by: John Rosenfelder on 1st April 2009

How about an O-Timer's Day Celebration? | read this item

With the team still in a rebuilding mode, the Orioles and their fans are probably a bit wary of celebrating past glory, but this year marks the 40th and 30th anniversaries of two Pennant-winning teams, the 1969 and ’79 Orioles. Both were managed by the great Earl Weaver, and while both teams lost the World Series, they each came back within a few years to finish the job, with the 1970 and 83 teams.

The park they played in, Memorial Field, is long gone, replaced by Camden Yards in the early 90s. The football team they shared that stadium with, the Colts, has been gone so long that they were replaced by another franchise. The basketball team from those days, the Bullets, had to change their name to something more politically correct (“Wizards“?), and the hockey team has never been a contender, despite retaining the best player in the league at the present time (Alexander Ovechkin).

Baltimore has had a rough decade (or two) sports-wise, and despite their problems, the Orioles still have the same name, the same colors, a great park and some very enthusiastic fans. Seeing families at Camden Yards, which was a consistent sell-out for much of the 90s, and diminishing hope over the past few years, it seems like this would be a good time to commemorate the great times the O’s had in the past. As mentioned, it wasn’t a fluke those teams made the Series in 69 and 79 – Weaver’s O’s were a consistent force in the American League for many years.

When sizing up Dave Trembley‘s spotty rotation, maybe it isn’t so great to think about the four twenty game winners (McNally, Cuellar, Palmer and Dobson), but in my opinion, the Orioles have the makings of a great O(ld) Timer’s Day, as many of the key participants in their history are still alive. Why not bring back Palmer, Frank and Brooks, Eddie Murray, Weaver, the Ripkens and everyone else? The popularity of Boog Powell‘s barbecue ought to tell you something… how many people go up to him for an autograph every game?

Surely it would cost a lot in plane tickets and hotel rooms, but my guess is it would sell a commensurate amount of tickets and remind everyone that the Orioles were, and are, one of the best franchises in all of sports, not just baseball.

They had many, many great players, even in the years they didn’t win the championship. I was lucky to see Frank Robinson‘s retirement/farewell speech as Nationals manager a few years ago, but it seems that he should make a similar address to the Oriole fans one more time. Even players like Eddie Watt and Paul Blair were very well-loved… a lot of great baseball has been played in Baltimore.

What players would you like to see back in a Baltimore Oriole uniform one more time?

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Topics: Baltimore Orioles, Boog Powell, Brooks Robinson, Cal Ripken, Earl Weaver, Eddie Watt, Frank Robinson, Jim Palmer, Old Timer's Day