| DH |
Harold Baines |
1993-1995; 1997-1999; 2000 |
Maryland native also served three tours with
White Sox, and is one of two
players in history
to play three times with two
teams (Bobo
Newsom's the other). |
| C |
Rick Dempsey |
1976-1986; 1992 |
Yankees castoff wound up catching regularly
for O's for 10 years; MVP of '83 World Series thanks to .385 average
and five extra-base hits, but
defense his
forte. |
| 1B |
Eddie Murray |
1977-1988; 1996 |
Switch-hitter finished with 504 home runs,
even though he never hit 35 in
a season; in '96, joined Mays and Aaron as only players
with 500 homers and 3,000 hits. |
| 2B |
Bobby Grich |
1970-1976 |
Stuck behind Davey Johnson for two years,
but once he got the job he was
the best-hitting
and -fielding second baseman
in the league
for four seasons. |
| SS |
Cal Ripken |
1981-2001 |
Add it all up -- the defense, the home runs,
the Durability with a capital
"D" -- and
there should be little doubt
that he's among
three greatest SS ever. |
| 3B |
Brooks Robinson |
1955-1977 |
With the exception of 1964, he wasn't ever
really a great hitter, but he
played forever
and you've probably heard something
about
his defense. |
| LF |
Brady Anderson |
1988-2001 |
Played a lot in center, too, but range more
suited to one of the corner slots; he had power and patience, and gave the
O's one great season and a lot
of good ones. |
| CF |
Paul Blair |
1964-1976 |
Had some decent seasons at the plate and
once hit 3 homers in one game,
but defense
was Blair's long suit, as he
won eight Gold
Gloves and deserved them all. |
| RF |
Frank Robinson |
1966-1971 |
One of the game's best and toughest players; Orioles started going to the World Series
the season he arrived, and stopped
the season
after he left. Coincidence? |
| SP1 |
Jim Palmer |
1965-1984 |
Now remembered mostly for his squabbles with
Earl Weaver and the underwear
ads, rather
than for the great fastball,
three Cy Youngs,
and eight 20-win seasons. |
| SP2 |
Mike Mussina |
1991-2000 |
Went 147-81 in his 10 seasons with O's, and
never had anything like a bad
year; threw all the pitches and there wasn't anybody
smarter this side of Greg Maddux. |
| SP3 |
Dave McNally |
1962-1974 |
From '68 through '71, went 87-31 with a 2.82
ERA; threw solid fastball and one of the league's
best curves; traded to Expos for Ken Singleton and Mike
Torrez. |
| SP4 |
Mike Cuellar |
1969-1976 |
With Palmer and McNally, gave Orioles the
best staff in the game; in eight seasons with O's, went 143-88 with
3.18 ERA and won 23 in '69 to
share Cy Young
with McLain. |
| RP |
Gregg Olson |
1988-1993 |
Served as O's closer for only five seasons,
but devastating curve resulted
in 160 saves,
easily the franchise record; Rookie of the Year in 1989. |