Cal Ripken Jr. is most associated with going to work everyday. He has the all-time record for most consecutive games played in major league history with 2,632. Ripken was voted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame in 2007. He bursted onto the scene for the Orioles in 1982 when he played in 160 games in which he was 158 of 598 (.264 avg, .792 OPS) with 90 runs scored, 28 homers and 93 RBIs winning the Rookie of the Year Award in the A.L. He followed up his outstanding 1982 season by winning the A.L. MVP Award in 1983. In 1983, Ripken played in 162 games and he was 211 of 663 (.318 avg, .888 OPS) with 121 runs scored, 27 homers and 102 RBIs. Ripken would have to wait another 8 years before winning his second and last MVP Award. Ripken played in 162 games in 1991 and he was 210 of 650 (.323 avg, .940 OPS) with 99 runs scored, 34 homers and 114 RBIs. In Ripken’s 23 years with the O’s, he played in 3,001 games in which he was 3,184 of 11,551 (.276 avg, .788 OPS) with 1,647 runs scored, 431 homers and 1,695 RBIs. Ripken is the Orioles all-time leader in games played (3,001), runs scored (1,647), hits (3,184), doubles (603), homers (431), RBIs (1,695) and walks (1,129). When his career was over Ripken played in 19 All-Star Games, he won 8 Silver Slugger Awards and he won 2 Gold Gloves. Now you see that Ripken was a great player and he did so much more than playing everyday.

Jim Palmer is one of the T.V. announcers for the Orioles right now but he is also the best pitcher in Orioles history. He is a three time Cy Young Award winnner in the American League (1973, 1975 and 1976). Palmer was a All-Star six times in his career and he won at least 20 games in 8 different seasons. He pitched in 558 games (521 starts) in his 19 years with the O’s and he was 268-152 with 4 saves, a 2.86 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP. Palmer has pitched in the most games in team history (558), started the most games (521) and he won the most games (268) ever for the O’s. Palmer is also the Orioles all-time leader in innings pitched (3,948), strikeouts (2,212), complete games (211) and shutouts (53). He was inducted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1990 and it was much deserved. I think a lot of his records for the Orioles will never be broken especially the complete games and shutouts as pitch counts have ruined the game.

In 1983 and 1984 righty starting pitcher Mike Boddicker was not only the ace of the Baltimore Orioles but he was one of the best pitchers in the major leagues period. In those two years Boddicker pitched in 61 games (60 starts) and he was 36-19 with a 2.78 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP. He never really matched that success in the rest of him time in Baltimore. He pitched 9 years for the Orioles appearing in 190 games (180 starts) in which he was 79-73 with a 3.73 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP.

Back in 1979 manager Earl Weaver was looking for a way to maximize production. He needed some pop out of left field and he was looking at righty swinging Gary Roenicke and lefty swinging John Lowenstein. He knew that neither player would be a star on his own but he decided to have them share LF with Roenicke starting against lefty pitchers and Lowenstein against righties. The result was that they combined to go 148 for 573 (.258) with 93 runs scored, 36 homers, 98 RBIs and 17 stolen bases. With that the platoon was born and it maxed out the abilities of both Roenicke and Lowenstein in their time with the Orioles. Roenicke played in 850 games in 8 years with the Orioles and he was 555 for 2,217 (.250 avg, .803 OPS) with 311 runs scored, 106 homers, 352 RBIs and 15 stolen bases. Lowenstein played in 645 games in 7 years with the Orioles and he was 414 of 1,510 (.274 avg, .824 OPS) with 245 runs scored, 68 homers, 237 RBIs and 40 stolen bases. So if you ever get sick of watching platoons you can blame Earl Weaver for it but it was a stroke of genius in 1979.