LA2

Sometimes it's good to be humbled. Maybe he'll be back in the MLB in a few years with his new body and control.

WARNING: If you want to avoid the "The Captain" (Jeter) fawning, skip to 1:35. Thereafter, it's an enjoyable take on Hanser, with plenty of video of Baltimore Choppers and Texas Leaguers. His unsung retro rarity is confirmed by the fact that Baseball-reference.com's lists for him of "Similar Batters through [age] 26" and "Similar Batters" are the most unrecognizable motley crew I've ever encountered there (outside of Ronald Torreyes, but I'm in Flatbush, where the windows on the Target two blocks away are somehow still intact).

Look earlier in the thread.

Can't find it (altho I admit I didn't try hard enough)--Can you link it? Thanks.

And Tony traded him away!

Back to the topic of 5-tool Orioles, how about Eric Davis and occasionally Brady? What were Davis' defense and arm like?

A truly unique player and quiet bull of a teammate. I loved how he outplayed much taller, longer-limbed centers--couldn't figure out he did it. He and Earl Monroe were such different types of players and personalities, but "Unseld with the rebound, long pass down-court to the Pearl!" was the perfect pairing. As archetypal in my youthful memory as a home run by Frank or Boog, Brooks at third, or, a few years later, Bert Jones to Roger Carr. RIP, Wes!

It's important to mention that this is the game in which Ken Tatum threw the infamous pitch that hit Paul Blair in the face and broke his cheekbone and nose, which people routinely claim ruined Blair as a hitter, although the statistics say otherwise (as did Motormouth himself). I've quoted the part of Tatum's Wikipedia entry that narrates the incident and its uncanny effect on Tatum's subsequent career: he became less effective because apprehensive about pitching batters tight and himself had his cheekbone broken during batting practice the following season at Memorial Stadium. It's too bad: in his rookie season the year before, he had notched a 1.36 ERA (256 ERA+) and 22 saves in 86.33 innings/45 games, while yielding only one home run! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Tatum

Not really so if one is talking about Yadier Molina, who's even had a few seasons where he stole a decent amount of bases (9 twice, 12 once, and 6 for 6 last season at the age of 36).

SMH. There must have been something contagious going around.

What a shame. He was 25-years old that year and it was already his sixth season of 20 or more homers despite missing roughly a season and a half from the beaning. Led the league at the age of 20 and was only 45 when he passed away. I wonder whether the coma-inducing stroke was also somehow related to the injury or its treatment.

I'm pretty sure he did that sometimes with the Orioles, too.

Lucid intelligent presentation of case studies. Very helpful. I'm going to share it with friends--Thanks.

I have just deleted my own political post. I apologize for it, but had only written it in response to what I felt was an unfair accusation.

Not a bad lineup except that it was old and Ripken had a poor season. The bench was strong, but the starting pitching was thin and the bullpen ultra-flammable. Hargrove was a laid-back manager.