Your All Time Favorite O's Catcher

[spiritof66]

Gus Triandos.

Johnny Orsino and Dempsey for me.

Gus could hit the ball a long way, and the all-Greek battery he formed with Milt Pappas brought some attention to the Orioles, who were then known mostly for Hoyt Wilhelm's knuckleball.

But those of you who get worked up over Wieters' lack of speed on the bases should have seen Gus chugging around the bases (especially when he went to the NL late in his career). He was a member in good standing of the Ernie Lombardi School of hard-hitting, slow-moving receivers.

[25 Nuggets]

Of course. Been an O's fan since Brooks was a rookie, 61 years.

Nice. A lot of people don't know that the Orioles were a good team before the Frank Robinson trade. Their turnaround officially started with a 2nd place AL finish behind the Yankees in 1960 (89-65).

Triandos was a major contributor for that team and the '61 team that finished 95-67 (the first 162-game season).

[ChuckS]

Hoiles. Grew up watching him. Always hit (career .833 OPS). Called a good game too.

[JohnD]

Hoiles was my guy.

Honorable mention goes to Fernando Lunar, one of FOUR catchers they had on the 25-man once

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[Enjoy Terror]

I stumbled into this thread and read the first page just now. Some of them are akin to "Hoiles, but not for long" and another poster says "I know you mean Wieters. I am excited for him too."

I looked and was unaware I was reading posts from March 2009. I can't believe the Wieters era is at an end 8 years later.

[JimDH]

Number 8

[weams]

Dempsey won me a World Series.

[OFFNY]

o

Andy Etchebarren was the first one that I knew when I started rooting for the Orioles in October of 1971, and the subsequent (1972) season.

Based on that, it's Etchebarren.

[Crabcakes]

Always liked Wiets, Triandos was the first catcher on the O's that I rooted for. Rookie Etchebarren caught the O's first WS win. Hendricks with the tag in '70 (with the ball in his other hand).

But my favorite has to be Dempsey. He had tears in his eyes, behind the plate, with the WS game 7 slipping away (me too).

Glad he got to come back & win WS MVP in '83

[BarclaySouthway]

I stumbled into this thread and read the first page just now. Some of them are akin to "Hoiles, but not for long" and another poster says "I know you mean Wieters. I am excited for him too."

I looked and was unaware I was reading posts from March 2009. I can't believe the Wieters era is at an end 8 years later.

Yup. And the answer is still Hoiles.

[sevastras]

Chris Hoiles is still the one that stands out to me. Just 35 years old, to some and a whopping 35 years old to some others on here. Tettleton had a good year for us during my formative years as well. Just always like Chris Hoiles for some reason. I dont get as passionate for players now than i did then. The players I get passionate about are Manny, Giancarlo Stanton, Kershaw. I just enjoy greatness now a days.

[Orioles4Life21]

Brook Fordyce. Totally kidding.

[Old Original]

Whoa, that goes back a ways. You remember Diamond Jim Gentile too?

Of course. Been an O's fan since Brooks was a rookie, 61 years.

Nice. A lot of people don't know that the Orioles were a good team before the Frank Robinson trade. Their turnaround officially started with a 2nd place AL finish behind the Yankees in 1960 (89-65).

Triandos was a major contributor for that team and the '61 team that finished 95-67 (the first 162-game season).

Gus Triandos. Been an Orioles fan since they moved from St Louis. Triandos was the O?s first big home run hitter. One season he hit 30, which tied him, at the time, for the AL single season homer record for catchers. Number 30 enabled the Orioles to defeat the MFY 1-0 on 9/20/1958, the game in which Hoyt Wilhelm pitched the O?s 1st no-hitter.

Gus was very slow, but once he did hit an inside-the-park homer at Memorial Stadium. Once. A very hard hit line drive into the left field corner that bounced off the wall and rolled along the warning track toward CF. The left fielder over-ran the ball; by the time he retrieved it Triandos had chugged around the bases.

[Old Original]

Whoa, that goes back a ways. You remember Diamond Jim Gentile too?

Of course. Been an O's fan since Brooks was a rookie, 61 years.

Was a huge fan of Diamond Jim Gentile. True story: Gentile hit 21 homers for the 1960 Orioles. As we were packing up to go home after the 1961 Spring semester at the U of MD (College Park) I told the guy (Lefty) across the hall that Gentile would hit 50 homers that season. Lefty looked at me as if I was crazy, then said that if Gentile did hit 50 or more that he (Lefty) would buy a World Series ticket for me.

Every time Jim hit a homer I sent a postcard to Lefty, with the only message being the current home run number. Alas, Gentile fell short with ?only? 46. When we returned to college in the Fall, Lefty said that he was pretty worried during the last few weeks of the season, and was amazed that my WA prediction came so close to being fulfilled.

Of course, 1961 was the year of the M&M boys, as Maris & Mantle competed for the AL home run title and a chance to break Babe Ruth?s single season homer record (60). As we all know, Maris came out on top and broke the record with 61. Mantle finished with 52. They ended up making Gentile an afterthought.

[Ruzious]

I never saw Gentile or Triandos, so that might affect my answers. Favorite as a player would be Chris Hoiles - just over Dempsey. He played here for parts of 10 seasons and had an OPS+ of 119 - which is great for a catcher. Tettleton was an even better hitter (slightly), but he wasn't here as long.

Favorite as a person was Elrod. It seems like everyone who knew him or had contact with him had only glowing things to say about him.