Your All Time Favorite O's Catcher

[duffaphonic]

Clay Dalrymple

[spiritof66]

Johnny Orsino

Elrod

Dempsey

[Frobby]

I have to go with Dempsey. The guy was a weapon behind the plate, and he was such a passionate player. Plus, he was comical. I don't really like him as an analyst, but he was fun to root for as a player.

[DJHJR86]

Chris Hoiles hands down. Distant second is Charles Johnson. Honorable mention to Paul Bako.

[beervendor]

Hoiles for sure. Even before I got to watch an entire game sitting next to him. Great player, great Oriole, nice guy.

Honorable mention for Greg Zaun?

Most unforgivable: Lenny Webster. #neverforget

[DrungoHazewood]

Seven years, 12 pages and no Joe Nolan? How can you not love a guy who looked like he was 5' 6", 200 with glasses the size of dinner plates? And a WS Ring!

[Number5]

Dipper.

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[Frobby]

FWIW, most at bats as an Orioles catcher:

Dempsey

Triandos

Hoiles

Wieters

Etchebarren

Hendricks

Courtney

Hernandez

Lopez

Tettleton

If healthy, Wieters will pass Hoiles this year, and conceivably could pass Triandos.

[OFFNY]

Clint Courtney was born on this day in 1927.

Courtney was one of the "original" Orioles of the franchise, having played for the St. Louis Browns in 1953, and for the Orioles in their first year in Baltimore in 1954.

Knowing the following, how can he not be one of the GOAT? I remember him as I was a fan of the NY Giants and always hated the Yanks. I forgot this incident, however.

Nicknamed "Scrap Iron", Courtney was frequently embroiled in fights. Two of his more celebrated brawls involved the Yankees. The first came in 1952, when he spiked Billy Martin and then slugged him when Martin hit Courtney between the eyes. A year later, he touched off a free-for-all by spiking Phil Rizzuto in trying to stretch a single into a double. Then Martin jumped on Courtney in a wild melee that produced a then American League record $850 in fines.[1] The episode cost Courtney $250. Off the field, his temperament was reportedly more genial and affable.[2]

On July 16, 1953, Courtney entered the record books when the Browns tied, by then, a Major League mark with three successive home runs during the first inning of an 8?6 victory over the Yankees. Courtney started the feat, followed by solo shots of Dick Kryhoski and Jim Dyck. In 1954, Courtney remained with the team, which had moved to Baltimore and was in its first season as the Orioles. On Opening Day, he hit the first home run in Memorial Stadium history. He finished with a .270 average in 397 at bats, and struck out a league-low seven times, the lowest since Joe Sewell in 1933."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clint_Courtney

Thanks for that.

I especially liked reading about him standing up to Billy Martin, whom I thought was a great manager, but a cheap-shot artist in terms of fighting.

[ConnO'sFan]

Gus Triandos http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/historical/individual_stats_player.jsp?c_id=mlb&playerID=123464

and Earl Williams

Gus stole a base in 1958! I love his baseball cards.

[Mandar]

for just one game....Lenny Sakata!!

[OFFNY]

o

Happy 65th birthday to a member of the 1983 Orioles ...... Joe Nolan.

Nolan was also the starting catcher for a team that had the best record in all of baseball, but did not make the postseason ...... the 1981 Cincinnati Reds.

[duffaphonic]

Hiles, TRiandos, Hendricks

[fansince79]

Lenny Sakata!!!

Actually, my vote goes to Rick Dempsey for all the small things that he did, but I liked Chris Hoiles for his hitting.

Well Lenny was the catcher for the greatest regular season game in O's history, IMO.. and he hit the game winning home run...and I was there!

[El Gordo]

Gus Triandos, Clint Courtney, Matt Wieters.