The annual announcement of the Baseball Hall of Fame voting results will take place later this month. On January 23, we’ll learn who will become the newest members of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
Many are expecting Adrian Beltre and Joe Mauer to have a good chance of being elected on their first ballot. And returning candidates Todd Helton and Billy Wagner also would appear to be in good position.
As we head toward that announcement, I find myself intrigued by some of the Orioles you’ll find forever immortalized in Cooperstown…but not the ones you might expect.
Obviously any trip to the Hall of Fame Plaque Gallery for an Orioles fan means stopping to admire the plaques of Weaver, Frank & Brooks Robinson, Palmer, Ripken and Murray. And of course there’s also Mussina, Alomar, Kell, Aparicio, Roberts, Baines and Wilhelm.
But what I find fascinating is that you can also find the words “Baltimore A.L.” on five other plaques for players you might not remember ever donning the orange and black.
That’s because there are five members of the Baseball Hall of Fame who played in Baltimore for just a single season – or less.
So let’s take a look at each of these Hall of Famers…and let’s rank their seasons in Baltimore from “least memorable” to “most memorable.”
#5: Tim Raines – BBHOF Class of 2017. Baltimore Oriole in 2001 – 0.1 WAR
This has to be the one that would cause the most wrong answers on an Orioles Hall of Fame trivia question, right? After all, Raines played in just four games for the Birds at the very end of the 2001 season.
Don’t believe me? Watch a video of Cal Ripken’s final game on MASN’s Orioles Classics if you get a chance. (Assuming they’re not showing yet another replay of Keegan Akin’s first career win from 2020.)
Raines appeared as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning of that game and grounded to short. It was his 12th and final at-bat as an Oriole.
Raines was sent to the Orioles by the Expos in a “conditional deal” on October 3, 2001 and played in the Birds’ final four games of the season.
Now, if you’re not old enough to remember this happening, you might ask: Why would an Orioles team well out of contention acquire Tim Raines for the last four days of a season?
The answer is…to play with his son, Tim Raines, Jr., who was getting an audition as a possible future center fielder for the Orioles.
It was a neat story at the time, but a small sidebar compared to the final days of Cal Ripken’s Hall of Fame career. But, yes, Tim Raines did in fact play in Baltimore for four games (going 3-for-11 with a homer) long enough to get “Baltimore” on his Hall of Fame plaque in Cooperstown.
#4: Jim Thome – BBHOF Class of 2018. Baltimore Oriole in 2012 – 0.0 WAR
The Orioles exciting return to the postseason in 2012 featured a number of surprises, including the promotion of Manny Machado to the majors late in the year and the unlikely pitching performance of Chris Davis in an early season game at Fenway Park.
But another surprise that season was the team’s acquisition of slugger Jim Thome from the Philadelphia Phillies to add some power off the bench at the end of June.
Thome was just two months’ shy of his 42nd birthday at the time the O’s acquired him, so expectations were not high for a player who had hit 30 or more home runs in 12 different seasons.
Thome ultimately played in 28 games for the 2012 Orioles, batting .257 with 3 home runs and 10 RBI over 115 plate appearances exclusively as a designated or pinch hitter; Thome never played in the field as an Oriole.
The Orioles, of course, won the one-game Wild Card Game vs. the Rangers that season (thanks in part to another surprise – Joe Saunders’ solid start) and Thome went 1-for-3 in that game.
In the Division Series vs. the Yankees, Thome played in three games, going just 1-for-12 while striking out four times. That proved to be the end of Thome’s stellar career, with Baltimore ending up as Thome’s sixth and final big league team.
#3: Vladimir Guerrero – BBHOF Class of 2018. Baltimore Oriole in 2011 – 0.2 WAR
What is it about older players coming to Baltimore to end their careers? In addition to Raines and Thome (and, of course, Sammy Sosa, who has not reached Cooperstown) we also have Vladimir Guerrero.
Following the 2003 season, rumors were rampant that the Orioles would sign Guerrero, who had finally reached free agency after spending his first seven seasons in Montreal.
But the O’s were outbid for Guerrero by the Angels, and Vlad would go on to win the 2004 American League Most Valuable Player Award, hitting .337 with 39 home runs and 126 RBI.
Seven years later the Orioles finally did convince Guerrero to come to Baltimore as he signed in spring training of 2011 to become the team’s full-time designated hitter. But he was no longer a perennial MVP candidate by that point.
True to form as a free swinger, Guerrero earned just 17 walks in 590 plate appearances in his 145 games with the Orioles. He hit .290, however, but his power was greatly diminished as he belted just 13 home runs while driving in 63.
Guerrero’s last two seasons with the Angels, in 2008-09, saw him decline rapidly. But he bounced back in 2010 during his lone season with the Texas Rangers, hitting .300 with 29 home runs and 115 RBI.
So it’s fair to say that Vlad’s 2011 season with the Orioles was a disappointment, and at age 36 he elected to retire rather than try to catch on with another team and rebound in 2012.
#2: Lee Smith – BBHOF Class of 2019. Baltimore Oriole in 1994 – 0.8 WAR
Thanks to the work stoppage that began on August 12 and ultimately led to the cancellation of the 1994 MLB season, the Orioles’ 63-49 squad from that year has largely been forgotten.
While there were no playoffs or World Series games in 1994, there was an All Star Game in July at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.
And with the American League leading that game by a score of 7-5, who was summoned to close it out for the junior circuit?
That would be none other than Orioles’ closer Lee Smith. That’s right – Smith was signed as a free agent to take over the team’s closer role from Gregg Olson, whose run with the team ended after the 1993 season.
Smith quickly blew the save for the American League, allowing a two-run home run to Fred McGriff that tied the game at 7-7. And while Smith was not the losing pitcher, the A.L. did lose the game in the 10th inning on a Moises Alou walk-off double.
All things considered, Smith’s 1994 season in Baltimore was not a bad one, as he led the American League with 33 saves and posted a 3.29 earned run average in 41 appearances.
But the 1994 season would be Smith’s only one with the Birds, as he signed a two-year contract with the California Angels in December of that year.
#1: Reggie Jackson – BBHOF Class of 1993. Baltimore Oriole in 1976 – 5.3 WAR
Without question, the best of the “One-Year Oriole Hall of Famers” is Reggie Jackson, thanks to the outstanding season he put together for the team in 1976.
With baseball set to usher in a new era of free agency following the 1976 season, Oakland Athletics owner Charlie Finley was trading away those players he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep.
And late in spring training – on April 2, 1976 – Oakland dealt Reggie Jackson and pitcher Ken Holtzman to the Orioles for outfielder Don Baylor and pitchers Mike Torrez and Paul Mitchell.
Jackson did not report to the Orioles initially, instead holding out until May 2nd in the hope of a better salary or a long-term contract.
And while Orioles’ fans booed Reggie initially as a result of the holdout, he ultimately won them over with his performance.
Jackson started slowly, but hit .277 with 27 home runs and 91 RBI on the season while slugging .502. Jackson also had his highest single-season stolen base total in his one season with the Birds, swiping 28 bags while getting caught 7 times.
In spite of Jackson’s strong season, the Orioles still finished in second place in 1976, 10.5 games behind the Yankees with a final record of 88-74.
Following the season, Jackson was the most coveted member of baseball’s first real free agent class, and he signed a five-year contract with the Yankees where he earned his “Mr. October” nickname in the 1977 World Series.
In the weeks leading up to Jackson’s Hall of Fame induction in 1993, he thrilled fans at Camden Yards during the All Star Game festivities with a batting practice home run and was greeted with a standing ovation as he rounded the bases.
It was a fitting salute to a player who turned in a great season in Baltimore on his way to Cooperstown, and it also reminded fans of what might have been if the Orioles had found a way to sign Reggie to a long-term contract before that 1976 season had ended.
Trust Your Stuff 