Top 5 Oriole Interleague Stars - The Hitters

As the Orioles are in the midst of interleague play yet again, I thought I'd take a look at the Oriole hitters who had taken advantage of the National League. God knows we could use some of these guys now.

Here's the top 5:


5. Aubrey Huff

         AVG   OBP   SLG   HR   OPS
Huff    .326  .394  .526    7  .920
 

Perhaps this was the indicator that Aubrey Huff would bounce back a bit once he went to the NL this offseason.

4. Albert Belle

         AVG   OBP   SLG   HR   OPS
Belle   .326  .396  .525    7  .921
 

It's crazy how close Huff and Belle's interleague numbers are. But they were both raking.



3. Cal Ripken, Jr.

         AVG   OBP   SLG   HR   OPS
Ripken  .330  .380  .558   14  .938

Of course, Cal is here. Even more amazing than those numbers is the fact he did it at a time when the NL was probably the better league.

2. Larry Bigbie

         AVG   OBP   SLG   HR   OPS
Bigbie  .360  .446  .523    3  .969
 
 

There always has to be a surprise on a list like this and Bigbie qualifies. This is over 101 plate appearances where he walked 14 times. It's still a drag this guy didn't make it.



1. Harold Baines

         AVG   OBP   SLG   HR   OPS
Baines  .355  .424  .553    3  .976
 

Just another reason to love Harold Baines. No Oriole was more effective against the Senior Circuit.

The Thin Line Between Greatness and Immortality

Sully Baseball takes a look at the career of former Oriole Harold Baines through the lens of one of my favorite movies, Bull Durham.

Sully takes this line from Crash Davis:

"You know what the difference between hitting .250 and .300 is? 25 hits. That's one extra hit a week...

You get one extra flare a week--just one--a gork, a ground ball with eyes, a dying quail--just one more dying quail a week and you're in Yankee Stadium!”

...and he applies this concept to Harold Baines' entire career. With 7 extra hits a season, Baines could very well have been in the Hall of Fame.

But I can’t help but wonder… does he think about those 7 extra hits a year? Does he think about a great catch made on a ball he hit? Does he think about an official scorer ruling a hit of his was actually an error? Does he think about a close call at first base that could have gone either way?

Does he think about games lost to the strikes of 1981 and 1994? Does he think of time lost to injuries later in his career?

A hit here, a hit there… a flare a gork, a ground ball with eyes, a dying quail here and there… and he’d be off to Cooperstown.

Base Hits: 3/25/2009

Shocked and saddened to learn of the untimely death of John Brattain whose work I enjoyed often over at The Hardball Times. Brattain was a diehard Blue Jays fan and I had the pleasure of e-mailing back and forth with him on occasion about AL East baseball. He was always funny, pleasant and opinionated.

My deepest sympathies to his family and friends. He will be missed.

*****

According to Roch Kubatko, David Pauley is out of the running for a spot in the rotation and Dave Trembley also seems pretty sure that Chris Waters will not make the rotation either. By my estimation, that leaves Brian Bass, Adam Eaton, Hayden Penn, Danys Baez, Alfredo Simon and Mark Hendrickson in competition for the last three rotation spots with Rich Hill waiting on the DL.

If I made a guess, I'd figure Hendrickson, Baez and Eaton make up the rotation on Opening Day.

(edit: Dave Trembley has eliminated Baez from the competition since I wrote this. Nice guess!)

*****

Hall of Famer George Kell has passed away at the age of 86. Kell finished up his career in Baltimore and played on the first modern Oriole team to finish at .500 or better in 1957.

Kell manned third base but slowly gave way as the season wore on to a 20-year old defensive wizard named Brooks Robinson...

*****

Maryland native Harold Baines has been elected to the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame.

It seemed like Baines always came through with the big hit when nobody else on the team was hitting. One of my favorites and clearly the best DH in Oriole history.