Position in the Spotlight: Baltimore

Our next stop on the Position in the Spotlight tour is Baltimore. Baltimore has had a lot of success in the world of pro sports, but it has a bit of a disjointed history with its franchises. It's first pro team, the Baltimore Orioles, were one of the original American League teams to join the league in 1901. After only 2 years, they moved to New York to become the Yankees, and the rest is history. They also had one of the original NBA teams, the Baltimore Bullets, which won the 1948 title. However, this isn't the team that we know today as the Washington Wizards. This Bullets team actually folded in 1954. The current Wizards played in Baltimore from 1963-1973, and the city hasn't had an NBA team since. Baseball returned to Baltimore in 1954, when the St. Louis Browns found a new home, and the Orioles are still playing in Baltimore 55 years later. In football, they have had 3 franchises over the years. The original Baltimore Colts played in the AAFC and were merged into the NFL in 1950 with the Browns and 49ers, but folded after only 1 year. The NFL started a new Baltimore Colts franchise in 1953, which quickly became a dominant team, winning 4 NFL Championships, including a Super Bowl, by 1970. However, the Colts were lured away by Indianapolis in 1984, in one of the most infamous moves of all time. Football did return to Baltimore though in 1996, in possibly an even more controversial move, as the Cleveland Browns became the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens quickly won a Super Bowl in 2000 and have been a better than average NFL team since.

So where do we go for our position in the spotlight? Because the Ravens and Colts feel like very different entities (especially since the Colts name and logo are still around), its hard to stretch any kind of football history between the 2 teams. The NBA is long gone, so the only constant in town for quite some time is the Orioles. The Orioles have had a lot of success, winning 3 World Series and 6 pennants since moving from St. Louis. Not being brushed up on my history from before I was born, I thought this was a slam dunk with Orioles shortstop, thanks to Brooks Robinson and Cal Ripken Jr....then I realized Robinson was 3B. That led to a tough decision...the legacy of the Vacuum Cleaner or the Iron Man (Ripken did end up switching to 3B late in his career). After looking at some of the other guys that filled those positions, I decided to go with Baltimore Orioles Shortstop.

As the O's tried to shake the miserable legacy of the St. Louis Browns, in the late 50's, they had Cuban-born Willy Miranda as their starting SS. Miranda was known for a his great fielding but was absolutely horrible as a hitter, batting around .200 each year he started for them. Miranda was eventually replaced by former White Sox All-Star Chico Carrasquel in 1959, who was on his last legs as a major leaguer at that point.

The Orioles went young in 1960, making Ron Hansen their full time starter. It paid off, as Hansen belted 22 HR and was voted Rookie of the Year, leading the O's to their first winning season after moving to Baltimore. Hansen wound up playing in Baltimore for 2 more years before becoming part of a blockbuster trade.

I'm writing about the history of Orioles shortstops, not White Sox, I swear. In 1963, the Orioles traded Hansen to the White Sox for eventual Hall of Famer Luis Aparicio. Aparicio was an amazingly good fielder, winning 9 gold gloves in his career (2 in Baltimore), and a speed demon, leading the league in stolen bases 9 consecutive years to begin his career (1956-1964). Paired with Brooks Robinson, the O's had an impenetrable left side of the infield. After also trading for Frank Robinson to add some power, it all paid off in 1966, as the Orioles captured their first World Series title.

Aparicio was traded back to Chicago in 1968 and he was replaced by a youngster, Mark Belanger. Belanger kept the Orioles SS tradition alive of being an excellent fielder and a poor hitter. He won 8 gold gloves himself from 1969-1978 and was the starting SS in 4 World Series in 1969, 1970, 1971, and 1979, winning in 1970. He left the Orioles after the 1981 season, making room for another legend....

Cal Ripken starting playing SS for the Orioles in 1982, every single day. He just didn't stop. Ripken played SS every game until he was eventually switched to 3B in 1997. By that point, he had broken the seemingly unbreakable consecutive games played record that was held by Lou Gehrig. Ripken brought a completely different element to the position. He was a decent fielder (1991 and 1992 gold gloves) but a fantastic hitter. Ripken hit 431 HR in his career, won the 1982 rookie of the year, was American League MVP in 1983 and 1991, and was selected to the All-Star team a mind-boggling 19 times. Ripken led the Orioles to the 1983 World Series title, but the team kind of disintergrated around him in the late 80s. They regained some ground and were a contender in 1996 and 1997, but a bunch of bad free agent signings eventually derailed the team.

The man stuck with the task of filling Ripken's massive shoes at the position in 1997 was Mike Bordick. Bordick was signed to replace Ripken's waning defensive ability. Like many Orioles SS in the past, Bordick was a good fielder but a lousy hitter. Luckily for him, after 1997 the team was pretty lousy too, and other than a brief trade to the Mets in 2000, started at SS through 2002.

After a brief encounter with Deivi Cruz, the Orioles went back to the big money well, signing power-hitting and former AL MVP Miguel Tejada away from Oakland. Tejada didn't disappoint, leading the league in RBI in 2004 with 150 and also winning the Home Run Derby that year. Tejada continued to put up huge numbers through 2007. In a steroid era, things seemed a little murky around Tejada, and he was traded to the Astros before 2008, only to be named in the Mitchell Report days later.

After a year of light hitting Juan Castro in 2008, the current Orioles SS is Cesar Izturis, who won a gold glove with the Dodgers in 2004. Is Izturis the next great Orioles SS? Probably not, but time will tell. With the great farm system the Orioles have shown in recent years, its possible they have someone waiting in the wings.
Honorable Mention:
Baltimore Ravens Middle Linebacker: Ray Lewis has been there since day 1, and he'll leave some big shoes to fill.
Baltimore Orioles Ace: The Orioles have had some good starting pitchers over the years, ranging from Milt Pappas to Jim Palmer to Mike Mussina
Baltimore Orioles 1B: The Orioles have also had a lot of great hitting 1B to compliment thier good defensive infielders like Boog Powell, Eddie Murray, and Rafael Palmeiro