Free Republic

In the newspaper world, of which I am a lapsed citizen, the number thirty is the traditional code that ends a perfect piece of copy. In baseball world as we knew it Wednesday night, thirty is the number that represents the worst night of human rights violations in the long enough and, once upon a time, glorious enough history of baseball in Baltimore. If that city has seen any crime wave equal to Wednesday night’s mass murder in Camden Yards, I’m willing to bet the the newspaper morgues (no pun intended) and the police records don’t show it. You’d have...

BALTIMORE (AP) -- The Texas Rangers rounded the bases at a dizzying pace, touching the plate so often it became almost embarrassing to make an out. The Rangers became the first team in 110 years to score 30 runs in a game, setting an American League record Wednesday in a 30-3 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Trailing 3-0 in the opener of a doubleheader, Texas scored five runs in the fourth inning, nine in the sixth, 10 in the eighth and six in the ninth. It was the ninth time a major league team scored 30 runs, the first since...

I am not going to tell you "Wild Bill" Hagy was a choirboy, because someone who guzzles nine or 10 Budweisers and shot-puts his cooler from the upper deck of a stadium before being led away in handcuffs probably doesn't qualify for that.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Hank Bauer, the hard-nosed ex-Marine who returned to baseball after being wounded during World War II and went on to become a cornerstone of the New York Yankees dynasty of the 1950s, died Friday. He was 84. Bauer died of cancer in Shawnee Mission, Kan., said the Baltimore Orioles. Bauer managed the 1966 Orioles to their first World Series title. A three-time All-Star outfielder, Bauer played on Yankees teams that won nine American League pennants and seven World Series in 10 years. He set the Series record with a 17-game hitting streak, a mark that still...

BALTIMORE - The Virginia couple arrested Saturday for trespassing after getting lost trying to find Interstate 95 have retained an attorney and plan to sue the city. “In view of what’s happened, it’s a given,” said Dale Anstine, an attorney in York, Pa., who is representing the family. “I personally know these people; they are good kids. I think the conduct of this police officer is beyond outrageous.” Llara Brook, 20, and her boyfriend, Josh Kelly, 22, traveled from Chantilly, Va., to Baltimore to see an Orioles game Saturday. The couple stopped in the 800 block of Bridgeview Drive in...

Baltimore City police arrested a Virginia couple over the weekend after they asked an officer for directions. WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team reporter David Collins said Joshua Kelly and Llara Brook, of Chantilly, Va., got lost leaving an Orioles game on Saturday. Collins reported a city officer arrested them for trespassing on a public street while they were asking for directions . "In jail for eight hours -- sleeping on a concrete floor next to a toilet," Kelly said. "It was a nightmare," Brook said. "I was in there thinking I was just dreaming and waiting to wake up." Collins reported...

January 22, 2006 -- Brazen baseball wife Anna Benson blasted the Mets last night for tossing her pitcher hubby a curve via a trade to Baltimore. The buxom Benson feels she was "misled" by management — which insists she's not why Kris was shipped south. "If he was traded because of any potential talks with . . . Playboy or anything like this, that's a dirty, nasty, rotten trick — and I think that's really freedom-of-speech infringement," she charged.

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Elrod Hendricks, who spent nearly four decades as a player and coach with the Baltimore Orioles, died Wednesday. He was 64. Hendricks died at Baltimore-Washington Medical Center in Glen Burnie, hospital spokeswoman Allison Eatough said. The cause of death was not immediately known. Acting Lt. Will Bethea of the Anne Arundel County fire department said the department received a call at 8:17 p.m. that Hendricks was unconscious at a hotel near Baltimore-Washington International Airport. A fire department ambulance took him to the hospital. Hendricks got most of the playing time at catcher for the Orioles on teams...

BALTIMORE -- Former All-Star outfielder Pat Kelly, who played for five different teams during a 15-year major league career, has died. He was 61. Kelly died Sunday from a heart attack. He was selected to play in the 1973 All-Star game during a season in which he hit .280 in a career-high 144 games with the Chicago White Sox. Kelly played in the World Series as a member of the 1979 Baltimore Orioles. Kelly was a reverend for Lifeline Ministries in Maryland after his retirement. Born in Philadelphia as Harold Patrick Kelly, the fleet-footed outfielder was 23 when he played...

Rafael Palmeiro vowed to tell his side of the story after he was suspended for steroid use in August. He said he did not knowingly inject steroids into his body. No, no, no. Never. Ever. And oh how he wanted to make that clear to the public and the perjury-minded members of Congress. But now we know better. We know Palmeiro believes he tested positive because of a dose of B-12 vitamin supplied by teammate Miguel Tejada. At least that was his theory during his grievance hearing. It could have been the B-12. Yep. Or maybe someone stuck something in...

Sep 23, 2005 — NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rafael Palmeiro's season came to an abrupt end on Friday, when the Baltimore Orioles slugger was told by the American League team to stay at home for the remainder of the campaign. Palmeiro was scheduled to return from injury for the final homestand of the season, but was informed by the club on the eve of his 41st birthday that he would not be required for the balance of the regular schedule, ending on October 2. The Cuban-born player picked up a 10-day suspension earlier this season for a drugs violation and...

Van Halen Closing in on Orioles By Joal Ryan Fri Aug 12, 8:57 PM ET If Van Halen was a sports franchise, the argument could be made it'd be the dysfunctional, "Bronx Zoo" version of the New York Yankees. In which case the Baltimore Orioles might be in trouble. More often than not, the Yankees of that era beat the Orioles. A showdown between Van Halen, the hard-rock supergroup, and the Baltimore Orioles, the fourth-place baseball club, is on after a judge rejected the team's attempt to bench the band's lawsuit challenge, the Baltimore Sun reported Friday. The start of...

HUNT VALLEY, Md. -- Calling steroid use "cheating" and a "black cloud" hanging over Major League Baseball, former Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken said he was dismayed Rafael Palmeiro tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance and was suspended. Speaking Tuesday at a media event for next month's Constellation Energy Classic, the Champions Tour golf event for which he is honorary chairman, Ripken said he was "shocked, surprised, just like everyone else. I hope there's a reason or an explanation." Ripken, who played with Palmeiro from 1994 to 1998, said he was in the Bahamas when he learned his former teammate...

BALTIMORE - Rookie manager Lee Mazzilli knew all along he would be back in the dugout next season with the Baltimore Orioles. Having gained on-the-job experience in guiding the team to a third-place finish this year, he expects to accomplish even more in 2005. "I'm under contract for next season, and hopefully two more years as well," he said Sunday before the Orioles' finale against Boston. "We have a mission that we're set on doing, and we're on that track. We made a lot of progress this year." Mazzilli signed a two-year contract in November as the replacement for Mike...

The flag, which fluttered above left field at Memorial Stadium, was a study in simplicity - a surprisingly unobtrusive reminder of the day that Frank Robinson became the only player to hit a baseball completely out of the old ballpark. Maybe you have to be from Washington to agonize over what the meaning of "is" is, but nobody from Baltimore ever had to be reminded what the meaning of "Here" was on that orange banner. It represented the defining moment of the most talented player ever to put on an Orioles uniform. Robinson played only six years for the Orioles...

Orioles' chaplain goes to bat for God By George P. Matysek Jr. Staff correspondent Father John Bauer was looking for a cold drink on a hot day at the ballpark when God threw him a curveball. It happened when the Baltimore Orioles’ season ticket holder stepped up to a booth where designated drivers receive free soft drinks in exchange for not drinking alcohol at the game and giving a safe ride home to their friends. The concession stand workers discovered this particular O’s fan was a priest when they saw his driver’s license showing a portly Redemptorist cleric in a...

Before the game, the Orioles announced that Thursday's series finale has been moved up from 7:05 p.m. to 12:35 p.m. in hopes of getting the game in and allowing the Yankees to catch their flight to Tampa Bay afterward. The announcement came only 12 hours after a team spokesman insisted there was no chance it would be changed. No doubt the decision also had to do with the bottom line: If the game is played Thursday, the Orioles get to keep the gate, but if the game is postponed, it will be made up next weekend at Yankee Stadium, with...

<p>Granted, there is upheaval in the world and there are battles where a great deal is at stake -- life itself. All the more precious, then, the minor skirmishes on the home front that mean a great deal in a small way and remind us of how lucky we are to feel innocent hatreds, from summer to summer, at the ballpark.</p>