#128 -- Eddie Watt

Eddie Watt

In the stretch when the Orioles were at the top of the American League from 1969-1971, there was no better reliever in baseball than Eddie Watt, but nobody's ever heard of him. That's partly because the Orioles threw so many complete games they really didn't need a reliever. They'd carry a 9 man pitching staff and 1 of those guys would usually pitch less than once a week. Contrast that with today's game where some managers are considering carrying 13 pitchers.

In that stretch of 1969-1971, Eddie still appeared only 48 games and 55 innings on average. The Oriole bullpen also had Dick Hall, Dave Leonhard and Pete Richert all pitching effectively during that period. I mentioned the Orioles threw a lot of complete games. From 1969-71 their complete game totals were 50, 64 and 71, well over 1/3 of the total games played.

Eddie pitched 8 years for the Orioles and they went to the World Series 4 of them. He was a rookie on the 1966 championship team and was a vital cog on the 1970 championship team as well as the 1969 and 1971 AL Championship teams. After the 1973 season he was sold to Philadelphia. The O's seemed to be going through a change and there were a lot of players in a rich minor league system that were coming up. Eddie slipped a little more with the Phillies. They released him and after a few games with the Cubs in 1975 his career was over.

Eddie wasn't like today's closers. He didn't come in to great fanfare and entry music. He was more quiet and unassuming. He grew up in Iowa on a farm and never saw a major league baseball game until he saved one for the Orioles on April 12, 1966. One week later he pitched in his second game and got his first win. One week later he notched his first major league win.

His stats today don't look like they'd be good enough to make an all-star team, but Eddie was one of the best in his time.

1972 Feature

On July 5, 1972 Nolan Ryan was at it again. He threw 9 shutout innings at the Brewers and it wouldn't have been enough if Winston Llenas, pinch-hitting for Ryan, hadn't knocked in the winning run with a single in the bottom of the 9th off Earl Stephenson. Stephenson had been matching him zero for zero, but gave up the winning hit. Marty Pattin of the Red Sox and Dave McNally of the Orioles also had 5-hit shutouts.

#100 -- Frank Robinson

Frank Robinson

When we get to the World Series subset (sometime in 2014 at the pace I'm going), I'll be able to share how Frank Robinson fits into my oldest baseball memory. As it is, he's one of the most underrated players in baseball history. When his name is mentioned now, it's more going to be associated with being the first black manager, taking over as manager of the 1988 Orioles and leading them to losses 9-20 to begin the season or doing a surprisingly good job with the Expos/Nationals.

Frank is the most underrated player of the last 50 years. He's a biscuit short of 3000 hits, has 586 lifetime homers (retired #4 on the all-time list), won a Rookie of the Year, 2 MVPs and a Triple Crown. Yet in a discussion of the greatest players, greatest right fielders, or even greatest Orioles, he seems to be forgotten.

Frank was a fierce competitor, whether as a player or a manager. I don't think you really wanted to get in his way. I heard stories about his time as a manager when he'd catch somebody jaking it. His intensity as a player was so fierce that Gene Mauch supposedly started fining any Phillie pitchers that brushed him back because his response would be to pound the ball mercilessly.

We all know the Reds traded him to the Orioles after the 1965 season. Red Owner/GM Bill DeWitt (father of Cardinal owner Bill DeWitt, Jr.) defended the trade because Robinson was an "old 30." Robinson had the greatest season of his career in 1966 winning the Triple Crown, his 2nd MVP and a World Series ring for the Orioles. Although DeWitt was gone from Cincinnati, I'm sure Frank got some satisfaction from helping the Orioles to a sweep in the 1970 World Series.

Frank had quite a career. He started as a high school teammate of Bill Russell (the Celtic, not the Dodger) and is still involved in the Commissioner's office. The Reds honored him as the Grand Marshall of their Opening Day parade in 2009 and he's still revered in both Cincinnati and Baltimore. However, no matter what he ever does, he's always going to be known for being baseball's first black manager. How did he do with that? He led the Indians to a winning record in his 2nd year (one of only 2 winning records in non-strike years between 1969 and 1985). He eased himself out of the lineup in 1975 in favor of Rico Carty at DH, but his first at-bat for Manager Robinson allowed Frank to lead by example. He homered off Doc Medich.

Frank Robinson deserves to be remembered not only as a black manager, but simply as a great baseball player.

#70 -- Mike Cuellar

Mike Cuellar

Mike grew up in Cuba before Fidel Castro came to power. He was a ballplayer. My recollection of him is how much fun he had playing ball. The story is that he was discovered while pitching for a Cuban army team. The Reds picked him up and had him playing in local Havana. He came up for a couple of games and was hit hard. He went back to the minors and roamed around several years. He had a little bit of a chance with the Cards in 1964, but they traded him to the Astros in 1965.

He made a team's rotation for the first time in 1966 at the age of 29. However after he took a step back in 1968 (at age 31) the Astros cut their losses and sent him to Baltimore for Curt Blefary. Orioles really got the better of that deal. Mike really kicked it up a notch and became one of the elite pitchers in the American League. He won a Cy Young in 1969 with 23 wins (and wasn't an All-Star). From 1969 through 1974, he won at least 18 games/year.

Mike was so-so in the postseason. He had a lot of opportunities, because the O's were always there. In 12 postseason starts, he was only 4-4, but his ERA was only 2.85. Those numbers would deify anyone now.

1975 was the start of Mike's decline. He really fell in 1976 and only got into a few games in 1977. Too bad that he didn't start having success until later on. He'd have had quite a career if he wasn't such a late bloomer. That, however, may be more a matter that he was a screwball pitcher and he it took a while for him to perfect it. At age 42, he tried to come back, but could only make it in the Mexican League, but he had a winning record at 7-6. Remember, in the late 70's we really didn't see anybody pitching in their 40's (except knuckleballers like Hoyt Wilhelm).

Mike has been a pitching coach in the Independent leagues lately. He's been in Orioles spring training this year, but as a special instructor and not as a prospect. He's only 71.

#26 -- Andy Etchebarren

Andy Etchebarren

Andy had the bushiest eyebrows in the league. Leonid Brezhnev and a Jonas Brother (OK, I'm not hip enough to know which one) say he should wax those things. I’d always known him as a backup for the Orioles and was astonished to see he made 2 All-star teams and even garnered MVP votes in 1966, when he hit an astonishing .221 with 11 homers. Kevin must have been in charge of the MVP voting (don’t know how you can do that pre-natal….good job, Kevin!) because Frank Robinson was the unanimous MVP, Brooks Robinson was second followed by Boog Powell; Luis Aparicio was 9th, Stu Miller 11th, and Andy finished 17th. I don't have any problem with the Robinsons and John Wesley Powell, but I probably wouldn’t have voted Etchebarren as even the 17th most valuable Oriole.

He may not have been a relief pitcher, but Andy posted the most important save of 1966 for the Orioles. At a private party on August 22, 1966, Frank Robinson was struggling underwater until Andy dove in and saved him. Can’t you see Andy as a guest celebrity lifeguard on Baywatch, running through the sand with the other lifeguards, bushy eyebrows flapping in the breeze along with Pam Anderson’s…..wait, this is a baseball site. Maybe he got those MVP votes for making sure Frank Robby was around for a full season.

Andy was also the last man to bat against Sandy Koufax. If I were him, I'd be saying that facing me convinced Sandy to take early retirement. The truth, however, was that Andy hit into a double play in the 6th inning of Game 2 of the 1966 Series. After his playing career, Andy coached in the minors for a long time (dismissed by the Ripkens from managing Aberdeen at the end of 2007) and spent 2008 coaching in the independent Atlantic League.