Question I am doing an interview for a school research project.I am in the Eighth grade at Canyon middle School in Castro Valley, California, and I hope you can answer the questions that I want to ask. I want to ask five if that is ok. Here they are.1) How long have you been a follower and die-hard orioles fan? 2) Who do you think is the all-time best orioles player and why? 3) which world series title was the most exciting and glorious and why? 4)Do you think the Orioles will win the series this year,why or why not? 5)And finally How many Orioles have been inducted into the Hall OF Fame? I hope you can answer these questions, my project is due on may 4 so can you please reply by then. THANK YOU
Answer Hello Cliff,
I have followed the Orioles ever since I can remember. The first season I can remember is 1966. My Dad was a huge Orioles fan and he used to listen to all the games on the radio. So I would listen to the games with him and I became a big fan in 1966 when the Orioles won their first World Series.
I think the all-time best Orioles player was Brooks Robinson. He played 23 years in the major leages and played every one of them with the Orioles. He was a die-hard Oriole and gave everything he had for the team. There were some better overall players than Brooks who played for the Orioles - namely Frank Robinson and Eddie Murray. But both of those players played for many other teams and I simply favor Brooks as the all-time best Orioles player because he spent his entire career with Baltimore and gave so much of himself to them.
The 1966 World Series was by far the most glorious for two reasons - it was the first World Series championship for Baltimore and because it was done in such a dramatic fashion. It came against Los Angeles and the Dodgers were heavily favored. They had two of the best pitchers of all-time in Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax. Yet it was the Oriole pitchers who stole the spotlight and did not allow a Dodger run after the third inning of the first game as the Orioles swept the Series in four straight games.
I don't think the Orioles will win the World Series this year for two reasons. They play in the toughest division in baseball and have to compete against the two teams with the highest payrolls in the game - the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. The Yankees pay their players over 200 million dollars but the Orioles can only pay their players 60 million dollars. That means the Yankees have much better players. The second reason is that the Orioles do not have a good pitching staff. They have started the season good but it will be very difficult for them to keep pitching this well for 162 games.
Finally, twelve former Orioles have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. They are Luis Aparicio, Roger Bresnahan, Reggie Jackson, Joe Kelley, George Kell, Joe McGinnity, Eddie Murray, Jim Palmer, Brian Roberts, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, and Hoyt Wilhelm.
I hope this helps you and good luck on your report.
