The 1993 baseball All-Star Game was held in Baltimore. I didn’t go to the game but I did attend the Home Run Derby the day before. The derby was not as big a deal then as it is now. It was held in the day time.

The things I remember:

• Juan Gonzalez hit an incredible home run to the third deck in left field. With hindsight, he was probably juiced.
• Ken Griffey, Jr. hit the warehouse on the fly. This has never been done in a game.
• Cecil Fielder was accompanied by one of his kids. He looked like a sawed-off version of Fielder. He was very stout. I assume this was Prince Fielder.

I have two foul balls hit by Orioles players in Home Run Derbies. I bought them online.

I saw the 1988 USA Olympic baseball team play against the Taiwan national team in Hagerstown. Maryland’s minor league baseball stadium on July 16, 1988. The main thing I remember was that it was 102 degrees. I don’t remember anything about the game. The Taiwan team huddled before the game like a football huddle.

The team won the gold medal and full of future major league players such as Jim Abbott, Ben McDonald., Tino Martinez, Andy Benes, Charles Nagy and Ed Sprague.

The photo is of a collage I assembled with pins, patches, a poster with facsimile autographs and Gateway envelope with real autographs.

It also has my ticket, a flag we were given and a roster sheet I collected autographs on. I remember Ed Sprague spent a lot of time signing autographs.

The Orioles lost to the Blue Jays 10-7 last night. It was probably their worst loss of the year. They led 7-3 late in the game but the bullpen gave up six runs in the 9th inning. The Orioles’ first six hits were home runs. This is only the second time in MLB since expansion this had ever happened. The Orioles bullpen is getting worn out because the starting pitching is so bad (though it was good yesterday).

If you think this is bad, I remember a game where the Orioles hit two grand slams and lost:

Two Grand Slams in an Inning – Almost Always A Win – Baseball Roundtable

The box score

Maikel Franco became the sixth player to hit a home run to the second deck in left field in the Orioles stadium which opened in 1992. Franco’s monster shot was hit on Tuesday.

The others were hit by Manny Machado (shown below) , Mark Reynolds, Edwin Encarnacion, Rex Hudler, and Pete Alonso

Juan Gonzalez hit one to the third deck in the 1993 Home Run Derby. I was there and it was amazing.

Phantom World Series tickets are tickets that are printed in advance for teams that could make the World Series but ultimately don’t. I have two sets of postseason tickets I bought on eBay.

In 1980, the Orioles won 100 games but finished three games behind the Yankees in the AL East. The Orioles started 28-30 and then went 72-32.

In 1982, the Orioles finished one game behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the AL East when they lost on the last day of the season. The Orioles still went 94-68 and won the World Series in 1983.

Young people may not know about this one but it happened. It would be a reality TV show today.

Ex-Yankee Fritz Peterson has no regrets 40 years after wife swap