My First Cards

Hall of Famer Eddie Murray playin' whack-a-mole, isn't something an opposing pitcher ever wanted to see, but as a kid, it was an instant classic.

Plus, you gotta love the "oooooooo, a watermelon!" expression on his face. From the angle he's swinging, I imagine he's about to smack a line drive... maybe a double?

He was right in the midst of his prime years when '82 rolled around, and that year, Eddie continued powering the Orioles offense with 32 round trippers, 110 RBI's, and averages of .316/.391/.549.

As if that wasn't enough, he won his first gold glove.

The only thing that kept him from being the American League MVP, was the otherworldly season Robin Yount was having up in Milwaukee.

Looking through Eddie's season, I found two games that instantly stand out as highlights— The opening day grand slam off Dennis Leonard, and his 3-for-4 two homer night (including another grand slam) against the Blue Jays on August 26th.

Exactly half the runs he drove in, were driven in due to home runs. So these weren't just a bunch of solo shots. In fact, 18 of his 32 HR's came with runners on base.

All season he turned it up a notch with men on base. Eddie batted .297/.355/.502 when the bases were empty, which isn't bad, but he hit a hot .336/.424/.598 when guys got on in front of him. He thrived on the situation, like a piranha smelling blood... upping his batting average 40 points, increasing his on-base by 70 points, and adding almost a full 100 points of slugging!

Eddie was a major reason the Orioles nearly overtook the Brewers for the division title. August 20th started with Baltimore barely over .500 at just 61-57, not to mention 7½ GB in 4th place. In their next 43 games though, they'd go 33-10, powered by Murray's .407 OBP and .631 SLG. It would bring them into a tie for the AL East lead, with only their final game of the season against the Brewers left to play. Winner takes the division.

That great stretch started off with a bang—a bang by Eddie Murray. A 475 foot 2-run 12th inning bang to be precise.

Six days later came that two homer game against Toronto that I mentioned earlier.

Then a few days after that, he slapped a pair of run scoring singles, to help beat the Rangers by 1 run.

Not so long after that, in Cleveland, he smacked a 2-out 13th inning homer to keep the birds from having a 3 game losing streak.

Four days after those dramatics, he doubles in the go-ahead run in the 6th, against the Yankees.

A couple weeks later, he slams a 3-run homer in the 1st inning of a very important matchup against the division leading Brewers.

Eddie was hot in the heat of the pennant race. Every few days he was either contributing a couple key hits for the win, or willing his Orioles to victory. The Orioles wouldn't have sniffed the playoffs if not for his heroics throughout the year, which, I'll remind you, started with a grand slam off Dennis Leonard.