The reference in Sunday's column to Tippy Martinez's feat 25 years ago (Aug. 24) has provoked an outpouring of comments. (I'm just posting a sample received by e-mail; the rest of you can post to this blog.) Seems like every Orioles fan was there that night, just as Tippy has said over the years. It's the thing for which he is best remembered. (I always felt his short-lived line of salsa was pretty good, too.)  Thanks to everyone who wrote in about this. More memories welcome.

And here's a question: What are the odds such a thing will ever be duplicated?

From Steve Carlyle: "I was wondering if you also knew that because of all of Altobelli’s defensive moves, that the 2nd baseman for that inning was another fan favorite (and legendary character) John Lowenstein. I was at the game with my wife and another couple, (we sat in the upper deck on the 3rd base side) and when the final out was made we started high-fiving everybody around us, I got too exuberant and high-fived my friend’s wife’s forehead…hard!  Oops! Thankfully the excitement of the situation overwhelmed her pain. Thanks for bringing that memory up again."

From Bill Ratherbe (he'd rather be anonymous for some reason): "It's even better... Because of the manager's moves, Gary Roenicke and/or John Lowenstein was (or were) playing at 2nd base and/or 3rd base. The story goes, Tippy kept throwing over to 1st basebecause Eddie Murray was the only guy he recognized as being where he belonged!"

From Rob Beaty: "Wow, did you bring back memories. I was at that game. A friendwho worked for Martin's gave me his tickets, box seats right behind the Orioles dugout. You could smell the aftershave lotion and here them talking. We were 3 rows up.  Man, I got chills thinking about it. Really that was one of the most boring games I'd ever been to but the seats were so good we decided to tough it out. Real Orioles Magic. If my memory serves me right, hardly anyone was playing their regular position. I remember that stadium went wild.  After the game Lenn Sakata was interviewed and told reporters he had to hit that home run 'cause there was no way he was going to catch another inning.  Thanks for the flashback."

Glenn Roche: "Thanks for the story about what I've always considered to be the best baseball game I ever witnessed, the one I affectionately call "Tippy's Pickoff" Game.  Can't believe it's been 25 years - thanks for confirming how old I'm getting!  The one exception I have to take with your account is the 'crowd roaring' stuff.  When the Jays pushed one across against Tim "Bigfoot" Stoddard before an out was recorded in the top of the tenth, what was left of a sparse crowd headed for their cars.  I'll bet there wasn't 1,000 of us diehards left to see Tippy's miracle and, a bit later, Lenny hook a fly around the left field pole for the win (we did our best to roar, I'll give you that)."

Genevieve: "Thank you, thank you for remembering that game in '83.  I had almost forgotten that night.  I was lying in bed listening to the game while my husband tried to sleep.  Not much sleep for him that night; and the screams were not for him either.  They were for Len  making plays I'll never forget.  Baseball will  often break our hearts, but can give us great memories, too!"

Dr. and Mrs. Donald Hobart (Janice): "My husband Don and I were there with our daughters and the excitement was awesome.  My husband kept exclaiming, “This is history!”  I saved our ticket stubs and the original envelope.  We are season ticket holders and so we will call to find out if indeed they will honor Tippy.  Several years ago, when he had the food stand at the park, I told him of my treasured tickets.  At the time he mentioned that perhaps at an auction they might bring in some donation to a worthy cause.  As with many should do things, I did not follow up. We really enjoyed the column and had forgotten the rest of the story as related by Turkey Joe Trabert.  What a great job you have to remind us of special moments in time."

Rich Schurman: "It was great to read Sunday's column about Tippy Martinez' 3 pickoffs. I remember it well (OK - fairly well). I was there and witnessed the whole thing. Of course, about 89,000 people claim that they were there! There was actually more weird stuff about that game than you mentioned. I'm surprised that Turkey Joe didn't mention some of the other stuff. By the way, my brother and I were regulars at his bar for a few years. His bartender, Vince, got me started with my beer can collection. Once a week they would have a "mystery beer" that no one had heard of, and Vince would open the can from the bottom so that the customers could add the can to their collection. . . .   I don't think Rhino had ever played third before that night, and every time a batter would come to the plate he would look into the O's dugout, which was at that time on the 3rd base side, for direction on where to play the batter. It was hilarious just watching him trying to figure out where they wanted him to play!"

Mark Wolkow: "I happened to be in attendance at that game, as a former partial season ticket holder at the time... and it was truly a magical experience. As to what video footage remains, I couldn't say.  But you may recall that in 1983, WBAL radio replayed certain highlights of interesting games a day or two (or perhaps its was a week or two) after the game was complete.  I was able to tape the radio rebroadcast of the final two innings, and I drag it out every couple of years to listen and reminisce. I still get chills when I hear the Chuck Thompson describing the action from that game.  The whole family - including my college-aged daughters - are now familiar with Tippy's feat."