Baines elected to Orioles Hall of Fame
Designated hitter Harold Baines has been elected to the Orioles Hall of Fame in voting by the media and the Oriole Advocates. Baines, who grew up on the Eastern Shore, batted .301 with 107 homers in parts of seven seasons in three separate tenures with the club. He is a six-time All-Star who ranks among the top 25 Orioles in slugging percentage (.502, 4th), batting average (.301, 5th), home runs (107, 17th) and RBI (378, 24th).
Former Orioles community relations director Julie Wagner received the Herb Armstrong Award honoring a 26-year career with the club.
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Comments
I loved Baines growing up, just a perfect DH hitter. Though I was always waiting for his knees to explode like Tom Berenger in Major League when he legged one out to 1st base.
Posted by: GMan | March 24, 2009 4:14 PM
Harold Baines certainly deserves to be an O's Hall of Famer. Congratulations to a great player and good guy.
Posted by: jargon | March 24, 2009 4:17 PM
Sorry, but Harold Baines, despite all his virtues as a person and as a hitter, does not belong in the Orioles Hall of Fame. His tenure simply wasn't long enough, his contributions not great enough. Voting for him only dilutes the potential greatness of the O's Hall.
Posted by: Dimitrios | March 24, 2009 4:44 PM
Bainesy was great in Oakland and Chicago. He was one of my favorite players on the early to mid '90's O's. By the time he got to Baltimore though, he was a one dimensional player. He was a great hitter, but it used to make MY knees hurt watching him run the bases. I'm not upset that he got elected, but I am a little surprised. Congrats to Harold!
Posted by: BIG Z | March 24, 2009 5:46 PM
I always enjoyed watching Baines no matter who he played for . I was always amazed how he could generate that much power with that lean body . I think the same of Pete .
Posted by: the artist formerly known as jack in hebron | March 24, 2009 6:26 PM
That is great for Harold! He always seemed like such a classy, humble guy. As a fellow native of the Eastern Shore, this brought a smile to my face.
Posted by: O's Fan in Montana | March 24, 2009 6:28 PM
The Herb Armstrong Award recipient is always highly deserving, but the main inductees since 2004 have been mostly loopy. Brady Anderson, Chris Hoiles, B.J. Surhoff, Gregg Olson & Harold Baines? John Lowenstein, Gary Roenicke, Benny Ayala, Dan Ford, Tito Landrum & the late Todd Cruz would've been much better selections.
Posted by: Attila the Hon | March 24, 2009 7:01 PM
Congratulations to a class act and one of my all time favorite Orioles.It's a shame knee injuries reduced him to predominately a DH because he was a very very good outfielder,with above average speed early on in his career.
Posted by: Burt from Essex | March 24, 2009 10:13 PM
Harold Baines. Way cool! There's some talk that a DH shouldn't be in the big HoF. That's crap! Long ago there was an idea that a relief pitcher shouldn't be eligible for career-end honors. So do away with the DH, and outlaw relief pitchers, too, if that's how you feel. Meanwhile, the DH is part of the game, and Harold is the man. Congratulations on a well-deserved honor!
Posted by: Danny in WV | March 25, 2009 12:00 AM
Bill Veeck saw the talent in the 12-year old Harold Baines playing little league ball on the Eastern Shore.
God Bless you, Bill.
Posted by: Barry | March 25, 2009 10:08 AM
Thats great! Baines was one of my favorite players back in the mid-to-late nineties.
Posted by: Delaware Dan | March 25, 2009 10:16 AM
It's sad that Harold isn't yet in the Baseball HoF. He could have hung around for 2 more years, stumbled into 134 more hits, and gotten to 3000 and punched an automatic entry. Instead, he had the dignity to leave at 42, and likely won't be rewarded for that. It's too bad.
Posted by: Matt Frese | March 25, 2009 10:56 AM
What about BJ Surhoff? Could you ever envision BJ in the O's HOF. I think his contributions were similar, though he doesn't have the local Chesapeake Bay roots.
Also, is Joe Orsulak in the O's HOF? He certainly deserves enshrinement.
Posted by: Wild casual | March 25, 2009 11:42 AM
Does Baines really belong in the O's HOF? He was a much better player with the White Sox before his wheels went bad. I remember him being a solid DH with the O's but not really Hall of Fame stuff. What is your opinion Pete?
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Pete's reply: I have no problem with Harold in the O's Hall of Fame. I think he deserves to be in Cooperstown more, however.
Posted by: Doug | March 25, 2009 11:53 AM
The O's Hall of Fame is/should be much more liberal than your typical national hall of fame. Chris Hoiles, Brady Anderson, B.J. Surhoff et al are all perfect O's Hall of Famers because their play and actions are tied to big team moments, stats, history. Love Baines in the Os Hall of Fame (is he in Chicago's btw?)
Posted by: GMan | March 25, 2009 4:30 PM
If the O's Hall of Fame is based on being nice guys and/or fan favorites, then Haorld Baines fits in with many of the other recent entries. If it is based on baseball, I regret to say his three stays in Baltimore came up short.
The only stat I need to back up my claim is games played -- which implies games not played. And as a DH, this is what is so telling ...
1993 - 118 games
1994 - 94
1995 - 127
1997 - 44
1998 - 104
1999 - 107
2000 - 72
Two-thirds of 162 games is 108, and Harold only reached that twice. I'll even grant him 1994 as the third since it was strike-shortened. That's just not enough. Sorry.
Posted by: waspman | March 26, 2009 9:04 AM
i agree Pete he should be in Cooperstown. Even late in his career as an Oriole he would have two to three week stretches where EVERY at bat was a line drive somewhere. Eventually he would get himself out by expanding the strike zone. But thats human nature when you're red hot. What an amazing talent.
Posted by: Anonymous | March 26, 2009 10:55 AM