It's good to see Brian back on the field. He is a true ballplayer. Any Oriole fan who boos him at the park or complains about him on talk radio will deny it 10 years from now. Roberts is one of the few current Orioles who would fit right in with the 1969-1971 Birds.

Alex Trebek - Tonight's Final Jeopardy category is "Surly Ex-Orioles" and the clue: "This former Bird, known for his cold, unfriendly encounters with Baltimore fans and media has recently been named a MASN broadcaster for the Orioles 2010 season."...Jill, you wagered $5,501, if you have the correct response it will boost your total to $24,001 and the win.

Jill - Who is Albert Belle?

Alex Trebek - Oh, I'm sorry, Jill. Good guess....I can see how you might think of him, but the response we were looking for is: Who is Eddie Murray? Two great sluggers, scary for both pitchers and reporters to face, but Eddie Murray is the right response.

Ken Francis,you're a complete idiot and know nothing about baseball or Eddie Murray.I took my cousin with me to Orioles games and we caught a basball during batting practice and waited outside for Eddie to sign it.My cousin is a little challenged and Eddie was as nice and gracious as anybody Oriole other than Cal who probably signed more autographs than anybody in baseball.One reporter in particular drove Eddie Murray out of Baltimore.So welcome back Eddie,good to see you.Let the haters like Ken go cheer for somebody else.

Ken-you're an idiot.I took my cousin to the baseball game at Memorial Stadium and I caught a ball in the left field bleachers that Eddie hit.So we went down to the back where the players came out and waited for Eddie to come out.My cousin is a little challenged and Eddie was as nice and gracious as could be and signed the ball.I don't know where the ball ended up but I'll never forget the smile on my cousins face.And any other time I saw Eddie he was polite but pleasant.One reporter in particular drove him out of Baltimore.Gee,I wonder who.Welcome back Eddie,real Oriole fans know what you did for this orginization.Let the haters hate,your numbers speak for themselves.

By the way Ken,that wasn't anonymous that was me,and I know I spelled orginization wrong but had previewed it and was correcting it when it posted as anonymous.No that was me.Have no idea why this blog acts the way it does when it comes to posting and technical issues.Thought Gutherie looked much sharper as the game went on,and it looks like Nolan Reimhold is really putting it together as is Adam Jones.Miggy hit some shots as well,but who were some of those guys batting in the 8th and 9th inning.Ouch, never heard of them.

By the way Ken,that wasn't anonymous that was me,and I know I spelled orginization wrong but had previewed it and was correcting it when it posted as anonymous.No that was me.Have no idea why this blog acts the way it does when it comes to posting and technical issues.Thought Gutherie looked much sharper as the game went on,and it looks like Nolan Reimhold is really putting it together as is Adam Jones.Miggy hit some shots as well,but who were some of those guys batting in the 8th and 9th inning.Ouch, never heard of them.

Burt from Essex - Whoa, just a minute, Burt. I'm no hater and am a longtime Orioles rooter. And I think I know a little bit about the game.

I'm not going anywhere, because they're my team and I want to see them finally play well again.

As for Eddie, I was always a big fan of his when he anchored the heart of O's lineup and will always appreciate what he meant to the team. I hope he adds something to broadcasts.

What I wrote above was clearly meant in jest, but there's a little truth behind it, as well. Unfortunately, some readers don't have a sense of humor.

I'm glad Eddie was gracious to you and your cousin, but the notion that he normally went out of his way for fans isn't consistent with his reputation. Maybe the reputation's wrong or maybe you happened to catch him when the stars were aligned just right...who knows?

I'm not saying Murray's a bad guy, just that people normally think of him as having a prickly personality, and not being particularly fan or media friendly.

I know back in the '80s I sent Eddie a sympathy card after he lost a family member and never received a think you card in response. I'm not saying he had to, of course, but it would have said something about him if I'd gotten one back.

As for your suggestion that Murray only had problems with one sports reporter isn't consistent with what those on the baseball beat have written. I Googled these terms--Eddie Murray surly-- and came up with 3290 pages, so lots of people have the same perception of him, Burt.

http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en#hl=en&q=eddie+murray+surly&aq=&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=bcdf8cbbf06dc4f

Like I said, I like Eddie despite the surly reputation and I sincerely hope that his stint in the broadcast booth will give fans the opportunity to see a side of him that seldom saw when he was a player, but the one you and your cousin were lucky enough to see!

I googled "Mama Cass ham sandwich" and got a lot of hits, too. Doesn't make of any of that legend true either.

But your "joke" -- the element lacking a sense of humor by the way -- only perpetuates the idea. No doubt Eddie was surly to some people in this town. Perhaps they deserved it. I can think of at least two who did.

My brother used to work for a fruit market near Westminister. His daughter was really down in the dumps over a sports injury that was going to make her miss the season.

Eddie Murray used to stop in as a regular, when he found out about her injury and that she was feeling quite blue, the next week he showed up and brought her one of his bats and gave her sister a set of his arm bands.

At the market he was never anything but a gentleman and was one of the friendlist guys you'd ever meet.

I've also held a partial season plan since back in the days of Memorial Stadium. In Eddie's last year in Baltimore I heard racial slurs hurled at the man that would make anyone surly.

The lazy Label was uncalled for when the guy was playing hurt. The O's at that time were dumb enough to put him on a cybex machine at EBW's insistance and went ahead and blew the leg out.

I'm glad Eddie has been able to put all that behind him and come back to Baltimore. If he can let old wounds heal, so should our posters,

Waspman - Yeah, you can do your Mama Cass schtick, but any reasonably knowledgable person is aware that that's an urban legend. No one need Google it.

That Eddie Murray was surly during his playing days, however, that's not really debatable and certainly not an urban legend. Was he always surly to everyone?

No, of course not, but he rubbed enough people (mainly baseball writers and not just in Baltimore) the wrong way, that there's clearly some truth behind the reputation. There are just too many who have written of their encounters for it to fall in the category of myth.

While having that kind of personality isn't something to cultivate in one's children, it's not entirely a bad thing. Often it's a defense mechanism that someone throws up around himself or herself.
(For all we know, part of Eddie's defensiveness might have started in school, if some of his classmates found out his middle name was Clarence and ribbed him unmercifully about it. Children are sensitive and taunts can hurt. An extreme example of this was an teenaged Irish girl who came to the States last fall and committed suicide in January because of how she was constantly being mistreated.)

I listen to classical music and Brahms is one of my favorite composers, but just because I like him doesn't mean I ignore that he was known in his day as rather surly. It's just the way he was. And I was always a Murray fan despite how he could sometimes come off.

There's no question that during his playing days Eddie Murray was usually a tough interview (and not just with one writer, either), but he felt he had a legitimate reason to be distrustful of interviewers. In 1979 columnist Dick Young did a piece about him that discussed his family in a way that Eddie felt was unfair. After that, Murray closed up considerably when he was around journalists. (Can we blame him?)

The Young incident is mentioned in the following linked article by MLB.com's Bruce Markusen, in which who make a point of saying how he had a very good interview with Murray the year the slugger went into the Hall of Fame. Here's the link so no one can fairly say I'm being one sided about this.

http://bronxbanter.baseballtoaster.com/archives/902470.html

As for what was clearly a joke--and a benign one, at that--that I made, not everyone has the same sense of humor. I'll just leave it at that, except to say it's ridiculous for anyone to take offense at it.
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MountainFan - Just as with Burt from Essex, I'm glad to hear you had a good experience with Eddie. And like I replied to him, I never said he was a bad guy.

Your mention of the racial slurs at the game is noteworthy, though as I mentioned above to Waspman, his surliness was around since at least 1979. The slurs could have worsened it of course.

What I find noteworthy is that you mentioned his friendliness away from the stadium, as though, perhaps, being in the intense glare of tens of thousands of people and then dealing with media types after the game may have been putting more stress on him than perhaps it would another player.

I think Ken's comments were funny and appropriate. I remember a time when Eddie was booed for not running out a routine ground ball out but the ball was misplayed and Eddie was still thrown out. Eddie complained in the papers the next day about the fans because he was playing hurt and had a bad hamstring. And the fans should realize the sacrifice he was making. Eddie may have been the best fielding first baseman the Orioles ever had and maybe the best hitter. But he is way down on the list of all-time favorite Orioles compared to his talent because as Ken described, he is "surly". Surly means arrogrant or sullen. Eddie didn't think he deserves to run out ground balls because he has pain in his legs? Do you think Frank Robinson ran out grounders when his legs hurt? Would Frank criticize the fans because they booed him for not running out a ground ball? I like Eddie Murray and he will make a great announcer in time. But I think Ken was right on and funny. GO O's!