Calling the Pen
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1September 8, 2022 at 12:00 pmCalling the Pen: Traitor to the Orioles — for a day
I’ve become the Benedict Arnold of Baltimore baseball. For 65 years now, I’ve been a Birds fan. I cried when I signed...
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357May 18, 2022 at 12:00 pmCalling the Pen: Happy Birthday, Brooks!
It’s embarrassing to admit, but I didn’t fully appreciate Brooks Robinson until a few months before everyone else did. That’s when the...
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449April 19, 2022 at 4:00 pmCalling the Pen: Time for Oriole broadcasters to take their show on the road
Back in the 1970s, when I was a sportswriter for The News American, our travel budget took a hit, and I was...
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299April 8, 2022 at 10:00 amCalling the Pen: The future isn’t now for the Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles begin the 2022 season today, and it’s difficult to feel excited. That’s because we live in the present, and...
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663February 14, 2022 at 7:00 amCalling the Pen: Memories of growing up with the Orioles’ No. 1 fan
Anita Karpovich paced around the house, screamed at the television, and eventually fell into a heap of despair after the Orioles lost...
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November 26, 2021 at 7:00 am
Calling the Pen: A first-string Orioles fan after all
On a recent drive, my husband turned on the baseball game, and it sent me back in time: I am 6 years old and drifting off to sleep to the sound of an Orioles game. I am riding home from a cousin’s birthday party in our Volvo station wagon. In my hand,...
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October 16, 2021 at 7:00 am
Calling the Pen: A Brief History of Black Baseball in Baltimore
The 2020 season marked the 100-year anniversary of when Rube Foster, the “Father of Black Baseball,” formed the Negro National League in 1920. To honor the occasion, Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred made the following statement last December: “All of us who love baseball have long known that the Negro Leagues...
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October 3, 2021 at 11:03 am
Calling the Pen: It’s wild-card Sunday, and the Orioles are in the middle of it
Who would have guessed that the Baltimore Orioles would play a meaningful game on the last day of the season … the 52-109 Orioles. But Baltimore could have an effect on the outcome of an American League Wild-Card race that is coming down to the wire. In a series of games starting...
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September 16, 2021 at 12:00 pm
Calling the Pen: The birth of a team
I was looking up famous people born on September 15th and Gaylord Perry’s name surfaced. He was a Hall of Fame pitcher who won 314 games but was known more for putting an illegal substance on the baseball long before gloves and hats routinely went through security checks. I was curious about...
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September 5, 2021 at 7:00 am
Calling the Pen: When 70 is more than just a number
When I think of 70, I think about the 1970 World Series that the Orioles won in five games over the Cincinnati Reds. Five games in which third baseman Brooks Robinson played such remarkable defense that it caused hitters such as Johnny Bench to marvel at his wizardry and to say after...