Thom Loverro

The 6-year-old boy was happy to see his father when he spotted him at Tyler Park in Falls Church, Va., during his Little League game. He was excited, and ran over to him. But like an excited 6-year-old boy, he tripped and fell. At the concession stand at Tyler Park, baseball mothers sold food and soda to make money for the league. The soda came in those thick Coke bottles that marked the era. Sometimes they broke, and it was the boy’s bad luck that a pile of that broken glass

The St. Louis Cardinals are playing in their third World Series in eight years. It's not a big stretch to say the Baltimore Orioles -- and their dysfunction -- deserve some of the credit. St. Louis has enjoyed its winning run under the direction of owner Bill DeWitt Jr., who purchased the Cardinals in 1995. That same winter, Tony La Russa left Oakland to take the managing job in St. Louis. If Orioles owner Peter Angelos had not been his heavy-handed self, though, DeWitt would

When Lee Mazzilli gets a call on his cell phone, the tone that rings is the theme from "The Godfather." Yesterday when his phone rang, it was very appropriate because he was getting whacked as manager of the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles fired the man to whom, nearly 20 months ago, they made an offer he couldn't refuse. He couldn't refuse it because, contrary to the spin the Orioles put on Mazzilli being a candidate in demand, there was probably nobody else who was goin

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Steve Bechler was feeling pretty good about himself last September. The Baltimore Orioles pitching prospect, after starting the season at Class AAA Rochester in poor condition, had worked himself into shape, and now he was in the bullpen at Camden Yards getting ready to pitch in a major league game. It was there, in the bullpen, where Bechler, like hundreds of pitchers before him, met Elrod Hendricks, the Orioles' bullpen coach for the past 25 year

BALTIMORE. - At about 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 6 - six years and one month to the day that No.8 rose to an elite status reserved only for icons of the game - Cal Ripken Jr. entered the home clubhouse at Camden Yards for the last time as a Baltimore Orioles player. All eyes were on the 6-foot-4, 220-pound giant of the game as he made his way through the clubhouse, his 7-year-old son, Ryan, trailing behind. People have been watching Ripken throughout the country during his f

ORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - There are physicals, and there are physicals. In high school, sports physicals - at least for boys - have generally consisted of turning your head and coughing. For NASA's Space Shuttle program, it requires being able to handle extreme G forces. Then there is the Baltimore Orioles' physical - if you can walk and breathe, you can play. That may be an exaggeration, but based on the observations of Albert Belle on his first day of workouts this spring

HAVANA - In the bottom of the eighth inning during yesterday's game against the Cuban national team, when Mike Timlin, a $16 million relief pitcher, gave up the tying run, Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos may have turned to Fidel Castro and said, "Give me your gun." Fortunately for Timlin, Harold Baines delivered the Orioles from embarrassment when he singled home the winning run in the top of the 11th in their 3-2 victory over Cuba at Latinoamericano Stadium. It's har

BALTIMORE - Get ready, Orioles fans. Smoke 'em if you got 'em. Norman Bates will be playing left field at Camden Yards next season. "This is a great day for us," Orioles general manager Frank Wren said yesterday before a packed news conference at the B&O Warehouse. "The Baltimore Orioles would like to announce the signing of Albert Belle to a five-year contract." Of course, he said this hours before they lost Rafael Palmeiro to the Texas Rangers. This now opens up the p

ATLANTA - It was like Dr. Frankenstein being allowed back in the laboratory. "Bodies!" screamed Dr. Frankenstein to Igor. "I need more bodies!" "Players!" screamed Dr. Davey Johnson, to his bench. "I need more players!" Like Dr. Frankenstein, Dr. Davey has created a monster that is devouring all of baseball. The Baltimore Orioles consumed the Atlanta Braves in three straight games, finshing them off yesterday with a 5-3 win that came with some experimental moves by Dr. Da

NEW YORK - Some of the repercussions from the Roberto Alomar spitting incident were the fears that Alomar would be targeted by umpires with bad calls. One unidentified umpire in some stories called it the "Billy Martin rule," meaning the negative treatment the late New York Yankees manager got from umpires because of the abuse he gave them. But yesterday in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series, it wasn't the "Billy Martin rule" that hurt Alomar and the Baltimore