Brady Anderson

More than a year after his stint as an Orioles executive ended, Mike Flanagan will return to the organization as a color analyst for the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network. Flanagan, who spent more than 30 years with the Orioles as a player, coach, front office executive and broadcaster, will work about half the 2010 schedule, sharing color duties with Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer. Gary Thorne and Jim Hunter will handle the play-by-play responsibilities. "I'm excited to be back, certainly, with MASN, and to be able to give perspective and a richer experience to the broadcast," said Flanagan, who replaces Buck Martinez, now a play-by-play man for the Toronto Blue Jays' broadcast team.

An op-ed by former Oriole Brady Anderson in defense of club owner Peter G. Angelos published Tuesday on baltimoresun.com generated a tremendous response, with about half of the readers glad that someone is finally sticking up for the O's owner and the other half saying Mr. Anderson has it all wrong. Here are some highlights from Mr. Anderson's article: "I find it laughable that someone who has achieved the type of success that enables one to purchase a Major League Baseball team can be casually dismissed by many as a 'meddler.

Though it doesn't happen often, Orioles and New York Yankees fans were on the same side yesterday. Rather than leave Camden Yards and immerse themselves in the gnarled post-game traffic, some stayed to watch a taped broadcast of Cal Ripken Jr.'s Hall of Fame induction speech on the ballpark's video board. For a few moments, a heated rivalry had been cooled by their mutual respect for baseball's "Iron Man." A portion of the opening ceremonies was shown during a 42-minute rain delay that pushed back the game's starting time, but Ripken's speech was saved for later, after the Yankees' 10-6 victory.

Sammy Sosa hit homer No. 600 Wednesday night, and I smiled. Cheering would be over the top. A scowl and hollow feeling, which comes just thinking about the number 756, would be too much. Hypocritical? A little. Maybe not as much as you think. Here's the shorthand: Barry Bonds: Evil. Mark McGwire: Coward. Rafael Palmeiro: Apparent perjurer. Hmmm, Sosa? A likable phony, sure. A cheater, demonstrably; remember the corked bat from 2003? A steroids user? Maybe. Probably. Don't know for sure.

Kyle Boller is an NFL quarterback, a son of a firefighter and a former companion of actress Tara Reid. Now the Raven can add another description to his name: owner. On Aug. 31, the American Basketball Association - a minor league - announced that Boller had joined an ownership group that formed the Hollywood Fame. Boller - a partner with, among others, singer Nick Lachey, Dancing with the Stars fan favorite and Rosedale native Stacy Keibler and former Oriole Brady Anderson - majored in American studies with an emphasis on education at California, but said he has always wanted to own a business.

Who knew Baltimore's Hippodrome Theatre could be home to one of the major sports events of the season? A sold-out crowd of sports buffs packed the Hippodrome for "Aspire: A Tribute to Life's Coaches," the annual fundraiser for the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation. Everywhere you looked, there were past and present sports heroes, eating, drinking and generally enjoying talking to their fans and each other. Former Baltimore Colt Stan White and former Orioles Joe Orsulak and Mike Bordick stood chatting in one corner.

The tributes and stories keep rolling in since news broke late Wednesday night of Elrod Hendricks' death. And don't expect them to stop anytime soon. Brady Anderson has his own unique tale, as you'd expect from him. Anderson said he hadn't really established much of a relationship with Elrod - John Eisenberg is right, no last name is needed in Baltimore - until his fifth year in the league, which was Anderson's first as an All-Star. Former Sun columnist Ken Rosenthal was interviewing Anderson, and he happened to pass along something that Hendricks said about the outfielder - something Anderson thought was insulting.

This is what Arthur Rhodes has always wanted. A defined role, an injury-free season and a place he enjoys playing all at once. Rhodes is a Cleveland Indian now, a lefty setup man having a resurgent season. He's years removed from his time in Baltimore, when the can't-miss prospect was a starter, long reliever and setup man. He was asked to do everything, and the results were as inconsistent as his ever-changing role. He's 35 now, a seasoned veteran. And, deep down, he wants to end his career where it started.

In perhaps the most dominating performance in the two years of the Cal Ripken World Series in Aberdeen, Claude Johnson of Pine Bluff, Ark., allowed no base runners through five innings - including 14 strikeouts - and hit two homers in a 7--0 win over St. Mary's County yesterday. Johnson struck out the first 14 batters he faced. He fielded a ground ball to the right side and ran to first for the putout and final out of the fifth inning. The right-hander also went 3-for-3 with four RBIs.