History

Leading up to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Citi Field in New York this summer, the New York Daily News is running a weekly poll to pick the best player at each position. The position this week is third baseman . So, Baltimore baseball fans, who is the greatest third baseman in major league history? As of this post, Orioles legend Brooks Robinson trails the Philadelphia Phillies' Mike Schmidt in the Daily News poll, and the Kansas City Royals' George Brett is a distant third.

Much of the region was expected to find frost on their windshields this morning, but based on history, it could be for one of the last times until fall. Baltimore's last frost comes by this week nine out of 10 years, according to the Maryland Department of Agriculture - typically around April 11 . The milestone comes later the further north you get, though - April 30 in Bel Air and May 4 in Westminster. Frosts and freezes have been of particular concern to gardeners and farmers this year because March's warmth coaxed plants into growing much earlier than normal, leaving them vulnerable to damage.

When Mike Kempa woke up Thursday morning, he was just excited about getting a free T-shirt and seeing his favorite big league team. But it would be no ordinary Orioles outing. Before the 20-year-old Kempa made the nearly three-hour trek with his parents from Ocean City to Camden Yards, he learned the news of the day: The Orioles had called up Manny Machado, Baseball America's 9 th -ranked prospect, from Double-A Bowie. The Kempas were among the announced 21,226 who showed up for the rare opportunity to watch the major league debut of a potential franchise cornerstone.

WWE has a long track record of revising its own history. Former enemies all of a sudden are best friends, a certain former world champion has been erased completely from history, and the list continues. But Monday night on Raw, general manager John Laurinaitis took it upon himself to not only rewrite WWE history, but also that of All Japan Pro Wrestling, where Laurinaitis competed as Johnny Ace from 1990 to 2000. Laurinaitis claimed to be the greatest star in the history of Japan, comparing his impact on the industry to the careers of Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin and The Rock rolled into one. In all honesty, I think Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa is even a bigger star in Japan than Laurinaitis was during his heyday.John Laurinaitis rewrites wrestling history to build feud with John Cena on WWE's Monday Night Raw Believing his own hype, Laurinaitis said it's those skills that will enable him to beat John Cena at Over the Limit later this month.

In 59 seasons in Baltimore, the Orioles have started with 19 wins or more in their first 28 games only six times -- 1969, 1970, 1992, 1997, 2005 and, now, 2012. The Orioles ran their current winning streak to five games following Sunday's 17-inning victory over the Boston Red Sox. Now, they face a tough nine-game homestand with the two-time defending American League champion Texas Rangers, Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees coming to Camden Yards. Twice in history -- in back-to-back years in 1969 and 1970, in fact -- the Orioles were 20-8 through 28 games.

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When the Orioles win their next game, they will have captured a winning season for the first time since 1997. And that will be something, considering the dire predictions (including by me) for this club in March. With Thursday's victory, their 81st of the season, the Orioles guaranteed they would not having a losing campaign, even if they drop the rest of their games this season. If you missed it, here is a list of baseball's 10 longest consecutive losing seasons. These Orioles would have jumped into a third-place tie in modern history if they had been below .500 in 2012.

Howard County, which began July 4, 1851, as a western outpost of neighboring Anne Arundel County, is celebrating its 150th anniversary. The Howard County edition of The Sun will publish a column on county history and the people who were part of it Tuesdays during the school year. This week's column, on Page 3B, is the first of two excerpts from an oral history interview with William John Amberman, 91, of Ellicott City.

Horse racing history comes alive in Havre de Grace for the fifth annual Graw Days Festival celebration with live music, delicious food, family-friendly games, hand-crafted items, and of course, horses from the Susquehanna State Park Mounted Patrol. “This festival combines history with entertainment. La Banque de Fleuve will have historical items like the original paintings of famous horses, racing forms from period horse racing and silks from famous riders,” says co-chair of the Graw Days Festival, Irmgarde Brown.