Jim Palmer

For two years, Chris Glass had one of the jobs he had always dreamed of, heading up production for Home Team Sports, and in his hometown to boot. Life was pretty terrific.Things aren't so bad today for Glass -- he serves as executive producer of Florida's Sunshine Network -- but the change of scenery wasn't exactly in his plan."I love it here. The two weeks I've been here have been great, but I was born and raised in Baltimore and I never expected I was going to leave," Glass said this week.

In the record booksOrioles who hold All-Star Game records:Most triples in a career, 3, Brooks Robinson (tied with Willie Mays)Most home runs allowed in a game, 3, Jim Palmer in 1977Most home runs allowed in an inning, 2, Milt Pappas in 1965 and Jim Palmer in 1977 (tied with 10 others)Most bases on balls in a career, 7, Jim PalmerMost games played by a third baseman, 18, Brooks RobinsonMost career putouts by a third baseman, 11, Brooks RobinsonMost putouts by a game by a third baseman, 4, Brooks Robinson in 1966 (tied with George Kell)

Orioles pitcher Mike Mussina has been very good during his six full seasons in the major leagues.Last night, he was almost perfect.Mussina retired the first 25 Cleveland Indians batters to flirt with the first perfect game and the sixth no-hitter in Orioles history, but Indians catcher Sandy Alomar broke it up with a solid base hit to left field with one out in the ninth inning, deflating the sellout crowd of 47,759 but not diminishing an impressive one-hit...

Whatever folks may think of his modus operandi, newly appointed Orioles television announcer Michael Reghi will agree with them that his style won't put people to sleep."

HTS unfairTo date, the only justification offered by HTS for the blindsiding of local hero John Lowenstein is his time removed from the game. Excuse us? Today's owners seem hellbent on destroying the traditions that are baseball, but the game has not really changed that radically since Dr. Longball last made a house call to 33rd Street.HTS has said that subscriber input will not affect its decision. Then again, Paul Tagliabue told us to build a museum because the NFL game would never again be played here.

He's about to break one of sport's most remarkable records, but that doesn't mean Cal Ripken is headed for the hall of fame of commercial endorsements.The venerable Orioles shortstop and demure milk pitchman is attracting new attention from advertisers -- such as Wheaties, on whose box he may appear this summer -- as he closes in on Lou Gehrig's consecutive-games record.But he's not likely to knock Michael Jordan into commercial retirement. Although Mr. Ripken has much of what companies want in a spokesman, from blue eyes to a wholesome image, his commercial appeal is limited by baseball's anemic popularity and his own lack of sizzle, according to experts.

For one participant, the first game of Cal Ripken's amazing endurance streak is secondary. The date was May 30, 1982, and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Orioles, 6-0, at Memorial Stadium."

When A. J. Van Slyke is at home, he helps run the household and gets to tell his younger brothers what to do. At school, A. J. stands out as Andy Van Slyke's son.In the Orioles' clubhouse, A. J. is just a ballboy."

The post-game celebration of the Orioles' 1983 World Series victory over the Philadelphia Phillies remains etched in traveling secretary Phil Itzoe's mind. The team ran out of champagne, and he had to find more.When the first five cases had been consumed, Itzoe rushed to the Stadium Club in Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium and bought two more, sent one to the Orioles' wives, who were in a waiting room, and the other to the locker room.After everybody piled into four buses for the ride to Memorial rTC Stadium, where rejoicing Orioles fans waited, the caravan had a police escort the entire way -- first Philadelphia's finest, then New Jersey's, Delaware's, Maryland's and finally Baltimore's.

The day starts like any other day. Then you turn on the 6 o'clock news and the anchors are making happy talk and one chirps: "Hey, Jim Palmer just turned 50!" which causes you to do this Jackie Gleason double take and shout: "WHAT?!"Because there is no way Jim Palmer is 50 years old. No way in the world. Wasn't it just a few years ago that he was blowing fastballs past George Brett and showing off his bod on those Jockey underwear posters, the ones every college co-ed with raging hormones had taped to the wall of her dorm room?

Orioles top draft choice Matt Hobgood looked like a young businessman when he arrived Saturday at Camden Yards to sign his first professional contract. He was wearing a conservative black suit, much in contrast to the "Cali look" that got him a playful earful from Adam Jones and Aubrey Huff the day before. And the ribbing wasn't quite over, since it was a little warm for black when he came out to watch batting practice before the late-afternoon signing ceremony and news conference in the auxiliary clubhouse.

Matt Wieters is hardly the first Orioles rookie to set foot on the field amid great expectations. Wieters, the heralded 23-year-old catcher due to make his major league debut tonight at Camden Yards, joins a host of Orioles wunderkinder, past and present, who began their careers with the baseball world watching. BROOKS ROBINSON (Sept. 17, 1955): The good news? He got two hits and an RBI in his first game and fielded third base flawlessly. The bad news? The Sun referred to him the next day as "Bobby" Robinson, and he went hitless the rest of the year.

The look was a new one to Nick Markakis, Adam Jones and Jeremy Guthrie, a trio Orioles fans hope will eventually make up the nucleus of a championship-caliber club. But as Boog Powell, the burly slugger who was an Oriole from 1961 to 1974, pulled on the team's new road batting practice uniform with "Baltimore" stretched across the front, he couldn't help but feel that this is how the jerseys should have looked all along. "It's a really special moment," Powell told the estimated crowd of 2,500 yesterday at an Orioles fan rally at The Gallery at Harborplace.

It's hard to pinpoint one pivotal moment in the Orioles' 1983 postseason run, because so many players contributed. But in conversations with members of the team, one name came up over and over. Mike Boddicker, they said, put them over the top. Boddicker had already filled in brilliantly for Jim Palmer and Mike Flanagan by the time the Orioles reached their American League Championship Series showdown with the Chicago White Sox. But he had never faced a situation as pressurized as the one that greeted him in Game 2. In the opener of that best-of-five series, La Marr Hoyt shut down the Orioles for a 2-1 victory over Scott McGregor.

Hall of Famer and former Orioles pitcher Jim Palmer wanted something a bit different when he was looking for new digs in the city a couple of years ago. "It's a unique apartment. It's worked well for me," Palmer said of his two-level condo in the Canal Street Malt House at the edge of Little Italy. It put him a short walk from many of his favorite restaurants and near the O's, for whom he's been a color analyst. "It's very tranquil." The loft-style condo in the reborn structure - it was built in 1866 to store malt for the city's growing brewing industry - has a modified industrial look with exposed ductwork and huge windows.

Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco didn't light up the scoreboard Sunday, but with no interceptions and a wonderfully improvised touchdown scamper, the rookie sent Baltimoreans home chanting his name. But a look back at Baltimore sports history suggests that fans shouldn't get too high or low based on Flacco's solid debut against the Cincinnati Bengals. Plenty of all-time greats, from John Unitas to Jim Palmer (two innings of relief duty in a 12-9 loss) to Eddie Murray (a single in a loss to the Texas Rangers)

Athletics@Orioles 7 p.m. [MASN2] Once upon a time, this series would be a playoff preview - 1971, 1973, 1974. Vida Blue vs. Jim Palmer. Catfish Hunter vs. Mike Cuellar. Ken Holtzman vs. Dave McNally. The funny uniforms and mustaches didn't mean those Oakland guys couldn't play ball. And now we have two teams sunk in double-digit deficits below .500. Maybe a mustache or two would help?

POLL RESULTS Last week, we asked you to pick from among a list of former Orioles the one pitcher you would like to see come out of retirement and pitch for the team. Overwhelmingly, you want Jim Palmer to put away his microphone and get back on the mound. The results: Jim Palmer, 59.8 percent (798 votes) Mike Flanagan, 10.8 (131) Mike Boddicker, 9.4 (115) Dennis Martinez, 9.1 (111) Scott McGregor, 5.7 (69) Steve Stone, 5.2 (63) Poll position If the Orioles are going to replace Sam Perlozzo, who would you like to see take over as manager?

Poll results Last week, we asked you to pick a cause for the Orioles' recent struggles. You decided the fault mainly resides in the team's bats. The results: Clutch-hitting difficulties, 39.6 percent (639 votes) The starters' inability to pitch deep, 24.7 (398) Mental mistakes and lack of intensity, 19.0 (307) Sam Perlozzo's managerial decisions, 12.0 (193) A brutal schedule, 4.8 (77) Poll position Who would you like to see come out of retirement to pitch for the Orioles? Mike Boddicker Mike Flanagan Dennis Martinez Scott McGregor Jim Palmer Steve Stone Vote at baltsun.

It is never good to draw sweeping conclusions from limited evidence, but it's hard not to get excited about the combined performance of the young guns in the Orioles' rotation. Daniel Cabrera's strong 7 2/3 innings in yesterday's home opener against the Detroit Tigers and determined performances by Adam Loewen and Erik Bedard over the weekend in New York have rescued the Orioles from a dismal start and served notice that the three might be coming of age at a pivotal juncture in the star-crossed recent history of the franchise.