Orioles Organization

As the 1976 baseball season began, it was not entirely apparent where the Orioles were headed as a franchise. Few remnants remained from their 1969-1971 juggernaut. Frank Robinson, Boog Powell and Dave McNally had departed. Mike Cuellar no longer had his best stuff. Brooks Robinson was on his last legs. Only Jim Palmer still chugged along. The Orioles had reloaded enough to remain a winner, but they stood a tier below the New York Yankees and Oakland Athletics - a threat for sure but no longer the odds-on favorite.

The Orioles today announced that they have hired five people to complete their minor league coaching staffs for the 2006 season. Blaine Beatty was hired as the pitching coach for Single-A Frederick. He spent the past two seasons as a pitching coach in the New York Mets organization after serving five years as pitching coach in the Pittsburgh system. Originally drafted by the Orioles in 1986, Beatty appeared in 7 games for the Mets over parts of three seasons, 1989-1991. Alex Arias was named as field coach for the Keys.

It is the area directly behind the home team's on-deck circle at Camden Yards, in between the Orioles' dugout and the netting that protects well-seated fans from foul balls. Frequent visitors of the ballpark know the area simply as "Ellie's Place." Since the ballpark on West Camden Street opened, it is where the Orioles' beloved bullpen coach and the organization's biggest ambassador held court before games on so many days and so many nights. He tirelessly posed for pictures, signed autographs, delivered hugs and handshakes and shared stories from a baseball career that spanned 45 years, all but nine in an Orioles uniform.

STILL AGILE and sure-handed at 53, Jesus "Pepe" Frias, a major-league infielder for nine years, is having another errorless day. The Dominican Republic native and current resident is taking hard-hit grounders at the Friendship Playground ball field in Washington, D.C., where 200 youngsters, ages 5 to 12, are in summer camp. From the baselines, they watch every move of the nimble Frias, whose weeklong stint at the camp is sponsored by Elementary Baseball, a Washington nonprofit devoted to inner-city literacy and sports.

Charging Ravens' Lewis with murder was a crime, too Sun columnist John Eisenberg is a talented writer whom I admire very much. However, his take on the aftermath of the Ray Lewis trial leaves a lot to be desired. Eisenberg states that Lewis has been "indelibly labeled as a bad guy," and that at this point, "it's hard to imagine Lewis' reputation making a comeback." Lewis has done exactly what he needed to do to rehabilitate his good name. He could have easily allowed this case to go to the jury and no doubt would have been acquitted of all charges.

In a move that would have shocked both parties one month ago, the Orioles yesterday announced the hiring of Mike Hargrove as the 14th manager in franchise history.Hargrove, hired less than three weeks after being fired by the Cleveland Indians, agreed to a three-year, $3 million contract with an option for 2003, and will retain the majority of predecessor Ray Miller's coaching staff. Hargrove becomes the first $1 million manager in franchise history.Selected over incumbent third base coach Sam Perlozzo and Boston bench coach Grady Little, Hargrove's first act was to notify the Orioles coaches of their fate.

One day, maybe in a year, maybe two, Jimmy Escalante should step off a team bus outside the players' gate at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium in Salisbury. His catching gear stowed in a well-worn travel bag, he and a clutch of soon-to-be Delmarva Shorebirds would be home for the summer.But Escalante would also be home for real. Back on a peninsula he and his family made theirs nearly a decade ago. Back in a ballpark that was his workplace before he was ever a professional baseball player."It would be just an unbelievable thing, like coming home," he said.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Rafael Palmeiro loves Texas. He built a home here. He tried to build a career here. He wanted to stay here, but signed with the Orioles after the Rangers ended contract negotiations with him in 1993 by signing veteran first baseman Will Clark to take his place.Palmeiro has had the last laugh, of course. He has thrived in Baltimore while Clark has struggled to stay healthy in Arlington. If you could force Rangers president Tom Schieffer to submit to a polygraph test, he would have to admit that it was one of the worst moves the club ever made.

New Orioles manager Davey Johnson apparently will have final say on the makeup of next year's coaching staff, but he was not ready yesterday to say whom he may bring in from outside the organization and who may be carried over from last season.The staff almost certainly will be overhauled, but Johnson would only say that he hopes to stock it with coaches who have local roots or a history with the Orioles organization.That bodes well for bullpen coach Elrod Hendricks, who is likely to stay, and could even mean a reprieve for pitching coach Mike Flanagan, who got little chance to prove himself under hands-on manager Phil Regan.

SARASOTA, Fla. -- There were too many 12-hour work days for Rod Robertson to keep up with the baseball strike. Robertson, who will complete a decade of minor-league service this year -- his first year in the Orioles organization -- would occasionally hear bits and pieces about the negotiations from his father.But Robertson never made any phone calls or studied the issues deeply. He was either going full bore at the paper mill near his home in Everdale, Texas, six days a week, or spending time with his three children.