Two eras of Orioles magic will come together at Camden Yards today. Before the Orioles 4:35 game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, former Orioles Doug DeCinces and Chris Hoiles will be inducted into the Orioles Hall of Fame.
DeCinces and Hoiles come from two distinctly different, but also similar parts of Oriole history. DeCinces, who at the time was touted as the replacement for Brooks Robinson, is to have started ?Orioles? magic? with a game winning two-run home run against the Detroit Tigers on June 22, 1979. Hoiles spent parts of ten years with Baltimore starting in 1989 and has caught the second most games in club history, 819.
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Hoiles said that something this induction allows him to appreciate more was playing his entire career with Baltimore and getting to play in front of the Baltimore fans in Camden Yards.
“It is a great honor to be mentioned in the same sentence with the guys who are already in, Cal Ripken and Eddie Murray,” Hoiles said Friday before the Hall of Fame Luncheon at the Warehouse. Hoiles sited Ripken?s pursuit of the consecutive game streak and Murray?s return and 500th home run as memories that will always stick with him.
“Going in with Doug, is truly an honor for me,” said Hoiles, who is a volunteer coach at Bowling Green University.
DeCinces played with Baltimore from 1973-1982, before being traded to the California Angels where he played until mid-1987. He finished that season and his career playing for the St. Louis Cardinals.
“They must have saw something in me and thought I could handle the pressure and defensive responsibilities,” DeCinces said of taking over third base for Brooks Robinson. Looking back on that decision, DeCinces said that Earl Weaver having confidence in him was the thing in his career of which he was the most proud.
“Every columnist would write the column, ?Who does this guy think he is that he can replace the great Brooks Robinson?? It just became more difficult and I had to fight it overcoming my confidence,” DeCinces said.
DeCinces said that he will always cherish the home run that started ?Orioles? Magic,? but the two defining moments in his career were a backhand play in the fourth game of the 1979 American League Championship Series and his home run in his first World Series at bat that same year.
“Oh my gosh was it cold,” DeCinces said of the World Series home run. “I just remembered touching second base and then not much else because all my childhood dreams came true.”
ENTERING THE HALL
» Former Orioles trainers Ralph Salvon and Eddie Weidner will be posthumously awarded the Herb Armstrong Awards for contributions from non-uniformed personnel.
» DeCinces had a career .259 batting average with 237 home runs and 879 RBI.
» Hoiles had a tendency to go deep when the bases were loaded. He hit eight career grand slams including a game-winner against Seattle and two in one game against Cleveland.
