Rumors abound that the Texas Rangers will try and move first baseman Mark Teixiera, perhaps by the trading deadline.
That he plays a position where the Orioles could use help is reason enough to look up, but a bigger consideration for the hometown nine is likely his status as a Maryland native and a recent quote in which he stated that playing for the Orioles would be “a dream come true.”
For certain, Teixiera in an Orioles uniform would be a marketing bonanza for a club that has lacked a true face of the franchise since Cal Ripken retired. A genuine slugger, Teixiera has averaged 35 home runs in each of his first four full seasons.
Teixiera is a product of the Georgia Tech baseball program, but before that, he played his high school ball at Mount St. Joseph. The Gaels have produced a handful of professional players, and Teixiera is their all-time-leading major league home run hitter. He was not, however, the first MSJ product to reach the seats in the big leagues.
Fifty years ago today ? May 30, 1957 ? MSJ graduate Lou Sleater, a left-handed pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, hit a walk-off homer off the A?s Wally Burnette leading off the bottom of the 10th inning at Briggs Stadium. It was the first of four big league home runs hit by Sleater, all for Detroit, though he did manage to see a lot of the country in his major league career.
Born in St. Louis, the Louis Sleater Sr. family relocated to Baltimore where Lou Jr. excelled at many sports, most notably baseball and ice hockey. Signed originally by the Boston Braves in 1946, Sleater went from the Braves organization to the Cubs to the Giants and finally to the St. Louis Browns, where he made his major league debut in 1950.
Sold to the Yankees in 1951, he pitched at their Kansas City minor league affiliate that summer as a teammate of the demoted Mickey Mantle for about a month. He was returned to the Browns, who traded him to Washington in 1952, where he notched his lone shutout, 1-0, over the A?s on May 25.
The Nats later sold him to Toronto of the International League ? when that was considered a promotion from some clubs ? and Toronto sold him to the Yankees. He made the New York roster out of spring training in 1955, but before he could appear in a game, was sold to the new Kansas City Athletics. In 1956, it was on to the Braves, who lost the NL pennant to Brooklyn on the last day of the season, a moment Sleater called “the saddest day of my career.”
He joined the Tigers in 1957 and was sold to the Orioles in June 1958. He retired in 1959 when he was just 32 but ready to sleep in his own bed and take care of his family on his own terms.
If you?re a “glass-half-full” kind of person, you?d say that everybody wanted Sleater in their organization. The ultimate journeyman, he earned 12 big league wins ? all by one run ? with five saves and seven complete games in 131 appearances over seven full or partial seasons. He?s 80 years old now, lives in Timonium and doesn?t quite get down the first-base line as quickly as he used to, but don?t be fooled. If you spend much time with him, either in person or on the phone, you?d peg him as a much, much younger guy.
Happy anniversary, Lou. Teixiera might have you in sheer numbers, but only one guy can be first.
Contact Phil Wood at [email protected].
