Recently a non-O’s fan friend of mine asked me a question: Who is the face of the Orioles’ franchise?
Twenty years ago it would be a no-brainer: Cal.
Forty years ago it would be a no-brainer: Brooks.
But with the 2014 Baltimore Orioles, the answer is not so simple.
The usual suspects came to mind. Chris Davis, Manny Machado, Adam Jones.
I don’t think Davis can quite be dubbed the face of the franchise. In just his fourth year with the club, he is scheduled to become a free agent at the end of the 2015 season.
While we love Chris in Baltimore, his roots are in Texas and I don’t think anyone would be surprised to see him in another uniform come 2016.
You can make a solid argument for Manny. Drafted 3rd overall back in 2010, Manny is one of the few prospects Oriole fans have seen pan out recently. He has been nothing short of spectacular in the field and has proven his bat can heat up with the best of them.
You can’t ignore the fact that since the start of the season, the #13 jersey is the 16th best seller, according to Major League Baseball. That makes Manny the only Oriole in the top 20.
The final answer I gave my friend was Adam Jones.
Since arriving in Baltimore in 2008, AJ has been great. A .284 hitter as an Oriole, four all-star selections, three Gold Gloves and possibly a fourth coming this year, two top 15 finishes in AL MVP voting, but most importantly a staple in the top half of the lineup.
“I really don’t see myself wearing another white uniform that doesn’t have ‘Orioles’ across the chest,” is what Jones said after signing the largest contract in Orioles’ history, a six-year, $85.5 million guaranteed deal, keeping him in Charm City until 2018.
There’s one player that did not come to mind right away, and I was kicking myself over it later: Nick Markakis.
After being drafted 7th overall, Nick has spent all nine of his MLB seasons with the club. A career .292 hitter and an absolute stud in right field, Markakis never seems to get the attention he deserves.
Since he debuted in 2006, he has finished in the top six in fielding percentage among right fielders in every year but one, leading that category in three of those years and is tied for first this year.
Despite these numbers, Nick has won just one Gold Glove and has yet to be selected to an all-star game.
Markakis will likely be a free agent at the end of the year (there is an option on his contract for 2015 that will probably be bought out), but has always emphasized the importance of spending his whole career in the same city.
“I tell people all the time, I’ve made a good bit of money already,” Markakis said in an interview with The Sun. “It’s not about the money, it’s about being somewhere, wanting to be somewhere, being comfortable and taking pride with that team and that organization.”
The importance of Nick to the team is obvious to his teammates and fans in Baltimore, but for whatever reason he does not get the national attention, which seems to be the only thing keeping him from being the obvious choice for the face of the O’s.
For a city that had Ray Lewis as its face for so many years, its nice to have the Orioles give us a couple options. It is a team game, so I’m not bothered by the fact there isn’t one player that jumps out.
Chris has been putting up the numbers, AJ has been raking in the awards and accolades, Manny is the young gun who the city is proud to have and Nick quietly seems to be the glue of it all who wants to continue to call Baltimore home.
What do you think?
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