Baltimore Orioles: In memory of the great Mike Flanagan

On this date five years ago in 2011, the great Mike Flanagan of the Baltimore Orioles was taken from this world. We remember him today and always.

August 24th is a date that Baltimore Orioles fans will probably not soon forget, as it’s the day that the great Mike Flanagan passed away in 2011. Few fans will soon forget the events of that night; the O’s were getting set to play a game in Minnesota, and just prior to the game reports surfaced of a body being found on Flanagan’s Baltimore County property. That body turned out to be that of Mike Flanagan himself.

That night I vowed to write a tribute in some manner to Flanagan as long as I have this “bully pulpit” at my disposal. Needless to say, it was a hard time for the entire Orioles community. Anyone who watched Orioles’ programming that night or saw replays of it won’t soon forget the sorrow shown by Mike Flanagan’s former Orioles teammates Jim Palmer and Rick Dempsey. Not to mention the rest of the MASN crew.

Flanagan was a beloved member of the Orioles during his entire career. He lived and breathed Baltimore and the Orioles from the time he broke into the majors until his untimely death. And he would be incredibly proud of where the organization has gone in the time spanning between then and now.

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Mike Flanagan played at the tail end of the era in which players stayed with one team their entire lives, and moved their families to that city. Despite his New England roots, Flanagan represented Baltimore and the Oriole Way as well as anyone could. He was a blue collar family guy who engrossed himself in this community and learned it’s ways quickly. And he was beloved for it.

His kids went to school with your kids, he ate dinner in the same restaurants as you did, and he was simply put just a member of the community. Flanagan of course is also remembered for his quick wit and quirky one-liners, which is another thing that endeared him to throngs of Orioles fans. Aside from being a World Series champion and a Cy Young award winner, he’s probably best remembered as being the last Oriole pitcher to stand on the mound at Memorial Stadium. That was a fitting way at that moment for the Orioles to tie together past, present, and future.