Baltimore Orioles: The five best first basemen in Orioles history

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BALTIMORE, MD – MAY 23: The Baltimore Orioles mascot sits out on the ledge of the pressbox during the sixth inning of the game against the Minnesota Twins at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on May 23, 2017 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images) /

Since the franchise moved in 1954, the Baltimore Orioles have had many great players come through the organization. Some of them have helped lead the Orioles to World Series titles, while others haven’t been as lucky, but all of them have left their mark on the team, and the city. Who are the best of the best?

2018 was an absolutely dismal season for the Baltimore Orioles, and with the front office situation in limbo right now, there’s no better time to look back on the franchise’s better times.

The Orioles have a long and storied history, with three World Series titles, seven American League pennants, and nine American League East titles.

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The Orioles enjoyed a long string of success a half-century ago, starting in the early 1960’s under manager Hank Bauer. Under Bauer from 1964-1968, the Orioles went 407-318 and won the 1966 World Series title over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

After Bauer, the team hired Earl Weaver, who would go on to become the winningest manager in Orioles history. In the 17 years under Weaver’s leadership, the Orioles posted a .583 winning percentage with four AL pennants and one World Series title.

The Orioles saw varied success from the mid 80’s through the late 90’s before falling into the pit of despair that was the early 2000’s. The Orioles posted a losing record for fourteen straight seasons before finally snapping out of the train-wreck and making the playoffs in 2012 under manager Buck Showalter.

The Orioles had a good five-year run from 2012-2016 before coming to a crashing halt in 2018 with a franchise-worst 47-115 record.

But along the way, the Orioles have seen their share of talented players. Six players have been elected to the Hall of Fame wearing an Orioles cap on their plaque, one of whom will appear on this list.

Speaking of, this list will only include those who played for the Baltimore Orioles. We aren’t including those from the St. Louis Browns years; sorry George Sisler fans.

Without further adieu, the five best first-basemen in Baltimore Orioles history.

Jim Gentile played first base for the Orioles in the early years after the Browns moved from St. Louis to Baltimore. He’s best known for his power surge in 1961, but Gentile helped bring life to the Orioles in the early 1960’s

I’ll be honest, this list is top-heavy. It feels a bit weird to have Jim Gentile on this list due to the fact that he has less than 1,000 games played with the Orioles. But Gentile was very good in the early 1960’s.

Gentile played for the Orioles for just four seasons, from 1960-1963 but for what he lacked in time spent with the franchise, he made up for in productivity.

He was actually signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers as a pitcher but was converted to first base, partly due to his big-time swing.

In 1960 Gentile finished second in AL Rookie of the Year voting for the Orioles, after hitting 21 homers with a .903 OPS. His breakout 1961 season, with 46 homers, was good for a third-place finish in the AL MVP race.

Gentile hit .272/.379/.512 in his time in Baltimore with 124 home runs and 398 RBI. His 46 homers in 1961 still stands as the 6th most in a single-season in Orioles history. He also led MLB that year with 141 RBI and posted a 1.069 OPS.

Gentile was a big strikeout guy in an era where it was frowned upon; he posted over 100 K’s in each of his four seasons with the Orioles. Nevertheless, Gentile found success with the Orioles.

He was an All-Star for three straight seasons in Baltimore, from 1960-1962, and he helped get the fanbase in Baltimore going, ahead of their dominance in the late 1960’s.

Over the past eight years, Chris Davis has gone from exciting trade-deadline acquisition in 2011, to fan favorite during the Orioles postseason pushes in 2012 and 2014, to pariah in 2018

If you’re feeling contempt toward Chris Davis at the moment, it’s probably your recency bias working against you. When Davis was acquired in 2011 in the Koji Uehara trade, he was a slugger with big time power and real contact problems, similar to Joey Gallo or Pedro Cerrano.

After being thrust into an every day role in 2012, Davis hit 33 homers with an .827 OPS and a 121 wRC+. Davis hit his peak in 2013 when he hit .286/.370/.634 with a league-leading 53 home-runs and a 168 wRC+. The 53 homers remain the most in a single-season in Orioles history.

But for Davis, one of the biggest improvements he made was in his plate discipline. 2013 remains the only full-season in his career where he’s posted a strikeout rate below 30%, and his walk rate jumped from 6.6% in 2012 to 10.7% in 2013; that’s part of the reason Davis became such a formidable hitter.

His 7.0 fWAR performance in 2013 earned him his first and only All-Star appearance, an AL Silver Slugger award and a third-place AL MVP finish.

Davis was again dominant in 2015, posting 47 homers with a .923 OPS and down-ballot MVP votes. However, he’s been in steady decline since the end of that 2015 season.

Entering his age-30 season in 2016, Davis received a 7-year, $161 million deal from the Orioles. Owner Peter Angelos wanted to keep Davis at any cost, even though what he’d done to that point seemed unsustainable.

But it isn’t Chris Davis’ fault that the Orioles paid him. The blame for the Davis contract lies exclusively on Dan Duquette and Peter Angelos, and it only feels like blame right now because Davis just posted one of the worst seasons for a hitter in MLB history.

There will certainly be people who remember Davis as a poor hitter with a contract that turned into an albatross, but Davis was as much a part of the Orioles success over the past eight years as anyone.

Rafael Palmeiro spent just seven years in a Baltimore Orioles uniform but he made them count, helping lead the Orioles to two straight American League Championship Series appearances

Rafael Palmeiro split his career between the Orioles and the Texas Rangers, going back and forth between the two teams for the final 17 years of his career. Seven of those years were spent in Baltimore, five of which were during Palmeiro’s peak.

From the strike-shortened 1994 season through 1998, Palmeiro raked for the Orioles; during those five seasons, he hit .292/.371/.545 with 182 home-runs. He would play in exactly 1,000 games with the Orioles and post an .886 OPS.

In ’96, Palmeiro helped the Orioles into the ALCS for the first time since their 1983 World Series title. The Orioles would return to the ALCS in ’97, however they never reached the World Series during the run. 1983 remains the last World Series appearance for the Orioles.

Starting in 1995, Palmeiro started his streak of nine straight seasons with at least 38 home-runs, however he never led the league during the stretch. He remains the most accomplished home run hitter in MLB history who never led the league in the category.

Palmeiro finished his career with 223 homers in an Orioles uniform, but his career mark of 569 is the 13th most all-time, and he’s one of six players who are in both the 500 homer club and the 3,000 hit club.

In 2005, Palmeiro tested positive for the anabolic-steroid Stanozolol and the memory of his career has been tarnished by it. I won’t make this a forum on steroid use, but I’ll say this: first, steroids do not make you good at baseball, and second, MLB didn’t care about steroids in the 1990’s, why should you?

While Palmeiro may be remembered by some for his positive steroid test in ’05, we’re just appreciating what he did for the franchise.

One of the biggest contributors on both the 1966 and 1970 World Series teams, Boog Powell remains one of the most impactful players in Baltimore Orioles history

Boog Powell started his career in Baltimore as a lumbering corner outfielder with poor defensive skills in 1961. In 1962 the Orioles moved him over to first on a part-time basis, introducing Powell to the position he’d handle for the majority of his career. By 1965, Powell was the primary first baseman for the Orioles, who were on their way to a lengthy stretch of dominance in the American League.

Powell showed flashes of greatness early on in his career, leading the majors in slugging percentage in 1964, with a .606 mark. That year, he hit 39 home-runs and finished 11th in AL MVP voting.

In 1966, Powell finished third in the AL MVP voting, finishing the year with a .903 OPS, but more importantly, he helped lead the Orioles to their first World Series title in franchise history.

Powell struggled through injuries in ’67, but he hit his peak from ’68-’71, making four straight All-Star appearances. In ’69, Powell posted a .942 OPS and 121 RBI, and finished second in MVP voting to Harmon Killebrew.

in 1970, Powell won the AL MVP award with a .962 OPS, 35 homers and 104 walks to just 80 strikeouts. Again, more importantly, Powell helped lead the Orioles to their second World Series title, posting a 1.187 OPS in the ’70 playoffs.

In his 14 years as a member of the Orioles, Powell hit .266/.362/.465 with 303 home-runs, which still stands as the third-most in franchise history. He’s one of four players in franchise history with over 1,000 RBI with the team, and his 889 walks rank fourth on the Orioles leaderboard.

Powell isn’t a Hall of Famer, therefore his number isn’t retired by the Orioles. But he’s one of the best players in Orioles history who hasn’t been honored with jersey retirement. His number may never be etched into Orioles history, but we’ll always remember those two World Series titles.

Eddie Murray is one of the three best players in Baltimore Orioles history, and he’s easily number one on this list

Steady Eddie played 13 years in a Baltimore Orioles uniform, helping the franchise on its way to a World Series title in 1983.

Murray is one of 27 MLB players in the 500-homer club, with 504 in his career, 343 of which came with the Orioles. He’s one of six players in the 500-homer club who’s also in the 3,000-hit club, with 3,255 in his career.

Murray won the Rookie of the Year award in 1977 with 27 homers and an .803 OPS. He would make the All-Star team 7 times as an Oriole, and finish in the top-5 in MVP voting in five straight seasons.

Murray would win three Gold Glove awards and two Silver Sluggers with the Orioles, and in 1984 he led the league with 107 walks and a .410 on-base percentage.

Murray ranks 14th all-time according to Jay Jaffe’s JAWS Hall of Fame leaderboard among first-basemen, with 68.7 career bWAR.

His 56.5 bWAR as an Oriole ranks fourth behind only Cal Ripken, Brooks Robinson and Jim Palmer, and his iconic number 33 is one of the six retired numbers in franchise history.

Orioles fans will forever remember Steady Eddie as one of the all-time greats.

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We hope you’re enjoying these all-time lists. We hope to bring you more of them during the offseason to bring a few good memories back to the forefront of your mind, while we contemplate what could be another awful season in 2019.

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