2008 – The Baltimore Orioles deal Erik Bedard to the Seattle Mariners for prospects Adam Jones, George Sherrill, Chris Tillman, Tony Butler and Kam Mickolio. Bedard was leading the American League in strikeouts before a rib injury cut his season short. Jones is a former first-round pick who hit 25 home runs in AAA at age 22. Tillman was Seattle’s minor league pitcher of the year in 2007.
On September 19, 2007, New York’s Andy Pettitte won his 200th game, defeating the Orioles, 2-1 at Yankee Stadium. Pettitte became the 27th left-hander to reach the 200-win plateau.
On August 13, 2006, the 27-game hitting streak of Boston’s Manny Ramirez comes to an end, against the Orioles. The streak was the sixth-longest in Red Sox history.
Jeff Conine and the Baltimore Orioles finalize a $1.7 million, one-year contract. Conine, who was with the Orioles from 1999 to 2003, hit .304 and had a .374 on-base percentage in 131 games for the Florida Marlins last season, batting .327 after the All-Star break.
Free agent OF Jeromy Burnitz and the Orioles agree on a two-year contract; IF Miguel Cairo and the Yankees reach an agreement on a $1 million, one-year contract, and relief pitcher Chad Bradford agrees to a one-year, $1.4 million contract with the Mets.
Alex Rodriguez breaks Joe DiMaggio’s 1937 single-season club record for home runs by a right-handed batter. The third baseman’s 47th homer proves to be the difference as the Yankees edge the Orioles, 2-1.
The trade that sent Sammy Sosa to the Baltimore Orioles from the Chicago Cubs is finalized after Commissioner Bud Selig approves the deal and the slugger passes his physical. Chicago receives second baseman Jerry Hairston, Jr. and two minor leaguers, then signs Jeromy Burnitz as a free agent to replace Sosa in right field.
2003 – Miguel Tejada agrees to a six-year $72 million contract with the Orioles making it the largest deal in the history of the franchise. The shortstop batted .287 with 27 home runs while driving in 106 runs last season for the western division champions Oakland A’s.
At Camden Yards, 64 year-old Steve Dalkowski throws the ceremonial first pitch to relief pitcher Buddy Groom before an Orioles game against Seattle. In 1963, on the day he was fitted for his big-league uniform, the Baltimore fireballing farmhand hurt his arm pitching in an exhibition game and never appeared in the major leagues.
2003 – In the wake of Steve Bechler’s death, Commissioner Bud Selig decides to ban the use of ephedra in the minor leagues. Players on the current 40-man major league rosters, which would have included the 23-year old Oriole pitcher who died on February 23rd, are not prohibited to use the supplement because, as union members, they are already covered by the drug-testing rules of the new collective bargaining agreement, which bans only drugs of abuse and certain illegal steroids.