Things You Didn't Realize About Four Baltimore Orioles' Hall of Famers

Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Eddie Murray, and Cal Ripken- these are four glorious Hall of Fame names from the Baltimore Orioles' not-too-distant past. These days, this is about all Baltimore Orioles' fans have to hold onto. Their Hall of Fame players all accomplished wonderful things between the foul lines, but do you know all there is to know about those careers? Here are some things that you might find amazing about the playing days of four Baltimore Orioles' Hall of Famers.

1. Brooks Robinson only had 2 seasons with over 100 runs batted in!

The "Human Vacuum Cleaner" probably got into Cooperstown on the strength of his glove and not his bat. In his 23 campaigns, he averaged just 59 RBI, but of course some of those years were not actual full seasons in regards to games played. Brooks had a career year in his MVP season of 1964 when he batted .317 and collected 118 RBI; his only other time at the century mark in that category came in 1966 when he had 100. Robinson batted .300 just twice and never hit more than 28 homers in one year, but by playing third base the way he did he assured himself of baseball immortality when he hung up his spikes.

2. Frank Robinson had 14 years with at least 83 runs batted in!

Frank finished with over 1,800 RBI, 17th best all-time. On 6 different occasions he ended up a year with no fewer than 100, and he reached the 90 mark 5 other times. Robinson was involved in one of baseball's worst-ever trades when the Reds dealt him to Baltimore for pitcher Milt Pappas- this after Robinson gave them a 113 RBI campaign in 1965 at the age of 29. He went on to garner the Triple Crown the very next year in the American League to make Cincinnati look foolish.

3. Frank Robinson won 1 batting title, 1 home run title, and 1 RBI crown-all in 1966!

That Triple Crown was the only time Robinson would lead either league in any of these important statistics. He hit .316 with 49 homers and 122 runs batted in during that MVP season. His average was 9 points better than Minnesota's Tony Oliva, his round tripper total was 10 more than the Twins' Harmon Killebrew's 39 and his 122 RBI beat Killebrew by a dozen. The closest Frank would ever come again in winning one of these coveted titles was in 1973, when he fell just 2 home runs short of Reggie Jackson's total of 32.

4. Eddie Murray never topped 33 home runs in one season!

This is a remarkable fact since Murray would finish his 21 seasons with 504 blasts. That averages out to 24 a year, but one would think that Murray would have hit more than 33 at some point. He had that many in 1983; it was one of 4 times he reached 30 or more in a season. The first basemen spent the first 12 years of his time in baseball in Baltimore before playing for 5 more teams. He had one more stint in Baltimore in 1996, where he hit number 500.

5. Cal Ripken stole only 36 bases in his entire major league career!

Not the swiftest man in the Hall of Fame, Ripken actually was thrown out more times trying to steal than the number of bases he successfully swiped. He was caught stealing 39 times as opposed to the 36 he got away with. Even the lead-footed Murray managed to garner 110 steals in his career. Frank Robinson was a fine base stealer in his early playing days and wound up with over 200, but Brooks Robinson didn't even have as many as Ripken, losing out to Cal with his total of just 28 and giving the Birds perhaps 2 of the slowest men in Cooperstown. For a shortstop, Ripken wasn't a standout in terms of pure speed, making up for this with a great knowledge of exactly where to play hitters.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BAL/hof.shtml