More myths, misconceptions about some Orioles players

Another weekend is passing without sports, unless we're counting the NFL draft.

I'm on the clock again, challenging myself to come up a few more Orioles who were misunderstood or unfairly labeled. Who didn't completely earn their reputations.

For example:

* Albert Belle wasn't always a menace to the media and actually was a popular teammate.

Let's start with the second part. I'm not saying that Belle was loved by everyone who wore the uniform during his two seasons in Baltimore, but plenty of guys liked him. Brady Anderson used to correct reporters who insinuated that Belle was an issue in the clubhouse.

Now, about the media part ...

Belle's personality changed with the seasons. He was nice to me at FanFest, smiling and inviting me to pull up a chair after accepting my interview request. He'd smile and wave to us as he passed the spring training media workroom in Fort Lauderdale, but we were lucky to get a head nod as camp broke.

By opening day, Belle made it clear that we weren't allowed near his locker. The smart ones knew to walk past him in an arc. And Belle grew more confrontational as the season progressed. The ticking of the time bomb became louder.

I never had any major issues with Belle, but he purposely bumped into a broadcaster from the flagship station who stood in the dugout during batting practice and refused to speak while a writer from the Associated Press was in the scrum. He also ordered a postgame press conference, held in the media dining room, for the sole purpose of scolding a beat writer. Berating him for printing "lies." A scene that swayed from bizarre to uncomfortable to amusing.

He hadn't talked to us since spring training and used a three-homer game during a "Turn Ahead the Clock" promotion to vent.

Asked why he chose that moment to talk, Belle glared at the reporter and said, "Because I want to."

Belle had a tantrum at his locker after a poor at-bat in a March 11, 1999 exhibition game, slamming his bat onto a stool and scattering a stack of mail. Not a big deal except that it was Belle and he brought a volatile reputation from the Indians and White Sox. He was under a microscope.

No one else in the media wrote about the incident because it happened behind closed doors and we wanted to pick our battles, but a story ran on the AP wire detailing the outburst and Belle was furious.

The clean slate was muddied.

The relationship between Belle and local reporters was bound to deteriorate anyway, but the process sped up. We didn't make it to opening day.

The club immediately reacted by tightening clubhouse access for the rest of spring training, banning the media from entering midgame, and the policy stands today. It's closed until after the final out.

Belle implemented a media blackout on June 14, 2000, which he broke three months later while discussing his hip injury with The Baltimore Sun. Club sources confirmed a degenerative condition, which forced Belle into retirement the following spring.

Belle walked into manager Mike Hargrove's office during workouts, said that he'd need another day of rest, left the complex and never came back. One of the most bizarre endings to a borderline Hall of Fame career.

After watching Belle hobble to first base one day, a reporter asked general manager Syd Thrift whether the outfielder could stay on the team if unable to run. "This isn't Country Round Cat," Thrift replied, which confused all of us. But we've repeated the line many times over the years.

Belle yelled at former manager Ray Miller in the dugout in Atlanta in '99 after being removed in a double switch, a confrontation captured by television cameras. Less than three weeks into the season, he hurled a beer bottle through a television inside the visitors clubhouse at Tropicana Field. He refused to work with hitting coach Terry Crowley. The club conducted an internal investigation into obscene gestures he made to fans in the right field bleachers.

There was more, but I'm serving a sampler platter.

It wasn't a smooth relationship, to say the least. And the arthritic hip brought deeper regret from the organization over the five-year, $65 million contract. But Belle was respected by teammates, who marveled at the detailed index cards that he kept on every pitcher. He played chess. His intelligence was underrated. And the media caught glimpses of his good side.

* Will Clark didn't lose his hitting skills after the Orioles signed him to a two-year, $11 million deal prior to the 1999 season.

I think there's a perception that Clark was a total bust in Baltimore as Rafael Palmeiro's replacement. After all, Palmeiro was a tough act to follow as arguably the best free-agent signing in club history.

The first go-around, I should say.

Meanwhile, Clark didn't offer the same power and wasn't the same player who had been a five-time All-Star with the Giants and placed in the top five in Most Valuable Player voting four times. Who was an All-Star with the Rangers and posted a career-high .431 on-base percentage in 1994. But the man still could hit when able to stay on the field.

That was the issue. Clark was hurt a lot.

Clark went on the disabled list on April 21, 1999 with a broken left thumb - on the same day that Cal Ripken Jr. went on the DL for the first time in his career with a back injury - and underwent surgery in August to remove bone chips from his left elbow that limited him to only 77 games.

He also was held out of the lineup with knee and ankle soreness.

Clark was bothered by back spasms in May 2000 and the Orioles traded him to the Cardinals two months later for infielder José León as part of the great roster purge.

It's easy to forget, given the many trips to the trainers' room and DL, that Clark slashed .303/.395/.482 in 1999 and .301/.413/.473 in the first half of 2000. The Orioles would welcome that level of production from their first baseman in 2020.

Just fewer stops along the way.

Clark batted .345/.426/.655 with 15 doubles, 12 home runs and 42 RBIs in 51 games with the Cardinals, homered in the National League Division Series against the Braves, homered again and went 7-for-17 in the Championship Series against the Mets and retired.

León batted .225/.262/.321 in 88 games over parts of three seasons with the Orioles, the only team to promote him to the majors.

* Mark Belanger actually could hit a bit.

He just didn't do it that often.

Belanger was an elite-fielding shortstop on some of the great Orioles teams. Winner of eight Gold Gloves, including six in a row from 1973-78. His defense alone was Hall of Fame caliber.

How a ground ball ever got between Belanger and third baseman Brooks Robinson is a miracle.

Many fans say the same about Belanger making solid contact at the plate, judging the Blade by his career .228/.300/.280 slash line in 18 seasons - the last with the Dodgers in 1982.

However, Belanger had this strange knack for pulling a decent offensive season out of thin air. He slashed .287/.351/.345 in 150 games in 1969 and finished 29th in Most Valuable Player voting in the American League, .266/.365/.320 in 150 games in 1971 and .270/.336/.326 in 153 games in 1976.

He was 4-for-12 with an RBI and five runs scored in a three-game sweep of the Twins in the 1970 Championship Series.

So very random.