About last night, and more from the Orioles Hall of Famers

Last night, the Orioles posted their first home win over the Cardinals in franchise history. They hit six home runs. They hit multiple homers off three different pitchers for only the second time. They sat their red-hot catcher, Caleb Joseph, and his replacement collected three hits. It was that kind of night. It's been that kind of season. Nick Hundley didn't garner much attention, but I'm certain that he understood. It was all about the long ball and reconnecting with legends from the past. The 2014 Orioles made them proud. They beat up on a pretty good St. Louis team to move 17 games above .500. They're five ahead of the Yankees and six ahead of the Blue Jays in the American League East. And now you're telling me that Chris Davis is heating up and J.J. Hardy has found his home run stroke? "It's easy to say after tonight," Hardy said, a slight grin creasing his face. "I don't know." It sure looked that way as he sent two balls sailing over the fence. Imagine if Nelson Cruz gets hot again. He carried this team early in the season. Special seasons take on a variety of looks. Former closer Gregg Olson provided a nice reminder yesterday of the "Why Not?" season in 1989. Olson was among 23 Orioles Hall of Famers at Camden Yards. He wasn't getting away without going back in time. "I think we were all so young," he said. "I don't know how many rookies we had total. Going through the list, we had Steve Finley, myself, (Bob) Milacki, (Pete) Harnisch, (Craig) Worthington. We had so many rookies, I don't think any of us knew any better. I certainly didn't. "I remember one of the first questions I was asked in spring training was, 'Do you think you can save 20 games in the big leagues?' I was like, 'Sure, why not? I don't know. If I get 40 opportunities, I should be able to get 20 of them. If you're not going to give me 40 opportunities, I don't know.' That was the way it was. I didn't know I wasn't supposed to go out and get guys out and I think most of the rookies were like that. We didn't have any older veterans on the team to tell us what we were doing was unlikely and it just kept rolling and rolling. "Toronto played out of their minds and reeled us in at the end, but it was a blast. A lot of good memories and we were expecting to get back every year after that, and come to find out it wasn't that easy." The Orioles stayed in contention until the final weekend of the season, when they were eliminated in Toronto. The 2014 regular season also wraps up in Toronto. Hold me. Phil Bradley led off the Friday night game with a home run off Todd Stottlemyre, but the Orioles lost 2-1. "It's funny because I played with Stottlemyre in Arizona and he mentioned that," Olson said. "He said, 'First pitch, kind of like Bull Durham, I'm going to announce my presence with authority on this first fastball,' and Bradley turns it around and smokes it to left field. I'm like, 'How did that work out, Todd?' And he's like, 'Not so good.' But they end up going eight shutout after that and then I screwed it up in the ninth. "I thought we were going to win two out of three or three out of three and figure it out on Monday, but like I said, I threw the monkey in the wrench." Former catcher Chris Hoiles received one of the loudest ovations last night during the postgame ceremony. He's always been a fan favorite. Hoiles came to the organization in an Aug. 31, 1988 trade that sent Fred Lynn to the Tigers. His initial reaction was less than enthusiastic, but he grew to love it here. "At the time, I was a young player who grew up in Northern Ohio," he said. "Going to college in Michigan and being drafted by the Tigers was kind of a dream of mine. And when the trade happened... I think Brady (Anderson) said it upstairs. When you get traded, it's almost like you feel like you did something wrong, like they didn't want you. And I think that's the feeling. But once I got over here and you see the players and the tradition that they have in Baltimore, it didn't take me very long to figure out that I was in the right place. "We were talking earlier about '92, how we were playing in front of sellout crowds every single night, which is a huge tribute to the fans of Baltimore and the way they back their sports teams here. Now that both teams (Ravens and Orioles) are winning, I think it's a huge, huge boost to the city of Baltimore and their fans, because they are great fans. "For me personally, it took a little while once I got here, but you have guys like Cal (Ripken) Sr. who was here, Elrod (Hendricks) who was here from the catching position and made me feel at home. You had great players like Cal (Ripken) and some of the veteran guys like Brady, guys like that who helped you feel at home." Ripken eased Mike Bordick's anxiety over replacing him at shortstop. Bordick signed as a free agent on Dec. 13, 1996, which returned Ripken to third base. "He was great," Bordick said. "We had some communication before I came over, just about doing what I had to do for my career and what was best for my family at that time, and I think he may have understood that that move was going to go with or without me being involved in it. And I think from the onset he made me feel comfortable. "I'm sure inside he was probably upset about having to go over to third base, but he understood like everybody on that team what kind of team they had. The potential of winning another World Series was pretty high and it stayed that way for a while. Unfortunately, the Orioles didn't get back (to the playoffs) there after that '97 season. But it was all about winning. The stadium was selling out every night, we had a great group of veteran players who were all on the same page and I think everybody was on board."