An Orioles Mount Rushmore

If we could magically produce an Orioles Mount Rushmore, which four Orioles do you put on the mountain? There have been six Orioles that have had their numbers retired. They are the six elected to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, and the six that have statues at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. How do you pick just four? No. 4 - Earl Weaver is the greatest manager in O's history. His career winning percentage is .583. Cooperstown called Earl in 1996 and the Earl of Baltimore died Jan. 19, 2013, the day the club held FanFest. No. 5 - Brooks Robinson is the greatest third baseman of all time. If you don't agree, that is fine, but you won't convince me. He spent 23 seasons as an Oriole and won 16 Gold Gloves. Oh yeah, and he's quite possibly the nicest person ever. No. 8 - Cal Ripken Jr. is baseball's all-time Ironman who played in 2,632 consecutive games. But he is not in Cooperstown because of the streak. He is there because he showed us a big man can play shortstop while also becoming one of eight players to ever compile 3,000 hits and 400 homers. No. 20 - Frank Robinson spent 19 seasons with the Orioles as player, coach, manager and assistant general manager. He taught the Orioles how to win, won a Triple Crown and led the club to the World Series in four of his six seasons as an O's player. No. 22 - Jim Palmer is the greatest O's pitcher of all time. He won 20 games eight times in his career and had 268 career wins. He won the Cy Young Award three times. No. 33 - Eddie Murray is Mr. Consistency. He drove in at least 75 runs in each of his first 20 seasons in the majors and he's one of four players to compile 3,000 hits and 500 homers. No switch-hitter ever drove in more runs. How could you leave two of these men off an Orioles Mount Rushmore? But if you have just four choices, which four do you choose? Maybe you put someone on that Mount that is not among these six. I go with Brooks, Frank, Cal and Jim. What say you? AFL note: O's minor league left-hander Ashur Tolliver is expected to return to game action tomorrow with Glendale in the Arizona Fall League. The 26-year-old lefty ended the regular season on the disabled list due to a hamstring injury and has missed time in the AFL after tweaking that hamstring after just two outings with Glendale. But Tolliver, who gave up two hits and one run in 1 1/3 innings, will get back into a game on Monday. He last pitched for Glendale on Oct. 14.