Big non-baseball news for Hays and Means

Austin Hays would be the heavy favorite to win a footrace against John Means. However, Means beat him to the father finish line.

McCoy Alan Means was born on Dec. 17.

Levi Austin Jerald Hays was born on Dec. 22.

Tremendous gifts to close out a very difficult year.

Means and Hays will have lots to talk about in spring training besides baseball, but they're two hugely important components of the roster and rebuild.

The Orioles have been envisioning Hays as their center fielder and leadoff hitter for a long time and just need him to stay healthy and on the field. Means was supposed to be the opening day starter this year and is the favorite to receive the honor in 2021.

No one thought Tommy Milone would get the assignment in 2020, so be careful with those predictions. But a healthy Means should be handed the ball.

What he did with it over his last four starts was special.

The 1.52 ERA, 30 strikeouts and .146 average-against in 23 2/3 innings. Seventeen of the first 18 batters retired in his final game against the Blue Jays in Buffalo.

Means carried the look of an ace.

"He sure did. It was incredible," said Alex Cobb, marveling at the way Means rebounded from injury and pitched while grieving the loss of his father.

"Like everybody, John dealt with a lot of adversity, more adversity than probably anybody in the league this year that was competing, and it took him a little bit of time to get things rolling. I think John being very young was naïve to the difficulties of catching back up to where the big league performance level is at and I think that's a good thing. I think he was able to see that an extra week or two to spend on himself getting ready before he jumps into competition is probably very beneficial, but once he did catch back up to where everybody was, he showed that he's amongst the best in the game at what he does.

"I remember just his last outing in Buffalo facing the Blue Jays, how in awe I was just sitting in the stands watching him mow down a very talented lineup. His career is going to be extremely exciting to watch."

Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias said Means has taken steps to become a legitimate "front-of-the-rotation guy."

That's where he should be slotted in 2021. Top of the rotation, with Hays perhaps at the top of the lineup.

* Knuckleballer Phil Niekro became the seventh Hall of Famer yesterday to pass away in 2020. He was 81.

I never had the privilege of meeting Niekro, who was battling cancer. However, I wrote about him a few times because he worked with Orioles minor league pitchers Zach Clark, Eddie Gamboa and Zach Staniewicz.

Niekro was a guest at Prince George's Stadium in Bowie and the minor league complex in Twin Lakes Park. The Orioles used him as a consultant of sorts, a big deal considering his stature and how he had no connection to the club.

"It's awesome," Clark said in March 2014. "He won 318 games. The guy has thrown knuckleballs his whole life and I just started. I can learn a lot from him."

Clark, who pitched at UMBC, was enthusiastic about his conversion to knuckleballer, though he never made it back to the majors after one relief appearance in 2013.

The Orioles were in a constant tug of war with Gamboa, who only wanted to mix in the pitch 50 percent of the time rather than use it exclusively. He'd vow to stick with it and revert back to the fastball.

"It's difficult to kind of leave everything else aside and throw the knuckleball. It can really mess with your head," he said.

The Orioles signed Staniewicz in 2013 after Niekro recommended him to former executive Dan Duquette. Staniewicz went to Atlanta on his own to work out with Niekro, who later contacted Duquette and said that the pitcher had "a lot of knuckleball" and he'd be interested in tutoring the right-hander if the Orioles signed him.

Staniewicz came to Camden Yards the previous summer with the U.S. Military All-Star team, which got the ball rolling, so to speak. Niekro worked with Tim Wakefield in Boston, which connected him to Duquette. And they "got to talking," as Duquette put it, when Niekro presented R.A. Dickey with the 2012 Cy Young Award in New York.

All of this led Staniewicz to the Orioles and Niekro to Twin Lakes Park.

"Of course, Phil is a Hall of Famer and a great asset," Duquette said.

Staniewicz was released the following year and didn't make it to the majors, but Duquette was 100 percent right about Niekro, another baseball legend who left us in 2020.

Niekro was preceded by Lou Brock, Tom Seaver, Bob Gibson, Al Kaline, Whitey Ford and Joe Morgan. Seven Hall of Famers also passed away in 1972, the highest total in history.

* On this date in 2017, the Orioles signed Miguel Tejada to a minor league contract.

Yeah, it threw me, as well.

This Miguel Tejada is a right-handed pitcher who made four relief appearances in the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League in 2018 and allowed eight earned runs (nine total) in three innings. He walked three batters, hit two and struck out none.

Tejada was born in April 2000, in case you need another distinction from the former shortstop of the same name.

Reliever Jon Link signed a minor league deal on Dec. 28, 2011.

He was released in June 2012 without appearing in a game for the Orioles. But we'll always have those 18 relief appearances with Triple-A Norfolk.