Orioles Vault: The first HR onto Eutaw Street

March 8th, 2022

MLB.com is digging back into its massive video vault to uncover classic plays that you have loved, forgotten about or, perhaps, are discovering for the very first time. Watch these moments and many, many more on the MLB Vault YouTube page.

April 20, 1992: Remember the first homer onto Eutaw?
One hundred and thirteen home runs have been blasted onto Eutaw Street in the 30 years since Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened its doors. Only 53 of them have come from O's hitters. Perhaps that's not surprising, given how the inaugural Eutaw Street home run unfolded. In the third inning of this contest from 1992 -- the first year of OPACY's existence -- Tigers catcher Mickey Tettleton hammered a pitch from Ben McDonald far over the right-field fence and onto Eutaw Street.

It was part of a homer barrage for Tettleton and the Tigers en masse; Tettleton homered the previous night and was amid a string of seven homers in 12 games, while this blast was part of three consecutive homers off McDonald. The O's had the last laugh, though, with huge fourth- and seventh-inning rallies that led to a 12-4 win. It took four homers from opponents to find Eutaw Street before one finally belonged to an Oriole (thank you, Kevin Bass), but Tettleton's blast started the storied tradition.

May 19, 1998: Not so fast, Jeter
It's a classic tale of old buck against new guard. With Cal Ripken Jr.'s Orioles paying a visit to the Yankees, up came 23-year-old Derek Jeter -- the new hot shortstop on the block -- with a runner in scoring position and no outs in the seventh inning. Ripken, then 37 amid the campaign in which he ended his Iron Man streak, was lined up at third base, as became the norm late in his career. In a moment between two titans, Jeter smacked what appeared to be a sure run-scoring double up the left-field line. But there was Ripken, diving to his right, to rob the youngster and show he wasn't quite ready to relinquish the spotlight. It was an important moment to hold the Orioles' lead in the circumstance, but the Yanks went on to rally late and take the clash, 9-5. Jeter, of course, would go on to carry the torch from Ripken as the most famous shortstop in the game. The only thing that makes this play even more special? Ripken's former teammate, Ken Singleton, was on the call for the New York broadcast.

June 13, 1999: Mussina shines with the bat?!
With his entire career coming within the American League, Mike Mussina seldom had a chance to flex on opponents in the batter's box. Maybe that was a good thing. Moose collected just nine hits across 52 career at-bats (only one extra-base hit) for a .173 mark. But when it rained, it poured. Mussina showed out in this Interleague matchup with the Braves, rapping a pair of hits (including that lone double) and driving in three in a 22-1 rout. On the mound, he conceded just five hits and one run over seven innings amid an All-Star season that saw him finish second in the AL Cy Young Award voting ... and hit .273 (3-for-11). Had he played in the NL, maybe a Silver Slugger could have come in tandem?

July 7, 2007: Bedard K's 15 vs. Rangers
A few months before the Orioles traded Erik Bedard to the Mariners for Adam Jones and Chris Tillman in a franchise-altering deal, Bedard put together one of the most dominant nine-inning starts in Baltimore history. Silencing the Rangers in a 3-0 win at the hitter-friendly Ballpark in Arlington, Bedard matched a club record with 15 strikeouts while issuing no walks. He allowed two singles but faced the minimum 27 batters, capping the evening by striking out the side in the ninth. It was a masterful performance, one of the best to not result in a no-hitter or perfect game in baseball history. Soon, the Orioles were weighing offers for the electric but injury-prone left-hander, eventually agreeing on a deal that would set them up for success for years to come.

Aug. 27, 1985: Eddie Murray's 9-RBI night
Is there a better single-game offensive performance in Orioles history? That's debatable. But the fact is no Oriole ever enjoyed a more productive night than Eddie Murray did against the Angels on this date, when his three-homer game paced Baltimore's 17-3 rout. Murray homered from both sides of the plate to set a franchise single-game record with nine RBIs, and he narrowly missed a fourth homer in his final at-bat. Murray also drove in a run with a single and drew a walk as the O’s connected for a then-franchise-record seven homers.

Sept. 6, 1995: President Clinton calls Cal's homer on record-breaking night
If ever there were a player who knew how to rise to the occasion, it was Cal Ripken Jr. There's no better example of this than the night Ripken became baseball's Iron Man. Not only did he break Lou Gehrig's record for consecutive games played that night, Ripken also homered off Angels righty Shawn Boskie with the baseball world -- and the nation -- watching. So big was the event that President Bill Clinton was in attendance and in the broadcast booth when Ripken went deep. The result was a singular moment in baseball history from one of the game's all-time greats.

Sept. 29, 1996: Anderson hits 50th homer
As far as individual seasons go, Brady Anderson's 1996 campaign was a singular feat. Launching 50 home runs and stealing 21 bases, Anderson is one of only three players in baseball history to accomplish both in a single season; he's also the only Oriole to do so. That Anderson never totaled more than 24 homers in any other season makes his '96 power surge all the more noteworthy, both in the moment and in retrospect. His final dinger of the year came on the season's final day, in the form of a leadoff shot off Toronto righty Pat Hentgen. It also set what was, at the time, a new franchise single-season record.

April 15, 2000: Cal's 3,000th hit
As if Cal Ripken Jr.'s Cooperstown credentials weren't air-tight already, he sealed them beyond doubt by joining the 3,000-hit club in this early-season game against the Twins in Minnesota. The 39-year-old Ripken collected three hits on the day, singling to center off Hector Carrasco in the seventh inning for No. 3,000. He would retire after the following season with 3,184 career hits, which remains the most in Orioles history and the 15th most of all time.

Oct. 7, 1983: Landrum's clutch blast
Was this the most unexpected home run in Orioles history? The most clutch? Maybe so on both counts. Tito Landrum only went deep once in the regular season in 1983, and he would only hit 13 regular-season homers in parts of nine big league campaigns. But he's remembered in Baltimore for one great swing, which broke a scoreless tie in the 10th inning of Game 4 of the 1983 American League Championship Series. Propelling the Orioles' to their 3-0 series-clinching win over Chicago, Landrum sent the O's to the World Series, where they'd triumph over the Phillies in five games.

Sept. 6, 1996: Steady Eddie joins 500-homer club
Hall of Fame slugger Eddie Murray spent his first 12 MLB seasons with the Orioles. He was enshrined in Cooperstown in 2003 wearing an Orioles cap. So it was only fitting Murray joined the 500 home run club back in Baltimore, wearing an O's uniform a few weeks after the club reacquired him from Cleveland in July '96. The 40-year-old Murray connected off righty Felipe Lira for No. 500; he'd total 504 homers across 21 seasons, second most by a switch hitter in MLB history.