Once at SABR 39, you won’t want to miss the Player Panel featuring longtime Baltimore Orioles catcher (and current Orioles TV color analyst) Rick Dempsey, to be held Friday, July 31, 10:30–11:55 a.m.

Dempsey is one of the Baltimore Orioles’ most beloved players in recent memory. Dempsey’s big-league career began in 1969 with the Minnesota Twins. He also spent four seasons with the New York Yankees before joining the Orioles in 1976 as part of a 10-player trade. The highlight of his time with the Orioles was undoubtedly his MVP performance in the 1983 World Series. Dempsey had the game-winning RBI in Game Two and homered and doubled in the Game Five clincher, hitting .385 overall. He also led AL catchers in fielding in 1981 and 1983 and in assists in 1979. When he left Baltimore at the end of the 1986 season as a free agent, he had caught more games than anyone in franchise history. Dempsey played for the Indians, Dodgers, and Brewers before retiring as an Oriole in 1992.

In addition to his stellar play, Dempsey was known for his sense of humor and “rain delay theater,” in which he would emerge from the dugout in his stockinged feet and pantomime hitting an inside-the-park home run, complete with a slide into home plate on the rain-soaked infield tarp. Sometimes he would do this while wearing a pair of underpants over his uniform, a not-so-subtle teasing of teammate Jim Palmer’s famous Jockey underwear ads. Dempsey outdid himself during a 1977 rain delay at Fenway Park, when he did his standard pantomime routine with towels stuffed in his shirt to evoke Babe Ruth’s famous belly and then stood on the dugout and led the crowd in an impromptu rendition of “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head.”

Dempsey has remained part of the Orioles organization in one way or another since retiring as a player. He served as a coach (primarily first base) in the early 2000s and, beginning in 2007, became the studio analyst for “O’s Xtra” on MASN, the cable channel that carries Orioles games.

Rick Dempsey will be interviewed by SABR member George Michael. Bob Davids Chapter members know Michael well for his keen interest in identifying the participants – players and umpires alike – in sliding photos. Others may recognize him as the longtime sports anchor for WRC, Channel 4 in Washington, and his hosting of the “George Michael Sports Machine” Sunday night sports roundup program.