Total Years of Service: 17 (1965-81)
Position: Shortstop
Photo via Baltimore Sports Then and Now
Belanger was the Birds' regular shortstop during the franchise's glory years. He won eight Gold Gloves in his career and was part of what has to be considered one of the greatest defensive infields in baseball history: the incomparable Brooks Robinson at third, Davey Johnson and later Bobby Grich at second and Boog Powell at first. Powell was the weak link defensively but jeez, you've gotta hide a bat somewhere! The 2B-SS-3B combination in Baltimore won Gold Gloves together in five different seasons.
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For each letter of the A to Z Challenge, I will feature one player from Baltimore Orioles/St. Louis Browns history. I hope you will join me. I hope you'll also check out the other 1100+ blogs participating. See the full list at Tossing It Out.
In particular, I hope you'll check out the A to Z posts from a few of my friends:
Stay on target... by my buddy, Mock
Tossing It Out by Arlee Bird, the mastermind behind the whole concept
The Eagle's Aerial Perspective
A Writer's Reality
Armorian Empires Trilogy
Mock deserves extra thanks for (a) bringing the A to Z Challenge to my attention, (b) goading me into trying it and (c) unintentionally providing the inspiration for my theme. As a side note for Nate Wilson, Mock is a non-asinine Sox fan (his words, Mock, not mine) such as yourself. You should check out his blog if you have not already.
Very impressive (and not just for my shout out). I think one of the things I admire most about you is that you never do anything "half-way". This will be a fun month....
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