Elrod Hendricks
View photos of Orioles' fan favorite Elrod Hendricks.
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View photos of Orioles' fan favorite Elrod Hendricks.
When we last saw Ian Hendricks, he'd just thrown out the ceremonial first pitch at Camden Yards, the one that opened the Orioles' season. Rick Dempsey gave him a hug and the crowd stood in appreciation of Ian's father, Elrod Hendricks, the Orioles' longtime coach who died in December.
Her late husband's team began another season yesterday at Camden Yards. Her youngest son threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
Opening Day at Camden Yards is just days away, and the Orioles still haven't decided whether to retire Elrod Hendricks' uniform No. 44.
Orioles Notebook
While the organization continues formulating plans to honor Elrod Hendricks on Opening Day at Camden Yards, the club has memorialized the beloved coach at its spring training facility.
Elrod Hendricks: 1940-2005
The stoic Hall of Famer, the one with the icy glare and unnerving calm in baseball's most pressured situations, stood outside the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in a spitting rain yesterday contemplating his most difficult challenge.
It was an appropriate sendoff. Elrod Hendricks was remembered fondly by his family, friends and former teammates in a heartfelt and spiritual memorial service yesterday that drew 1,000 mourners to the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen. What else would you expect for a man so loved and respected in this close-knit community?
Elrod Hendricks: 1940-2005
As I drove in to work yesterday, I listened to radio talk shows still mourning Elrod Hendricks' death. That was all the callers wanted to discuss.
Elrod Hendricks 1940-2005
It is the area directly behind the home team's on-deck circle at Camden Yards, in between the Orioles' dugout and the netting that protects well-seated fans from foul balls.
Maybe Elrod Hendricks could only have happened in Baltimore, where our heroes don't have to be bigger than life. They just have to be like us ... or, in Elrod's case, they just have to like us as much as we like them.
It's an old joke, and not a particularly funny one, either.
Elrod Hendricks: 1940-2005
Elrod Hendricks was the face of the Baltimore Orioles. More often than not, that face wore a broad smile.
Elrod Hendricks: 1940-2005
Elrod Hendricks, an affable and beloved sports figure in Baltimore who spent 37 of his 45 seasons in professional baseball in an Orioles uniform as a player or coach, died last night.
In his own way, Elrod Hendricks was the most valuable Oriole every year. He was a one-man community outreach program, forever taking the time to sign autographs, chat up fans, make appearances, giggle with kids - the kind of stuff that pro athletes used to do all the time.
Orioles notebook
First, Steve Reed came over and put Elrod Hendricks in a bearhug. Steve Kline did the same moments later. Jay Gibbons was next and then Miguel Tejada walked across the clubhouse to Hendricks' locker and gave the Orioles' longtime bullpen coach a firm pat on the back.
IT WOULD have been so easy to make the wrong decision. The Orioles were getting ready to return home from St. Petersburg, Fla., on Thursday night, and longtime bullpen coach Elrod Hendricks just didn't feel right.
Membership in the Orioles Hall of Fame swelled to 44 yesterday with the inductions of bullpen coach Elrod Hendricks, former pitcher Mike Boddicker and former general manager Hank Peters.
In a sport with constant change, the Orioles' Elrod Hendricks is the very soul of stability.
The best lifetime ERA in the Orioles' bullpen belongs to a man who never drew a paycheck as a pitcher, who took the mound in one game, who blanked the opposition and who gladly never returned.
He has spent 26 seasons in an Orioles uniform, most in franchise history, so if anybody knows the best and worst in club history, it is bullpen coach and former catcher Elrod Hendricks.
Copyright © 2009, The Baltimore Sun
