The Orioles Franchise Deep Six

We're back for another of these Deep Six thingies, this time with a franchise that had two distinct identities. It's the Orioles franchise, which spent nearly half its existence as the St. Louis Browns. It probably seems odd to put them together (perhaps not as odd as the Twins/Senators one will be), but it's how I've chosen to do this project. Let's see what we've got:

	P	C	1B	2B	3B	SS	LF	CF	RF
1st	Jim Palmer	Chris Hoiles	George Sisler	Bobby Grich	Brooks Robinson	Cal Ripken Jr.	Ken Williams	Paul Blair	Frank Robinson
2nd	Mike Mussina	Rick Dempsey	Eddie Murray	Brian Roberts	Harlond Clift	Bobby Wallace	George Stone	Baby Doll Jacobson	Ken Singleton
3rd	Urban Shocker	Hank Severeid	Rafael Palmeiro	Del Pratt	Doug DeCinces	Mark Belanger	Don Buford	Adam Jones	Nick Markakis
4th	Ned Garver	Matt Wieters	Boog Powell	Roberto Alomar	Melvin Mora	Miguel Tejada	Goose Goslin	Brady Anderson	Jack Tobin
5th	Harry Howell	Gus Triandos	Jim Gentile	Davey Johnson	Jimmy Austin	Luis Aparicio	Heinie Manush	Wally Judnich	Harry Rice
6th	Carl Weilman	Wally Schang	George McQuinn	Marty McManus	Manny Machado	Vern Stephens	B.J. Surhoff	Mike Devereaux	Merv Rettenmund

It's probably no surprise that most members of the 1st Team are from the Baltimore era. However, the St. Louis era is in the majority on the 5th and 6th Teams.

This franchise is surprisingly deep at both first base and shortstop, and third base ain't too shabby either. I expect to see Manny Machado move up the list in the future. The only reason he ranks behind Jimmy Austin is the fact that Austin played for the Browns so long.

This franchise is surprisingly shallow in the outfield; the only inner-circle great at any of the outfield positions is Frank Robinson. Goose Goslin is an acceptable Hall of Famer, and Heinie Manush is in, though he probably shouldn't be, but the rest are just very good players, and the pickings were slim for the lower teams.

In the starting pitcher column you have two Oriole aces, then four straight Brownies. Despite the renowned pitching staffs that have been seen down Baltimore way, none of them has ever been laden with long-lasting superstars. Give the Orioles credit for being able to assemble strong groups without individual standouts.