Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun talks about the Orioles’ potential pursuit of free agent pitcher A.J. Burnett. In the process, he tells an amusing story about the last time the O’s had a chance to get Burnett. It was in 2005, when the Marlins were shopping him before he hit the free agent market. The O’s had a chance to get him and Mike Lowell for a package of prospects that, in hindsight, were no great shakes.
That didn’t happen, of course, as the O’s front office thought that, if Burnett wanted to pitch in Baltimore they could sign him that winter. That didn’t happen either, because he went to Toronto. But Conolly tells us that the O’s front office at that time wasn’t likely to go after Burnett anyway. Why?
. . .sources said Burnett, with his tattoos and body piercings, did not project the image that the Orioles wanted in one of their marquee players. Or, as one club official said to me at the time — and I think he was at least half-joking — “no way we sign a guy with nipple rings.”
Instead, the 2006 Orioles went to battle with respectable citizens in their rotation like Rodrigo Lopez, Kris Benson and Daniel Cabrera and allowed 899 runs. But at least there were no nipple rings involved.
Well, probably not. I’ve never seen Jeff Conine or Sam Perlozzo with their shirts off.
