Why do orioles wear number 4

Glenn Liebhardt. Vito Tamulis. Ed Cole. Lefty Mills. Lefty West. Pete Layden. Blackie Schwamb. Karl Drews. Al Widmar. Cliff Fannin. Vic Wertz. Bob Chakales. Art Schallock. Sandy Consuegra. Bert Hamric. Billy Hoeft. Johnny Powers. Pete Burnside. Gino Cimoli. Dave Vineyard. Frank Robinson. Frank O'Rourke. Buck Stanton. Lou Polli. Johnny Niggeling. Tex Shirley. Ellis Kinder. Bryan Stephens. Joe Ostrowski. Jake Crawford. George Schmees.

Ryne Duren. Howie Fox. Bob Harrison. Art Houtteman. Albie Pearson. Curt Motton. Larry Brown. Bob Bailor. Elliott Maddox.

Steve Stone. Dave Ford. Dan Morogiello. Mark Brown. Phil Huffman. Kelly Paris. Jack O'Connor. Mark Thurmond. Stan Jefferson. Donell Nixon. David Segui. Tom Bolton. Kent Mercker. Mike Milchin. Jimmy Key. Charles Johnson. Sammy Sosa. Nick Markakis. Jorge Lopez. Earl McNeely. Ed Linke. Denny Galehouse. Sig Jakucki. George Bradley. Jim Bilbrey. Satchel Paige. Jay Porter. Tom Wright. Lou Kretlow. Virgil Trucks. Dave Koslo. Hal Smith. Joe Ginsberg.

Jack Fisher. Dean Stone. Jim Palmer. Larry Bettencourt. Jim Weaver. Roy Mahaffey. Julio Bonetti. Vern Kennedy. Charlie Fuchs. Dee Sanders. George Archie. Glen Moulder. Kermit Wahl. Pete Taylor. Mike Blyzka. Harry Dorish. Milt Pappas. Chuck Estrada. Carl Warwick. Vic Roznovsky. Don Baylor. Grant Jackson.

Tippy Martinez. Doug Corbett. Oswaldo Peraza. Kevin Hickey. Joe Price. Charlie Greene. Trent Hubbard. LaTroy Hawkins. Fernando Tatis. Fernando Cabrera. Paul Shuey. Ryan Bukvich. Ty Wigginton. Nelson Cruz. Travis Snider. Joey Rickard. Jace Peterson. Wade LeBlanc. Ed Grimes. Mike Meola. Loy Hanning. Nels Potter. Sam Zoldak. Tom Ferrick. Dale Long. Jim McDonald. Johnny Hetki. Bob Mahoney. Bobo Holloman. Bob Turley. Vern Bickford.

Harry Byrd. Roger Marquis. Kal Segrist. Gordie Sundin. Dizzy Trout. Arnie Portocarrero. Herm Starrette. Lou Piniella. Bill Short. Dave Leonhard. Pete Richert. Enos Cabell. Mike Torrez. Rick Dempsey. Dave Schmidt. John Mitchell. Dwight Evans. Matt Nokes. Eric Davis. Willis Otanez.

Greg Myers. Guillermo Quiroz. Adam Eaton. Chris Tillman. Wilson Betemit. Jason Pridie. Pedro Alvarez. DJ Stewart. Garland Braxton. Frank Waddey. Nap Kloza. Snipe Hansen. Hal Warnock. Bob Weiland. Tommy Thomas. Ed Baecht. George Hennessey. Hal Spindel. Al Hollingsworth. Fred Sanford. Bobby Herrera. Stubby Overmire. Hal White. Ted Gray.

Babe Birrer. Mike Fornieles. Whitey Lockman. Moe Drabowsky. Rich Dauer. Tom Dodd. Carl Nichols. Ray Knight. Butch Davis. Rafael Palmeiro. Ricky Bones. Jay Gibbons. Kurt Birkins. Jim Miller. Brian Bass. Garrett Atkins. Josh Bell. Derrek Lee. Luis Exposito. Jim Thome. Bud Norris. Hyun Soo Kim. Anthony Santander. Tom Jenkins. Ted Gullic. Charley O'Leary.

Red Barkley. Hooks Iott. Pete Appleton. Bill Kennedy. Ralph Winegarner. Dave Madison. Marlin Stuart. Dick Luebke.

Don Stanhouse. Joe Kerrigan. Al Pardo. Bobby Bonilla. David Dellucci. Pete Incaviglia. Pete Smith. Brook Fordyce. Sal Fasano. Cla Meredith. Jorge Mateo. Grover Hartley. Harry Davis. Bob Savage. Sid Schacht. Saul Rogovin. Charlie Beamon. Joe Durham. Joe Taylor. Art Quirk.

Nate Smith. Wally Bunker. Orlando Pena. Andres Mora. Benny Ayala. Lee Lacy. John Habyan. Dave Johnson. Glenn Davis. Lonnie Smith. Rocky Coppinger. Jim Corsi. Buddy Groom. Bruce Chen. Jaret Wright. Mark Hendrickson. Vladimir Guerrero. Matt Lindstrom. Delmon Young. Francisco Pena. Andrew Susac. Ben Huffman. Jake Wade. Jim Wilson. Dick Starr.

Duke Markell. Stan Rojek. Hal Brown. Pete Ward. George Brunet. Eddie Fisher. John O'Donoghue. Tom Shopay. Paul Hartzell. Jim Traber. Marty Brown. Shane Turner. Jack Voigt. Curtis Goodwin. Randy Myers.

Joel Bennett. Radhames Dykhoff. Mike Trombley. Ryan McGuire. John Stephens. Damian Moss. Eric DuBose. Keith Reed. Luis Terrero. Danys Baez. Blake Davis. Ronny Paulino. Randy Wolf. Steve Pearce. Edwin Jackson. David Washington. Colby Rasmus. Breyvic Valera. Pedro Severino. Eddie Silber. Fuzz White. Bob Muncrief. Al Papai. Ray Moore. Jack Harshman. Dick Hall. Tom Fisher. Marcelino Lopez. Ken Singleton. Jeff Ballard. Pat Clements.

Brad Pennington. Gene Harris. Luis Polonia. Joe Carter. Derrick May. Jay Spurgeon. Chris Singleton. Kurt Ainsworth. Adam Loewen.

Chris Waters. David Hernandez. Brandon Snyder. Tommy Hunter. Julio Borbon. Welington Castillo. Asher Wojciechowski. Ramon Urias. Hank McDonald. Slick Coffman. Johnny Allen. Archie McKain. Al Milnar. Al Gerheauser. Bob Malloy. Gene Bearden. Bob Mabe. Hobie Landrith. Harvey Haddix. John Buzhardt. Mike Fiore. Chico Salmon. Ken Holtzman. Dave Pagan.

Dennis Martinez. Ricky Jones. Tito Landrum. Gregg Olson. Dwight Smith. This is part of a series on retired numbers, with somewhat of a focus on Retired Number Bandits — players who wore a number that was later retired at any point after the person for whom it was retired first wore it.

See the introduction for more information and explanation on Bandits. Perhaps the most impressive team when it comes to avoiding Retired Number Bandits is the Baltimore Orioles.

The Orioles have officially retired six numbers and unofficially retired three others. Not a single one of the officially retired uniform numbers has been worn since its most famous owner, and their record is nearly as good with their unofficially retired numbers.

Some of that is due to circumstance, perhaps — all six of those men were clear or likely Hall of Famers by the time their Orioles careers ended, and all of them made significant contributions to championship teams. But many teams have let the numbers of clear Hall of Famers be worn by lesser players before retiring them, and the Orioles deserve credit for putting these six numbers on ice immediately after the Hall of Famers took of the jerseys.

Robinson played his entire year Hall of Fame career with the Orioles. His solid offense and premium defense made him a first-ballot Hall of Famer in He retired in and the Orioles retired his number the next year. Ripken was similar to Robinson in some ways, playing his entire career on the left side of the Orioles infield. Although Ripken only won two Gold Gloves, he played premium defense at the most demanding position on the field, even more impressive when you factor in that he was the tallest shortstop in big league history.

He is, of course, most famous for his streak of playing in 2, consecutive games. In , his final season, he was elected to his 19th All-Star berth, breaking the AL record for most times as an All-Star, previously held by Brooks Robinson 18 games over 15 seasons, Technically, he started the game at shortstop, breaking Ozzie Smith's record for most All-Star games at that position when Alex Rodriguez moved him there and took third base.

Ripken finished his career with 3, games played, eighth most in baseball history and fourth in games with one club behind Carl Yastrzemski 3, , Hank Aaron 3, and Stan Musial 3, Ripken played 20 years and 57 days in the Majors, all with the Orioles. He was originally drafted in the second round of the First Year Player Draft.

Frank's achievements during his 21 seasons as a player rank him among the top players of all-time in 10 categories. He hit home runs, 6th on the all-time list. He spent 19 seasons with the Orioles as a player, coach ''80 and ''87 , manager ' '91 and assistant general manager '' The trade that brought Frank from Cincinnati to Baltimore turned the Orioles from contenders to World Champions in He won the Triple Crown.

In all, the Orioles went to the World Series four times in his six seasons as a player with them. When he was traded to the Dodgers after the '71 season, he became the first to have his number retired by the Orioles.

While still an active player, he became the first black manager in Major League history with the Cleveland Indians in Washington Nationals '' Frank was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame the first year he was eligible in The greatest pitcher in Orioles history, Jim won games in a year career, all of it with Baltimore.

He won three Cy Young Awards in a four-year span '73, '75, '76 and his 2. Jim won 20 games in a season eight times, one of only six who pitched exclusively in the 20th century to accomplish the feat. He put that string together in a 9-year stretch, , during which he went with a 2. In , at age 20, he became the youngest pitcher ever to throw a World Series shutout, and in he became the only hurler to have won a World Series game in each of three decades. He was the winning pitcher in the Orioles' first four pennant clinching games and was in 17 post-season appearances.

He was a six-time All-Star and was the AL's starting pitcher four times.