SARASOTA, Fla. — After being added to the front office this winter, former outfielder Adam Jones further cements his place in Baltimore by being named one of two new additions to the Orioles Hall of Fame.
Jones, who called the honor “pretty humbling,” joins former outfielder Joe Orsulak as this year’s Hall of Fame class inductees. Additionally, longtime broadcaster Tom Davis will be inducted as the Herb Armstrong Award winner for non-players.
Jones, who spent 11 of his 14 major league seasons with Baltimore, will be recognized with a bobblehead giveaway Aug. 9 for the first 20,000 fans at Camden Yards. The figure shows Jones carrying a celebratory pie to smash in a teammate’s face — a familiar ritual Jones began carrying out in 2013 after wins.
Jones said he didn’t have input in the bobblehead design, but when he saw it Thursday, he thought it was fitting to include a pie.
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“One of the great ones was being able to pie Nick [Markakis] when we won the East in ’14. Him and J.J. [Hardy] were the only two I couldn’t pie, and Nick let me pie him on that day,” Jones said. “Very special to win the East, doing something that hadn’t been done, at that time, in 17 years.”
A luncheon for the three honorees will take place Aug. 8, and the on-field induction ceremony will be the next night ahead of Baltimore’s 7:05 p.m. first pitch against the Athletics.
Jones was — and, in his new role as an adviser to general manager Mike Elias, remains — an integral figure in Baltimore. He was acquired from the Seattle Mariners in 2008 and became a five-time All-Star who ranks near the top in franchise leaders for hits (fourth), homers (fifth), runs batted in (fifth), runs (fifth), doubles (seventh) and games played (eighth). He is one of six Orioles to be named an All-Star in at least five seasons, joining Mike Mussina, Jim Palmer, Eddie Murray, Cal Ripken Jr. and Brooks Robinson.
He was a key member of the Buck Showalter-led teams that ended the club’s 15-year playoff drought in 2012 and followed with a division title in 2014 and a wild-card appearance in 2016.
“There’s a lot of guys [from those teams], when you start to narrow it down and think, have a chance to go into the Orioles Hall of Fame,” Jones said. That includes Showalter. “Buck was the harbinger of change here, so I think he’s definitely a candidate one day. Soon, ’cause he’s not a spring chicken.”
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Orsulak played five seasons for the Orioles from 1988-92. He led the team in batting average three of those years (1988, 1989 and 1992) and, in 1991, he recorded a single-season franchise record of 22 outfield assists.
The 62-year-old also played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Mets, Montreal Expos and then-Florida Marlins.
Davis is a five-time Maryland Sportscaster of the Year winner. He served as a fill-in radio and TV broadcaster for Orioles games for three decades, hosted “O’s Xtra” on MASN and was given the John F. Steadman Lifetime Achievement Award by the Maryland State Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019.
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