Adam Jones, Joe Orsulak and Tom Davis are inducted to the Orioles Hall of Fame! (Full ceremony)
Welcome to the 2025 Orioles Hall of Fame induction ceremony. My name is Brett Hollander and I’m honored to be here as we gather to celebrate the careers of Orioles broadcaster Tom Davis and outfielders Joe Orselac and Adam Jones. Tonight we’ll present the highly esteemed Herb Armstrong Award and also witness the induction of two new members of the Orioles Hall of Fame, bringing the number to 62 former Orioles in the hall. These individuals will receive the ultimate compliment that an organization and community can bestow upon its heroes. induction into a club that includes the likes of Brooks and Frank Robinson, Jim Palmer, Eddie Murray, Cal Ripken Jr., Earl Weaver, Chuck Thompson, and Rex Barney. Men who represented our hometown team with distinction both on and off the field. As part of their induction, the 2025 inductees will each receive the signature green Orioles Hall of Fame jacket as well as an engraved Hall of Fame watch, a time piece from SA Baltimore, the official watch company of the Orioles. Here to deliver the inductees watches to the stage is the founder of SA Baltimore Watch Company, Alan South. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] Thank you, Alan. The Orioles Hall of Fame was established in 1977 by the Oral Advocates and continues to be administered by the Advocates today. On stage this evening is the vice president of the Oral Advocates. Please welcome Lorie Thomas, twotime MLB home run champion Chris Davis. pitcher and massive broadcaster Dave Johnson. 2021 Orioles Hall of Famer DVO Mike Dero 2000 Orioles Hall of Famer Tippy Martinez 1987 Orioles Hall of Famer the BL Bumbrey 2015 Orioles Hall of Famer Melvin Mora. 2024 Orioles Hall of Famer and forever a resident at 2110 Utah Street, Nick Marqueis. and 2007 baseball hall of famer and Orioles legend number eight Cal Ripken Jr. And on stage, 1990 Hall of Famer, Orioles broadcaster, and all-time great number 22, Jim Palmer. In addition to Jim joining us here on stage to present our inductees with their awards, please welcome Orioles broadcaster Scott Garco. and former Orioles manager Buck Sho Walter. And now, let’s meet the newest members of the Orioles Hall of Fame. This year’s Herb Armstrong Award winner is a local broadcasting legend in his 54th year on air. Please welcome Tom Davis. [Applause] This inductee spent five of his 14 big league seasons with the Orioles and led the team in hitting three times. Please welcome Slack Joe Orselac. [Applause] [Music] And we’re honored to induct an outfielder who spent 11 of his 14 major league seasons in an Orioles uniform. one of the best all-around players in club history and your center fielder for over a decade. Please welcome Adam Jones. And now let’s meet our first honore. The Herbert E. Armstrong Award honors non-uniform personnel who have made a significant contribution to the ball club and to the game of baseball. Our honore tonight spent nearly two decades broadcasting Orioles games on radio and television as the pregame, postgame, and in-game host, as well as filling in playbyplay. Let’s take a look back at the legendary career of Tom Davis. Tom Davis began his broadcasting career in 1971 at WB TV and is still at it, serving as producer and host of Take Me Out to the Ball Game and Wall- towall baseball on Massiden. For many years, he hosted the Orioles pre and postgame shows and also provided in-game updates and notes from the camera well next to the Orioles dugout. He also filled in doing playbyplay on radio and TV. And one of his career highlights was calling the 400th home run of Cal Ripken’s career. Wide ball deep left. Career home run number 400. He’s a five-time winner of the Maryland Sports Cer of the Year Award, has called Baltimore Colts games, the NFL on NBC, college football games, as well as Olympic boxing and basketball. He also did playbyplay on the first ever Ravens game played next door, a preseason game between the Ravens and Bears in 1998. Congratulations to the 2025 Herbert E. Armstrong Award winner and Orioles Hall of Famer Tom Davis. First, let’s give a warm welcome to members of the Davis family, including Tom’s wife, Bonnie, son, Tad, and daughters Mandy and Melinda. Now, please welcome to the podium Orioles Hall of Famer Tom Davis. Thank you, Brad. Good evening everyone. It’s a night of thanks to the Orio advocates and the Orioles organization for being honored with the Herb Armstrong for non-playing personnel award and the Orioles Hall of Fame. Now to be honored in the same breath with broadcasters Chuck Thompson, Bill O’Donnell, Joe Angel, Fred Man, Rex Barney is absolutely unbelievable. For a kid who grew up in Hamilton, Parkville, and Talson with great parents, Milton and Margaret Davis, and educated at St. Ursulus, Calbert Hall, and University of Baltimore. It’s quite an honor. I want to thank everyone over the last 55 years for accepting me into your homes and cars, your TVs and radios for coverage of Royals baseball, Ravens, and Colts football. I’ve worked with many talented people in my TV and radio career here in Baltimore, and I really do appreciate all their effort to help out. As Lou Garri would say, I’m the luckiest guy in the world right now. I want to thank my family and every Baltimore sports fan for your support and ac acceptance since uh June of 1971. As Chuck Thompson would say, ain’t the beer cold. As Vince Bagley would say, it’s been a pleasure. And as Rex Barney would say, thank you. And thank you all. I appreciate it a lot. here to present Tom with an engraved Hall of Fame watch from the Orioles official watch company, SA Baltimore. And to formerly induct him into the Orioles Hall of Fame is a man who needs no introduction, baseball hall of famer, Orioles legend Jim Palmer. [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Ladies and gentlemen, let’s hear it for the 2025 Herb Armstrong Award winner, Tom Davis. Congratulations, Tom. Such a role model for us local broadcasters here in Baltimore. Next this evening, we’re honored to induct a former Orioles outfielder who led the team in batting three times in his five years with the team. Let’s take a look back at this gritty outfielder’s career. If ever a player epitomized the blue collar work ethic of Baltimore, it was Joe Orselac. He was acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates after the 1987 season. And over the next 5 years, he hit .281, the highest average on the team over that 5-year stretch. He was second on the Orioles in games played, hits, and doubles. The only player with more was a guy by the name of Cal Ripken Jr. He led the Orioles in batting in 1988, 89, and 1992. And in 1991, he led the majors and set an Orioles team record with 22 outfield assists and ranked seventh in club history in that category with 52. He played 14 years in the majors for five teams, three of them after leaving the Orioles, but he remained in Baltimore. You still see Joe around Camden Yards and out in the community as part of the Orioles alumni program. Congratulations to Orioles Hall of Famer Joe Orselac. Joining us for tonight’s ceremony, please give a warm welcome to Joe’s family, including his wife, Dawn, and son, Matt. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the podium Orioles Hall of Famer Joe Orselac. Thank you for that ovation. I appreciate it. Thank you for the uh Orio advocates for putting on this great event. We really appreciate that too. I debuted in 1988 season leading the Orioles to 21 straight losses. We were 16 games out of first place in April. Welcome to Baltimore, Joe. But it didn’t take long to realize what a great baseball town Baltimore was. After we ended the nightmare streak with a win over the White Socks, we came home. The plane landed to 10,000 fans with supportive signs. I was like, can you believe this? I mean, I wouldn’t get up at 2:00 in the morning to go see a team that’s one and 21. The next night it was fantastic fan night and we had 50,000 people to come see a one in 23 team against I think the Oakland A’s. They weren’t they weren’t as good as you are now, but uh on a on a Monday night. So that gives you an idea what type the best fans in the league are if they come to see a team like that. That night we won the game and they announced that they were going to build a new stadium at Camden Yards. It was a great night for the for the oral team and the fans. I played four years at Memorial Stadium and one year at Camden Yards. Canon Yard is the most beautiful stadium ever built and still is. I still live here. 37 years. Family, great friends, friendly people is the reason I never left and I never will. I promise you I am humbled, honored, and proud to join the Orioles Hall of Fame. Thank you. Here to present Joe with an engraved Hall of Fame watch from South Baltimore and to formerly induct him into the Orioles Hall of Fame is Orioles broadcaster and Joe’s longtime golf buddy Scott Garco. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Ladies and gentlemen, let’s hear it for 2025 Orioles Hall of Fame inductee Joe Orsel. Congrats, Joe. And finally, we honor an outfielder whose acquisition from the Seattle Mariners in 2008 helped spur the Orioles to three playoff appearances during his 11 years in Baltimore. Let’s take a look back at this legendary career of Adam Jones. Adam Jones ranks among the best ever to wear the Orioles uniform. fourth all time in at bats, hits, and total bases. Fifth in home runs, runs scored, runs batted in, and extra base hits. Seventh in doubles, and eighth in games played. And he’s tied for second in club history with his former outfield mate Nick Marqueis with 93 outfield assists. He was a five-time all-star, a four-time Gold Glove Award winner, and a three-time most valuable oral, and was the first Orioles outfielder to win a Silver Slugger award. Twice he played for the United States in the World Baseball Classic. Off the field, he was just as impactful in the Baltimore community, donating time and money to the Boys and Girls Club and MLB’s Reviving Baseball and Inner Cities programs, both of which he continues to support. Adam has been honored with the game’s most prestigious off- the- field awards by Major League Baseball and by his peers. He was the Orioles recipient multiple times for both the Heart and Hustle Award and the Roberto Clemente Award, which best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, and community. Adam will not only be remembered as an all-time great Orio, but also as an all-time great Baltimore. Congratulations to Orioles Hall of Famer Adam Jones joining us tonight for his induction. Please welcome Adam’s family including his wife Audi and sons August and Axel Birdland. Please welcome to the podium Orioles Hall of Famer number 10 Adam Jones. Wow, That’s that’s what I got to say. Baltimore been my home for 11 years. That was my spot right out there that I took tremendous pride in playing for you guys. I took tremendous pride with playing for the name on the front of the chest more than I did on the back. The physical toll the game took on me to show it. But I, you know, I just want to say thank you for welcoming me. welcoming my family, my great friends from California made me this uh you guys welcome my mother with such such respect and just it’s it’s you know hard not to get emotional up here but just thank you. Wow. It’s a pleasure again to have my peers joining an illustrious group of Orioles Hall of Famers. I’ve got to see you guys come in this podium through the years and wow, what a treat to now being able to join you, Palmer. I get to join you in the Hall of Fame. Now I get to mess with you a little bit more. I get now I got one on you. Can we with you? Um but to to the Orioles players, hey, I was where you was at. Continue to grind. Play for the front of the jersey. Trust me, you do it for a long enough time, you’ll be where I’m at. Baltimore, thank you. Notice the orange and black shoes. So now for his induction, Adam Jones will get an engraved hall of fame watch from South Baltimore and to formally induct him into the Orioles Hall of Fame, the second winningest manager in club history, Buck Shoalter. [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] fans. Let’s hear one more time for 2025 Orioles Hall of Fame inductee Adam Jones. Congrats, AJ. Before we conclude our program tonight, we would like to invite our newest Orioles Hall of Famers to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. Catching the first pitch tonight will be Dean Kramer, Kobe Mayo, and Keegan Aken. [Applause] [Music] Okay, Tom, Joan, Adam, it’s your pitch. [Music] Let’s hear it one more time for Orioles Hall of Fame class of 2025. [Applause] [Music] fans. We invite you to stop by the Orioles Hall of Fame located on Utah Street where you can see the plaques of all the Orioles Hall of Fame inductees and soon the plaques of this 2025 class. Once again, we want to thank all of our special guests for being with us this evening. And we congratulate our 2025 Orioles Hall of Fame inductees, Tom Davis, Joe Orselac, and Adam Jones. Enjoy the game, everyone. And go. Thank you so much, Brett Hollander. And you can’t have three more deserving inductees than this class right here. Adam Jones, as I said before, he represents an entire era of baseball along with his manager who presented for him, Buck Shaw Walter. We’ll be right back. Oh, extra pregame show from Cam Yards. [Music]
Adam Jones among the Orioles legends inducted to their Hall of Fame on August 9, 2025.
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