Boog Powell

Powell was born in Lakeland, Florida; he played for that city's team in the 1954 Little League World Series. After his family moved to Key West when he was 15, Powell played at Key West High School and graduated in 1959.[2] He signed with the Baltimore Orioles; Jim Russo (the scout who signed him) was also the scout who would sign Jim Palmer and Dave McNally.[3] Powell joined the Orioles after leading the International League in home runs at Rochester in 1961. Powell spent his first three seasons in Baltimore as a slow-footed left fielder before switching to first base in 1965. At the plate he was an immediate success, hitting 25 home runs in 1963; in 1964 he led the American League in slugging percentage (.606) while blasting a career-high 39 home runs, despite missing several weeks because of a broken wrist. Powell slumped to .248 with 17 home runs in 1965, then won the American League Comeback player of the Year honors in 1966 (.287, 34 home runs, 109 runs batted in) while being hampered by a broken finger.

Powell received the nickname “Boog” from his father. As Powell explained, “In the South they call little kids who are often getting into mischief buggers, and my dad shortened it to Boog.”[4][5]

Powell at the Annapolis Book Festival in 2015

In 1966, Powell, along with Frank Robinson and Brooks Robinson, led the Orioles to the World Series, where they surprised the baseball world by sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers in four games to become baseball's world champions.

Before the 1968 season, Powell lamented, "once, just once, I'd like to go through a whole season without an injury." and he did just that, playing over 150 games each of the next three seasons. In 1969 he hit a career-high .304 with 37 home runs and 121 runs batted in, and in 1970 he was the American League Most Valuable Player, hitting 35 home runs with 114 runs batted in and narrowly missed a .300 average during the last week of the season. In the 1970 World Series, Powell homered in the first two games as the Orioles defeated the Cincinnati Reds in five games. Prior to the 1971 season, Powell appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated for the 1971 baseball preview issue. Powell helped Baltimore reach a third straight World Series that year, blasting a pair of home runs in game two of the 1971 ALCS against the up-and-coming Oakland Athletics, but he hit only .111 in the Series as Baltimore lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates in seven games.

Powell had been an American League all-star for four straight years (1968–1971). However, Oriole manager Earl Weaver believed in making liberal use of the platoon system; in 1973 and 1974, Powell fell victim to it, limiting his at-bats. He and Don Hood were traded to the Cleveland Indians for Dave Duncan and minor league outfielder Alvin McGrew on February 25 1975.[6] Powell, again a regular with the Indians, batted .297 (with 129 hits) and 27 home runs (his best season since 1970), and a .997 fielding percentage. However, he hit only nine home runs in 1976. His final season was 1977, as a pinch-hitter for the Dodgers. He hit .244 with no home runs and 5 RBI's. He was released on August 31, 1977.

In a 17-season career, Powell posted a .266 batting average with 339 home runs, 1187 RBI, .462 slugging percentage and a .361 on-base percentage in 2042 games. Powell hit three home runs in a game three times, and was second only to Eddie Murray on the Orioles' all-time home run list before Cal Ripken Jr. surpassed Powell in 1994.

In 1983, Powell received five votes for the Hall of Fame (1.3% of all BBWAA voters) in his only appearance on the ballot.

In the 1970s and 1980s Powell appeared in more than ten different television commercials for Miller Lite beer, including a memorable one with umpire Jim Honochick.[7] Playing on the theme of mocking umpires who make bad calls, the ad featured Honochick trying unsuccessfully to read the label on a beer bottle as Powell did the voice over. Borrowing Powell's glasses to bring the label into focus, and suddenly able to see who is standing next to him at the bar and providing the narration, Honochick exclaims, "Hey, you're Boog Powell!"[8][9]

Powell is mentioned in an episode of Cheers entitled Sam at Eleven. The fictional star of Cheers, ex-Red Sox reliever Sam Malone, relates his greatest moment in the Major Leagues: retiring Boog Powell in both games of a doubleheader[10]

Powell is also mentioned in an episode of Bill Burr's Netflix original show F Is for Family. While searching for his wife after having an argument, Frank Murphy drives past a batting cage and hears the crack of the bat hitting a pitch. He then quips to his daughter Maureen, "That's either your mother or Boog Powell."

Powell currently owns Boog's Barbecue, which sells barbecue sandwiches, pit beef, and ribs in three locations: on Eutaw Street at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the Boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland, and at Ed Smith Stadium, Sarasota, Florida, during the spring training season. Powell is an avid angler, kicking off the Maryland Fishing season with the governor.

• List of Major League Baseball career home run leaders
• List of Major League Baseball career runs batted in leaders

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Boog Powell.

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• profile Baseball Library