Rick Dempsey

Dempsey was selected by the Minnesota Twins in the 15th round of the 1967 Major League Baseball draft out of Crespi Carmelite High School. He spent two seasons in the minor leagues. ==Major league career==

Dempsey made his major league debut late in the 1969 season for the division winning Twins managed by Billy Martin, however he didn't qualify for the postseason roster. During his tenure with the Yankees, he served as a reserve catcher to Thurman Munson, and received tutoring from Yankees coach and former catching standout Jim Hegan. After three and a half seasons with the Yankees, the Baltimore Orioles acquired Dempsey along with Scott McGregor, Tippy Martinez, Rudy May, and Dave Pagan for Ken Holtzman, Doyle Alexander, Elrod Hendricks, Grant Jackson, and Jimmy Freeman at the trade deadline on 15 June 1976. He, McGregor and Martinez became part of a nucleus that enabled the Orioles to continue as perennial contenders for the next decade. For the next ten and a half seasons, Dempsey was the Orioles' starting catcher. He became known for his exceptional ability to handle pitching staffs, his strong throwing arm, and for his agility behind home plate. In the 1979 World Series, the Orioles won three of the first four games against the Pittsburgh Pirates and seemed to be on the verge of winning the championship, when the Pirates, led by Willie Stargell, rebounded to win the final three games. It was one of Dempsey's greatest disappointments of his playing career. In 1983, the Orioles won the American League Eastern Division pennant, then defeated the Chicago White Sox in the 1983 American League Championship Series, before winning the 1983 World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies. Dempsey posted a .385 batting average along with a .923 slugging percentage in the five-game series, and won the World Series Most Valuable Player Award, one of six catchers to have won the award. In 1987, Dempsey became a free agent and signed a contract to play for the Cleveland Indians. After only one season with the Indians, he became a free agent once again and signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he would be a member of another World Series-winning team in 1988, this time as a backup catcher to Mike Scioscia. After three seasons with the Dodgers, he played one season with the Milwaukee Brewers, before returning to the Baltimore Orioles for his final season in 1992. His sense of humor during his playing career was renowned, and he was famous for his "rain delay theatre" performances, in which he emerged from the dugout in stockinged feet onto the tarpaulin covering the infield during a rain delay and pantomimed hitting an inside-the-park home run, climaxed by his sliding into home plate on his belly on the wet tarp, all to the raucous delight of the soggy fans. He sometimes did this while wearing a pair of underpants over his uniform, making fun of teammate Jim Palmer's famous advertisements for Jockey brand briefs. ==Career statistics==

In a 24-year career, Dempsey played in 1,765 games, accumulating 1,093 hits in 4,692 at bats for a .233 career batting average along with 96 home runs and 471 runs batted in. During his career, Dempsey caught ten different 20-game winning pitchers. Dempsey fared well offensively in postseason play. In 14 World Series and 11 playoff games, he batted .303 (20-for-66) with 11 runs, 11 doubles, 1 home run, 7 RBIs, 1 stolen base and 7 bases on balls. Dempsey also won a Little League World Series in 1963 with the team from Canoga Park-Woodland Hills, California. ==Coaching and broadcasting career==

After his playing career ended, Dempsey became a minor league manager in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization, winning the 1994 Pacific Coast League championship with the Triple-A Albuquerque Dukes. He then joined the New York Mets organisation, managing the Norfolk Tides in 1997 and 1998. Dempsey served as first base coach for the Orioles for several seasons, starting in 2002. He eventually shifted to the third base coaching position in the season after bench coach Sam Perlozzo was promoted to interim manager. He assumed the bullpen coach position in the season, replacing Elrod Hendricks who the team intended to reassign to another position in the organization before his death. Later in 2006, he became the first base coach again when the team reassigned Dave Cash. Dempsey has been a candidate for managerial openings with the Orioles in the past, as recently as when the Orioles interviewed him for the spot that eventually went to Lee Mazzilli. He was mentioned again as a possible candidate for the Baltimore manager's job in 2010, after the firing of Dave Trembley. Dempsey also served as an Oriole color commentator in 2000 and began another stint in 2007, as the studio analyst for '''O's Xtra''' on MASN, the cable channel that carries Orioles games. In addition, he serves as a game analyst for occasional games on MASN. In 1985, Dick Enberg was in Toronto for Games 1 and 7 of the 1985 ALCS on NBC. Enberg hosted the pregame show alongside Dempsey (who was still active with Baltimore at the time). In 1995, Dempsey worked as a field reporter for ABC's coverage of the All-Star Game from Texas. Dempsey was among those laid off by MASN in 2021. ==See also==