Happy Birthday Rick Dempsey & Kurt Gouveia

Happy birthday Rick Dempsey. Rick played 24 seasons in the bigs, including 12 seasons with the Orioles. He was well known as a notorious jokester who entertained crowds with his “rain delay improv.” Dempsey would hit an imaginary inside the park homerun and run the bases on the rain –soaked tarp…the highlight of which was his headfirst slide across home plate. It was even funnier when he had the “tighty whitey” jockey underwear on the outside of his jersey, making fun of Jim Palmer’s old underwear ads. To further show Rick’s comedy chops…he recenlty had a movie script that he wrote purchased by Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions! Rick was a great defensive catcher and handler of pitchers. He ranks 15th all-time on the Orioles list of games played with 1,245. Rick’s career spanned 4 decades and he had the distinction of being the youngest player in 1969 (19 yrs old) and the oldest in 1992 (42 yrs old.) Rick came to the Orioles in a 10 player trade with the Yankees in 1976, a trade that also brought Tippy Martinez and Scott McGregor to Baltimore. Rick’s Oriole career was highlighted by being chosen as the 83’ World Series MVP. The Orioles made a mistake in 2003 when Rick was passed over and Lee Mazzilli was chosen as the new skipper. Rick has worked for the O’s in several capacities (1st/3rd base coach, bullpen coach) and now works as an analyst for MASN. Happy 60th Mr. Dempsey.

Happy birthday Kurt Gouveia. Kurt played 10 seasons for the Redskins and earned 2 Super Bowl rings during his tenure. He also was a member of the 84’ BYU National Champions and was elected to the Hawaii Sports HOF. As a Redskin Kurt appeared in 130games and collected 573 tackles. His best season came in 92’ when he made 169 tackles, 3 interceptions and a sack. Kurt had an interception in all 3 games of the playoffs during the Skins 91’ Super Bowl run. Charley Casserly was quoted as saying that Kurt was the “greatest college linebacker I ever scouted.” I used to play softball with Kurt in Sterling Park, VA. Kurt’s son now plays football at Virginia Tech (so do Russ Grimm’s and Don Warren’s.) Happy 45th Mr. Gouveia.

Cheers and Hail