It’s April 25, 1996, and Arthur Rhodes moved from the bullpen to the rotation, throwing five shutout innings to send the O’s to their second-straight win in Kansas City, 3-2. Baltimore is now 13-8 on the season, and 5-0 against the Royals.

Roberto Alomar drove in two of the three runs, and Brady Anderson had an RBI double for the other. Brady now has a 12-game hit streak.

But Rhodes was the big story today. He scattered five hits and a walk over the five innings, dropping his season ERA to a miniscule 0.60. Jimmy Myers made things interesting, giving up two runs in the seventh, but Jesse Orosco returned to form in the eighth, and Randy Myers pitched a perfect ninth for his fifth save of the season. A nice and tidy win all around.

After beating the lowly Royals the last two games, the Birds will get a real test this weekend when the Rangers come to town fresh off of humiliating the O’s just a week ago in Texas. Stay tuned.

Here is the box score with the lovely totals.

Elsewhere in Birdland, the O’s sent reliever Brian Sackinsky to the minors and recalled Keith Shepherd from Rochester. As mentioned yesterday, Sackinsky would never pitch again in the majors. Shepherd has pitched in 28 games as a major leaguer, including two for Boston last year. After being injured the rest of last season, he pitched well in winter ball and was signed based on the recommendations of Roberto Alomar and Bobby Bonilla. He was one of the final cuts in the spring and will serve in middle relief. 

In other news, Cal Ripken, Jr., has been tinkering with his stance like always and seems to have stumbled on something that is working. He was 0-for-4 today, but yesterday he had four hits including his first homer of the season.

“One thing people don’t know about Cal,” said O’s manager Davey Johnson. “When he has a bad day, he might not be in the clubhouse for three hours. He’s not spending time with autograph-seekers, either. It’s to lift weights, pick up a bat, take some swings. That’s him.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 6D, April 26, 1996)

Here’s hoping the Iron Man can get hot and stay hot. 

No dingers today.

Brady’s ’burns are a-growin’ again!

Texas (13-8) at Baltimore (13-8), 7:35 p.m. ET

Starting Pitchers
TEX – LHP Darren Oliver, 1-0, 5.23 ERA
BAL – LHP David Wells, 2-1, 3.03 ERA

The #1 movie in America on the weekend of April 25, 1996, was the instant classic movie, The Quest, directed by and starring Jean Claude van Damme. It is, without a doubt, the premier movie about a Belgian guy who is sold into slavery in 1925 but is able to learn Muay Thai while in captivity in order to earn back his freedom at an ancestral martial arts tournament in Tibet.

The number of Maryland students taken out of schools and being home-schooled has quadrupled since 1990. The state says that now 8,098 pupils are being taught at home. The State Board of Education suggests that tighter controls on home schooling may be necessary.

More than half of the home-schooled students are in Baltimore and its five metro area counties. “Many parents now are discontented with their public schools and with the expense of private schools,” said Mary K. Albrittain, the chief of pupil services for the State Dept. of Education. 

Unsurprisingly, Maryland’s growth in home schooling has been fueled by an effort to privatize public education. In 1991, a change in state regulations allowed families to use private school correspondence courses as well as those supervised by church-affiliated institutions. 

“These numbers are getting kind of frightening,” said Harry D. Shapiro, a member of the state school board. “I don’t have any real comfort that these children are getting a decent education in their homes.”

State school board president, Christopher Cross, refused to ride like the wind and go sailing with new regulations without consulting the people involved in home-schooling. I’m sure their opinions are valuable…

Welcome to a recurring segment where I find fun things in today’s (in 1996) Baltimore Sun!

Some debates are eternal.