It’s July 1, 1996, and Rocky Coppinger had the best start of his young career, holding the Blue Jays to just two runs in six innings as the O’s ruined Canada Day in Toronto with a 7-4 win.

The Sun’s Buster Olney chronicled how the 22-year-old has impressed some of his veteran teammates.

“He works nice and fast,” said third baseman B.J. Surhoff. “He gets the ball and goes, no messing around.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 6D, July 2, 1996)

“You’ve got to be impressed by what you see,” said shortstop Cal Ripken. “He’s got a lot of talent, and his [composure] is better than I expected. … He does not seem to be in awe of situations, and he goes out and pitches with confidence.” 

Even the opponents were impressed. “He was like a veteran, in that he struggled the first couple of innings and then pitched better,” said Blue Jays star Joe Carter, who struck out twice against Coppinger.

“I’ve got something to talk about when I call my family tonight,” a grinning Coppinger said.

Pitching coach Pat Dobson said what all of Birdland is thinking: “He’s got a chance to be a pretty good pitcher. He’s the real deal.”

Brady Anderson pushed his major-league-leading home run total to 28, and Bobby Bonilla and Mark Smith also homered for the Birds. 

The O’s had little trouble with Blue Jays starter Pat Hentgen, who gave up six runs in six innings, allowing a whopping 13 baserunners. He dropped to 7-6 on the season with a 4.14 ERA, pretty middling stuff, it’s hard to imagine he will be a factor in any major awards at the end of the season. Or will he?

Here’s the box score with the lovely totals.

The game was the first one back in Toronto for O’s second baseman Roberto Alomar, who was greeted with a mixed reception by the fans of a team he helped lead two back to back World Series titles in 1992 and 1993. As the Sun’s Ken Rosenthal notes, two teanaged Blue Jays fans, both wearing Alomar jerseys, held up a sign that said, “In a new nest, but still the best.” But other fans booed. “Everyone’s getting really mad at us down there,” said one of the girls, Joanne Beartup, when she talked to Rosenthal on the concourse. “Not everyone,” another fan said nearby. 

Elsewhere, the American League All-Star starters were announced today and Alomar learned he’d be starting in his seventh All-Star game appearance. “It never gets old,” he said. (Baltimore Sun, p. 1D, July 2, 1996) O’s shortstop Cal Ripken, Jr., also won the starting spot in a landslide with 2,550,275 votes. Cleveland shortstop Omar Vizquel was second with 829,519.

With two All-Star starters up the middle playing just about every day, reserve infielder Manny Alexander has hardly been able to see the field. Alexander has at times been upset about his predicament, having demanded a trade, threatened to quit, and suggested that he is being discriminated against because he is Dominican. He has been a good teammate all season, but now he is noticeably glum in the clubhouse.

O’s manager Davey Johnson is sympathetic to Alexander. “He’s the one guy on the club who has to play behind Ripken,” Johnson said. “He’s waiting for a chance and he’s got someone of the magnitude of Ripken in front of him. … If I don’t slide Cal to third and let this kid play his natural position a little, you might as well trade him. We’ve traded away a lot of young kids in the past without giving them the chance to establish themselves. Are we going to do it again?” (Baltimore Sun, p. 6D, July 2, 1996)

Three more bricks! Bobby, Brady, Smitty all add to the wall.

Back-to-back days with dingers for Brady.

Orioles (43-36) at Blue Jays (36-45) 7:35 p.m.
BAL – RHP Scott Erickson (4-6, 4.88 ERA)
TOR – RHP Paul Quantrill (4-8, 5.88 ERA)

Radovan Karadzic has stepped down as leader of the Bosnian Serbs. Having been indicted on war crimes, he was facing intense international pressure to step aside. As an AP article on the front page states, the “move eased the immediate threat of new international sanctions against the Bosnian Serbs and their former patrons in Serbia, but left up in the air the question of who speaks for the Bosnian Serbs.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 1A, July 1, 1996)

Biljana Plavsic, the hard-liner deputy who has taken over, said the quiet part very loudly when he stated that Karadzic remained president, just without the powers.

“He has not been replaced,” said Hasan Muratovic, the prime minister of Bosnia’s Muslim-led government. “He has not been replaced. This is only a new trick by Radovan Karadzic, and Biljana Plavsic represents a bridge between him and the international community.”

Among the charges Karadzic will eventually face is genocide. At this time in 1996 we are just learning more of the horrors perpetrated by Bosnian Serb forces in places like Srebrenica, where at least 8,000 Muslim men and boys were massacred and dumped into mass graves.

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

Germany defeated the Czech Republic in sudden-death overtime to win the 1996 European Championship. The tournament was held in London’s Wembley Stadium. Germany had defeated host England via penalty kicks in the semifinal, so football did not come home.