It’s September 29, 1996, and Brady Anderson led off the game with his 50th home run of the season. He is the first Oriole ever to do it, and the 14th player ever to achieve the feat. He broke a pair of records with the blast, passing Frank Robinson’s 49 for the team record, and hitting his 12th leadoff homer to set the MLB record.

“Usually, I don’t think about numbers, but I’m glad I got this one,” Anderson said in a front-page story by the Sun’s Jason LaCanfora. “To have any major-league record for home runs is something to be proud of.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 1A, September 30, 1996)

Brady’s homer would be the only run they’d score off the Blue Jays Pat Hentgen, as Toronto went on to win a largely meaningless game, 4-1. Nerio Rodriguez got his first career start for the Orioles and he pitched well. He gave up just two runs (one earned) in six innings, but had to settle for a tough-luck loss.

And with that, the regular season is over. After an off day tomorrow, the O’s will host Cleveland, the defending AL champions and team with the best record in the league. The five-game series will start with two in Baltimore and end with three in Cleveland, so despite being an underdog, the O’s have an opportunity to get off to a good start at home.

We’ll talk more about the playoffs tomorrow, but for now, let’s just appreciate a historic season for the Birds, who are going to the playoffs for the first time since winning the World Series in 1993.

Per LaCanfora, the O’s set team records with a .274 batting average, 949 runs scored, 1,557 hits, 298 doubles, and the major-league best 257 homers.

Here is the box score with the not-so-lovely totals for a game that didn’t mean much. It was Hentgen’s 20th win, which could boost his Cy Young chances.

In other news, the umpires are still throwing a huge fit over Roberto Alomar spitting in John Hirschbeck’s face the other day. We aren’t over this, yet? Anyway, Alomar is appealing a five-game suspension, but the bloodthirsty umps want a harsher punishment.

National League umpire Bruce Froemming was particularly salty, and directed his ire at AL president Gene Budig.

Here is what Froemming said to the Sun’s Buster Olney:

“Put down?” Somebody needs a nap.

Anyway, Froemming would be suspended in 2003 for 10 days for using an anti-Semitic slur to describe an MLB administrator. Charming guy.

Fittingly, Brady adds the final brick. The new MLB record is 257 dingers!

50! The sideburns are so beautiful!

Off day!

The main front page story today is the O’s making the playoffs, but we’ve already covered that. So we’ll look at the one by Sun staff writer titled “Supreme Court at turning point.”

That’s right, our nine unelected god-emperors are at a turning point. Currently, they are looking a number of cases, including Ross Perot’s effort to get in presidential debates, and other cases on assisted suicide, tobacco, and more.

The new term officially opens in a week, and apparently there is speculation that this could be the last term for the “Rehnquist Court.” Chief Justice William Rehnquist has made no indication that he will retire next year, though.

The “speculation” — that is really bordering on fan-fiction — also says that if Rehnquist retires, then President Bill Clinton would elevate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Chief Justice. She would be the first woman to ever serve in the role. Justice John Paul Stevens is 76 and could retire, too. 

Anyway, there’s no reason to keep talking about this because none of this happened.

Rehnquist never retired and instead died in office in 2005, making way for the blue-eyed society destroyer (aka history’s disgrace) John Roberts as Chief Justice. RBG was never Chief Justice. Stevens didn’t retire until he was 90 in 2010. He was succeeded by Elena Kagan.

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

Time to celebrate, fellas.