masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgEveryone knows Buck Showalter is a world-class manager who has led the Orioles to three playoff berths in the past five seasons. It’s hard not to look at Showalter’s arrival as the O’s bench boss in 2010 as the time when the club’s fortunes took an upward turn. Since then, the Orioles have ended a long playoff drought and posted a record of .500 or better for the past five seasons. It’s been quite the renaissance.
But Showalter is also an astute judge of talent. Did you know that he was…

Everyone knows Buck Showalter is a world-class manager who has led the Orioles to three playoff berths in the past five seasons. It’s hard not to look at Showalter’s arrival as the O’s bench boss in 2010 as the time when the club’s fortunes took an upward turn. Since then, the Orioles have ended a long playoff drought and posted a record of .500 or better for the past five seasons. It’s been quite the renaissance.

But Showalter is also an astute judge of talent. Did you know that he was the guy – with the Orioles between general managers for a few days – who facilitated a waiver claim that brought sidearming reliever Darren O’Day to Baltimore from the Rangers on Nov. 2, 2011?

At the recent Winter Meetings at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center at National Harbor, Md., Showalter joined Mike Oz, who writes for Yahoo’s Big League Stew blog, to open a pack of vintage 1992 Fleer baseball cards and share memories of the players wrapped in cellophane. (Hopefully, Buck opted to discard the thin pink sliver of 24-year-old bubblegum.)

Showalter shared memories of guys like Deion Sanders, Billy Ripken and Matt Nokes, and recalled his first year as the manager of the Yankees. But when Oz wanted to talk trade, Showalter proved to be a shrewd wheeler-dealer, extracting multiple cards – including one of a former Oriole turned MASN analyst – for Sanders.

Enjoy the video below – and don’t let Showalter tell you he’s not one tough negotiator.