Saturday Bird Droppings: the incredible super ace has departed from this life, due to…..

O’s to deal with higher expectations, looking back at the minor league domination of 2023, and McCann supports a good cause.

Good Morning, Birdland!

There was sad news in the Orioles family on Friday. Ryan Minor died at the age of 49 after a battle with colon cancer.

Minor spent parts of three seasons on the O’s big league roster from 1998-2000. During that time he gained notoriety as the player that replaced Cal Ripken Jr. in the team’s lineup, marking the end of Ripken’s consecutive games played streak.

After his playing career ended, Minor returned to the organization as a coach and manager. Between 2008 and 2019, he served in various roles at all levels of the club’s minor league setup.

Prior to his life in pro baseball, Minor was a two sport athlete at the University of Oklahoma, playing basketball and baseball. He got a chance to try his hand at both, spending some time with the Philadelphia 76ers in the preseason before he settled on baseball full-time.

Minor was the sort of person that makes professional baseball tick. He climbed his way up the organizational ladder as both a player and coach. While he did not achieve huge personal success at the big league level, you can be certain he made an impact, both on players of a decade ago as well as some that may still be plying their trade in Baltimore today. He is a significant loss in the Orioles community.

As the Baltimore Sun explained, Minor had been diagnosed with stage IV cancer in 2022. He had been in hospice care at home in Salisbury since November following a determination by doctors at Johns Hopkins that no other treatment options were available. He is survived by his wife and two daughters.