Sea kicks up, delivers a curve

Fishing: Though green around the gills, Brooks Robinson and Harold Baines were on deck Wednesday as a team

By Candus Thomson | Sun Staff

August 9, 2002

DOGWOOD HARBOR - For one day, Phil Price's 47-foot fishing boat had a Hallof Fame defense and an All-Star offense.

The small, orange-and-black flags flying from the rigging signaled why: No. 3 and No. 5 were on board.

No. 3, as in Harold Baines. No. 5, as in Brooks Robinson.

But, as someone pointed out to Robinson, it could easily have been a No. 34 up there. That was the Hall of Famer's number during spring training in 1957.

Who knew? Not Robinson.

"I'll be darned," he said, shaking his head when shown an Orioles early-season program from that year. "I knew I had another number in spring training, but I told some woman not too long ago that I thought I was No. 17."

Wednesday's Chesapeake Bay fishing trip with the two former Orioles was auctioned last winter during a fund-raising dinner to help pay for restoration of a small Tilghman Island church.

Price, a marina operator and high bidder, brought family and fishing buddies along for the trip down Orioles memory lane. They came armed with baseballs and hats to have signed and newspaper clippings and programs to peruse.

As Price's boat, The Permit, pulled out of its slip at Capt. Buddy Harrison's inn just past dawn, the sky went from black to bright blue.

On board, another color change was taking place. Flesh tones gave way to green, as 15-knot winds blasting out of the north produced monstrous swells that rolled the big boat from side to side and rocked it up and down.

"Capt. Buddy said last night it would be as smooth as glass," one angler hollered over the diesel roar.

"That's blown glass," punned Linwood Baines, Harold's father, who seemed comfortable with his surroundings.

The Dramamine concession was doing a rousing business before Jones and Harrison dropped anchor at "The Gooses," a hot spot in the bay mainstem about halfway between the Little Choptank River and Calvert County.

By 8 a.m., lines were cast and anglers hunkered down to battle the fish and the elements.

The outing was billed as a Baines-Robinson doubleheader, but it was dominated by a father-son combo that shared the famous players' surnames: Linwood Baines and Chris Robinson.

Harold's dad and Brooks' son - especially the senior Baines - put on a fishing clinic, hooking numerous rockfish and blues.

Meanwhile, the ballplayers busied themselves by talking baseball, families and golf courses, the last being the place a queasy Harold Baines clearly wished he was.

The St. Michaels native quietly retired before Opening Day this year after a 22-year career with four teams, most notably the Chicago White Sox. He spent a portion or all of seven seasons in an Orioles uniform.

The lifetime .289 hitter took a job this season with the White Sox working with minor-league players in Charlotte, N.C., and Birmingham, Ala.

Baines, 43, says he's on the road about 10 or 15 days a month, adjusting his schedule to his home life and the activities of his four children, ages 12 to 18.