Local author and screenwriter ("The Wire") Rafael Alvarez is at it again. He was the guy who went to bat for Orioles great Paul Blair last year and he has organized a no-admission fundraiser this Saturday that will honor slick-fielding former O's shortstop Mark Belanger and benefit the Mother Seton Academy.
"He contacted the family and said he wanted to do a tribute and we said, 'Sure, let's do it,'" said Mark's son Rob Belanger, who will take part in the event at the famous G&A Restaurant in Highlandtown. "He's going to have me sing 'Thank God I'm a Country Boy.' That's the thing my mom made famous.'"
Dee Belanger is credited with convincing the Orioles to play the song by family friend John Denver to spice up the 7th-inning stretch way back in 1975. Singing it 40 years later was the least her son could do under the circumstances.
"The story goes, she told (legendary O's PR man) Bob Brown that he ought to do something different. 'Try that John Denver song.'" Rob Belanger said on Wednesday. "He said, 'Oh, all right, we'll try it out.' And it stuck."