The Orioles apparently have the market cornered on coaches whose resumes include a cameo on "Seinfeld."
Manager Buck Showalter's own appearance on the seminal sitcom has been well-documented. Now, it's time to get familiar with the television resume of new pitching coach Roger McDowell.
McDowell, who broke into the majors in the mid-1980s with the New York Mets, had a brief cameo in the two-part episode known as "The Boyfriend." In it, Kramer and Newman lament a 1986 Mets game in which Mets star Keith Hernandez allegedly spit on them after the game.
When confronted about this, Hernandez points out that it was actually McDowell, who recognized the pair from their heckling by the bullpen. McDowell is featured in a sequence reminiscent of the Zapruder film of John F. Kennedy's shooting, and in fact is the spitter in question.
It's not exactly the Showalter appearance that followed it a few years later, but there can't be any other coaching staffs that feature one "Seinfeld" alum, let alone two.
There seems to be some discrepancy about how big of a deal this is. Showalter, as noted here, only thinks of it in terms of what it costs him on every episode. McDowell said last year he gets a royalty check for $13.52 every time it airs.
I'm sure they'll talk about nothing else.