Athletes - Rick Dempsey

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	Athletes - Rick Dempsey

John Rikard Dempsey (born September 13, 1949 in Fayetteville, Tennessee and attended Crespi Carmelite High School) is a former catcher in Major League Baseball who played from 1969 to 1992, best known for his years with the Baltimore Orioles. He also played for the Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Milwaukee Brewers.

His sense of humor during his playing career was renowned, and he was famous for his "rain delay theatre" performances, in which he emerged from the dugout in stockinged feet onto the tarpaulin covering the infield during a rain delay and pantomimed hitting an inside the park home run, climaxed by his sliding into home plate on his belly on the wet tarp, all to the raucous delight of the soggy fans. He sometimes did this while wearing a pair of underpants over his uniform, making fun of teammate Jim Palmer's famous advertisements for Jockey brand briefs.

Dempsey, who came to the Orioles as part of a 10-player trade with the Yankees in 1976, was awarded the World Series MVP Award in 1983, when the Orioles defeated the Philadelphia Phillies four games to one.

Dempsey served as first base coach for the Orioles for several seasons, and served as third base coach in the 2005 season after bench coach Sam Perlozzo was promoted to interim manager. He will assume the bullpen coach position in the 2006 season, replacing Elrod Hendricks who the team intended to reassign to another position in the organization before his death. Dempsey has been a candidate for managerial openings in the past, as recently as 2003 when the Orioles interviewed him for the spot that eventually went to Lee Mazzilli.

Trivia

Signs autographs with "1983 WS MVP"
The tags on his car? "1983 MVP"

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Rick Dempsey ]

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