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Mark Henry Belanger
Baltimore Orioles
Shortstop
Born: June 8, 1944, Pittsfield, MA
Signed: Signed by the Baltimore Orioles as an amateur free agent, June 19, 1962
Major League Teams: Baltimore Orioles 1965-81; Los Angeles Dodgers 1982
World Series Appearances: Baltimore Orioles 1969-71, 1979
Died: October 6, 1998, New York, NY (age 54)
A stellar shortstop who won eight Gold Gloves and still sits at the top of many defensive statistic leaderboards, Mark Belanger played in parts of 18 major league seasons, with all but 54 of his career 2,016 games with the Orioles. Nicknamed "The Blade" due to his slim stature, Belanger inherited the Orioles' shortstop job in 1968, following the departure of Luis Aparicio (#75). He'd man the position for Baltimore through six American League East pennants, five American League titles and a World Series championship in 1970. His career year came in 1976, which was also the only year he'd go to the All-Star Game. Belanger hit .270 with 22 doubles and 27 stolen bases that season, and it was one of six seasons in the 1970s he led all American League players in defensive bWAR.
Died: October 6, 1998, New York, NY (age 54)
A stellar shortstop who won eight Gold Gloves and still sits at the top of many defensive statistic leaderboards, Mark Belanger played in parts of 18 major league seasons, with all but 54 of his career 2,016 games with the Orioles. Nicknamed "The Blade" due to his slim stature, Belanger inherited the Orioles' shortstop job in 1968, following the departure of Luis Aparicio (#75). He'd man the position for Baltimore through six American League East pennants, five American League titles and a World Series championship in 1970. His career year came in 1976, which was also the only year he'd go to the All-Star Game. Belanger hit .270 with 22 doubles and 27 stolen bases that season, and it was one of six seasons in the 1970s he led all American League players in defensive bWAR.
Belanger played in 54 games with the Dodgers in 1982 before retiring. He batted .228 lifetime, but his career defensive bWAR of 39.5 is currently second all-time, behind only Ozzie Smith. Upon his retirement, he was the Orioles' all-time franchise leader in games, assists and double plays as a shortstop, with all marks eventually surpassed by Cal Ripken, Jr. Belanger was inducted into the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame in 1983.
September 21, 2025 from The Philly Show (Vintage Sports)
On Sunday morning, September 21st, I made the hour-long drive to the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania for the latest installment of the Philadelphia Sports Card & Memorabilia Show, known to its friends as The Philly Show. The show has a legitimate official sponsor (eBay) and the advertisement for the event notes the show is in its 50th year. I hadn't attended a baseball card show since the last Philly Show in December, and I was flying solo to this one as our oldest son is in his first month of college at Villanova. I posted a full summary of the show over at The Phillies Room.
I made stops at six tables at the show, all yielding needed cards for our 1969 Topps set, and I left the show with just 16 more cards to go for my version of a complete set. My second stop was the aptly named Vintage Sports table. I always appreciate a dealer with clear signage explaining their pricing method, and Vintage Sports had a marker in their selection of 1969 Topps cards laying out that cards without a sleeve were $1 and cards with a sleeve were $2. I had one "high number" in a sleeve, and that was a whopping $4.
I found 28 commons needed before moving on to my third stop. This was the 19th of 28 total cards bought from Vintage Sports, and the 54th of 91 cards for the set added overall on the day. Sleeved, this card cost less than $2 after a dealer discount.
The Card / Orioles Team Set / Accuracy Index +1
Topps repeats the photo found on Belanger's 1968 Topps card. The back of the card notes Aparicio's departure and Belanger's steady improvement on the offensive side of his game. The cartoon highlights his first big league home run, hit on May 14, 1967 off the Yankees' Mel Stottlemyre (#470). Belanger would hit 20 career home runs in the regular season and a surprising home run in the 1969 ALCS against the Twins.
Accuracy Index: Belanger's card scores only a +1 given the same picture had been used before.
1969 Season
From his SABR biography, written by Frank Vaccaro:
[In spring training,] bullpen coach Charlie Lau approached Belanger to offer batting tips. Lau kept track of every pitch Belanger saw that year, sending him up to bat with instructions to take and swing on specific counts, and encouraging him to expect certain pitches in certain spots based on previous batter-pitcher matchups. Belanger responded with his best batting season ever, won his first of eight Gold Gloves, and earned the nickname Blade for his silhouette as Baltimore rolled to a team record 109 wins. He hit for a .287 average with 50 RBIs.
Belanger became a respected member of the team, offering an articulate clubhouse interview and buffering Earl Weaver's (#516) rants. Between the foul lines he was no-joke, all business, directing fielders to shade right or left and approaching rookies and new players with the abrupt "We don’t do it that way" - a line he even used on Jim Palmer (#573) in 1978. Backed by veterans Brooks Robinson (#550) and Frank Robinson (#250), Belanger became a leader on the team, replacing Davey Johnson (#203) as assistant player representative . . .
Detroit manager Mayo Smith (#40) declared that trying to get a hit through the left side of the Baltimore infield was like "trying to throw a hamburger through a brick wall." But in the 1969 World Series the New York Mets did just that, rolling seeing-eye hits between Mark and Brooks - back-to-back no less - in the top of the ninth inning of Game Two en route to a five-game upset. When left fielder Don Buford (#478) lost Jerry Grote's (#55) double in the sun in the 10th inning of Game Four, and Belanger almost caught the ball, color commentator Lou Boudreau said he "never saw a shortstop go that far." Broadcaster Tony Kubek called him a fourth outfielder.
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First Mainstream Card: 1967 Topps #558
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (17): 1967-83
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2002 Topps Super Teams #105
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 106 in the Beckett online database as of 1/18/26.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
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