BALTIMORE ORIOLE BOOG POWELL--ALL-STAR, MVP, BBQ MASTER
by Dean Hybl Baltimore Sports Then and Now, 8/17/11
The Baltimore Orioles of the 1960s and early 1970s boasted a roster busting with stars from top to bottom. While Brooks and Frank Robinson were the two best players on the team, the most imposing figure was a 6-foot-4, 240 pound first baseman who hit towering home runs and picked throws out of the dirt with ease. It was that player, Boog Powell, who became a favorite to many young fans, including myself.
It is hard to believe that today is the 70th birthday for one of the great sluggers of his era and we at Sports Then and Now want to wish a Happy Birthday to one of our all-time favorite players.
Given the super-sizing of professional baseball players in recent years, Powell’s size may no longer seem all that special, but in the 1960s and 1970 when most players were shaped like string beans, Powell was hard to miss. With tree trunks for arms that looked even larger when wearing the Orioles tight fitting gray uniform top, he spent more than a decade launching mammoth home runs and playing first base for the Baltimore Orioles.
A fair-skinned giant with reddish hair, Powell looked like a farm boy from the Midwest, but actually was born in Lakeland, Florida and grew up in the Sunshine State. Though his given name was John Wesley Powell, he earned the nickname “Boog” as a kid due to his mischievous nature. He seemed to always be getting into something and became known as Booger, as in, “What’s that little Booger doing now?” The nickname was eventually shortened to Boog, probably around the time he got big enough to beat the snot out of anyone who would dare call him Booger.
Powell’s prowess on the baseball field was evident from an early age. In 1954 he was part of the Lakeland Little League squad that played in the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
Signed as a free agent by the Baltimore Orioles in 1959, Powell quickly made his way to the majors. He led the International League in home runs in 1961 and made his major league debut that September.
The next season he became the starting leftfielder for the Birds and was an important reason the Orioles were steadily moving from perennial doormat to contender in the American League. Powell blasted 25 home runs in 1963 and the following season hit 39 homers and led the American League with a .606 slugging percentage despite missing several weeks with a broken wrist.
In 1965 Powell moved to first base and for the next decade his soft hands helped make infielders Davey Johnson, Mark Belanger, Luis Aparicio, Bobby Grich and Brooks Robinson regular Gold Glove recipients. Despite the presence of so many Gold Glovers in the Orioles infield, and the fact that Powell posted a better fielding percentage than the league’s Gold Glove first baseman on several occasions, he never won a Gold Glove.
The 1966 season proved to be a breakout year for Powell and the Orioles. Baltimore won the American League Pennant for the first time and then defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers to claim the World Series title. Powell finished third in the voting for Most Valuable Player, behind teammates Frank Robinson and Brooks Robinson, after hitting 34 home runs and driving in 109 runs.
Injuries hampered Powell and the entire Orioles team the next two seasons, but they rebounded in 1969. Baltimore led the league with 109 victories and Powell finished second in the American League MVP voting after hitting .304 with 37 home runs and 121 RBIs. Baltimore lost the World Series in five games to the New York Mets.
The following season, Powell finally earned the AL MVP Award with another productive season. The Orioles also won the World Series in five games over the Cincinnati Reds. The lasting memory of the 1970 World Series is the stellar play of third baseman Brooks Robinson, but Powell also had a pretty good series hitting .294 with two home runs and driving in five runs.
Baltimore returned to the World Series in 1971, losing to the Pittsburgh Pirates in seven games, but Powell struggled with injuries during the season and his productivity started to decrease. He followed up seasons of 22 and 21 home runs in 1971 and 1972 respectively by hitting a combined total of only 23 home runs during the 1973 and 1974 seasons. The Birds won division crowns in both 1973 and 1974, but Powell was no longer an everyday starter.
The Orioles parted ways with their popular first baseman following the 1974 season as he was traded to Cleveland for journeyman catcher Dave Duncan. The move reinvigorated Powell as he was reunited with his former teammate Frank Robinson, who was the player-manager for the Indians. Returning to the everyday lineup for the first time in three years, Powell responded with his best season since winning the MVP Award. He hit .297 with 27 home runs and 86 runs batted in while finishing third in the league in slugging percentage.
That proved to be Powell’s final productive season as he hit only nine home runs during the 1976 season before being released by the Indians during the 1977 spring training. He latched on with the Los Angeles Dodgers for much of the 1977 season, but with no designated hitter in the National League and Steve Garvey firmly planted at first base, Powell was relegated to a role as a left-handed pinch hitter. He struggled in this new position and was released late in the season.
While Powell’s play on the field was outstanding, the key to his great popularity was his status as a “gentle giant” of the game. Known for his sense of humor and fan-friendly attitude, Powell was a beloved figure in Baltimore and across baseball. That larger-than-life personality made Powell a popular figure in a number of Miller Lite television commercials following his retirement. When the Orioles opened their new Orioles Park at Camden Yards in 1992, it made perfect sense that Powell would play an important role in setting the atmosphere of baseball’s best park. A trip to the stadium isn’t complete without a visit to “Boog’s Barbeque.”
Though his career numbers (339 home runs, 1187 RBIs, .266 batting average) aren’t worthy of consideration for the Baseball Hall of Fame, the accomplishments and personality of Boog Powell should never be forgotten.
Baseball, barbecue and Boog
Orioles All-Star shares stories and recipes in new book
September 30, 2014 By Donna M. Owens, The Baltimore Sun
Talking with Boog Powell can make you hungry. By the time the former Orioles star and current barbecue master has rhapsodized about the pleasures of, say, pit beef with horseradish sauce, homemade buttermilk biscuits and grilled asparagus with rosemary, chances are your mouth will be watering.
"Oh, I love food," says the 6-foot-4 former slugger, laughing heartily. "I enjoy eating a good meal, whether it's steamed crabs, or collard greens and cornbread. … But my favorite is barbecue."
His passion for barbecue — not to mention family, friends and, of course, baseball — are shared in a new book titled, "Baltimore Baseball & Barbecue with Boog Powell: Stories from the Orioles' Smokey Slugger."
Co-written with former Baltimore Sun columnist Rob Kasper, the memoir-meets-cookbook is a walk down memory lane that highlights Powell's baseball glory days, complemented by recipes and vintage photos. Extras include interviews with other Orioles' legends.
"When I think back about my 70-plus years on this earth, I see a lot of the idiosyncrasies that made me who I am," Powell, 73, writes in the introduction. "As my former Oriole teammate Brooks Robinson put it, I 'live large.' I also see a theme, an abiding interest in food."
John Wesley Powell, Sr. — nicknamed Boog at an early age, although the specific details about why could be lost to history — grew up with his parents and two brothers in Lakeland, Fla.
Theirs wasn't a fancy lifestyle, but his mother, Julia Mae, is described in the book as a good cook who showered her boys with love. When Powell was 10 years old, she died. It was a heartbreaking time, but his grandmother Ruth, known as Rucy, assumed control of the family's kitchen.
"One of her specialties was biscuits," Powell recalls. "She made them with buttermilk, which was called sour milk in those days. I still do a version of them, but they can't touch hers."
According to the book, his father, called Red, turned him on to grilling. They cooked ribs, steak and seafood over an open fire on the shores of the old phosphate pits — similar to lakes — behind their home. "We never had a fancy grill, just an old refrigerator grate," says Powell. "Dad used hickory wood, and the smoke would flavor the meat. That paved the way for how I do barbecue today."
Red would remarry, and a stepbrother joined the fold. The boys fished, rode bikes and played lots of baseball. Powell was 12 when his local team earned a spot in the Little League World Series; by 1961, the 20-year-old was in the major leagues.
He played 14 seasons for the Orioles. The stellar first baseman became a four-time All Star and helped the team win the World Series in 1966 and 1970.
Along the way, Powell was introduced to Baltimore's pit beef — seasoned top round cooked over charcoal, sliced thin and piled on a roll. The book notes that a caterer at Memorial Stadium pushed the meat through the fence before a game as Powell shagged fly balls; he kept it in his glove.
Powell honed his recipes and smoking techniques at social gatherings that he and wife, Jan, hosted at their rowhouse in Baltimore. His teammates say that even back then, his food hit a home run.
"Boog used to have us over for parties, and we'd eat and drink in the backyard," says former teammate and onetime O's catcher Andy Etchebarren, who spoke by phone from his home in South Carolina. "He is a great cook, a great barbecuer. And he's a very good friend."
Despite their bond, the book notes that Etchebarren wasn't amused when Powell pressed him to sample oysters for the first time.
"I'm from Southern California and I wasn't about to eat them raw," he remembers. "Boog told me if I didn't, he'd toss me over the balcony of the apartment where we were staying during spring training. I wasn't too crazy about them, but now I eat oysters. Boog even makes his own sauce for them."
Since retiring from baseball in 1977, Powell has reinvented himself. He previously owned a marina in Key West where his family maintains a home (the other is in Grasonville); he's been a popular pitchman for Miller Lite beer; and he has become a barbecue entrepreneur. Powell's first book, "Mesquite Cookery," was published in 1986.
His reputation really soared when Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened its gates in 1992. Boog's Bar-B-Q, situated on the Eutaw Street promenade, was a "concept" concession, melding his personal appearances with the food offerings.
There are typically long lines of customers eager to sample the overstuffed pit beef, barbecued turkey and pork sandwiches, and homey sides such as baked beans and coleslaw. House-made kettle chips, a newer snack, round out the menu.
"He takes great pride in his barbecue, and it's delicious," says O's Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson, who calls his former teammate one of his "favorite" guys. "When you see him down at Camden Yards at his stand, he wants it just right."
Powell is on hand at the start of home games, greeting fans and signing autographs. That gives him an opportunity to sample and oversee the fare, which is prepared onsite by the culinary staff of Delaware North Sportservice, the Orioles' concessionaire.
"We want to bring fans great food that is inspired by the region," says Executive Chef Josh Distenfeld, who zipped round the park during a recent game with a walkie-talkie, checking on vendors and quality control. "It has to be fresh, fun, something you can easily hold in your hand. Boog's sandwich fits the bill. Thousands are sold at every game."
"The barbecue stand is one of the busiest in baseball," adds Michael Geczi, general manager of Delaware North. "Fans are coming from all over to try it."
Meanwhile, there's another Boog's barbecue location on the boardwalk in Ocean City. It's run by J.W. Powell, Jr., his only son. Powell also has two daughters, Jennifer Powell Smith and Jill Powell.
The book is dedicated to his family, and Powell notes: "They're all terrific cooks, too."