David Rubenstein, Orioles Control Owner

Well, let me talk about that for one moment.

I'm older than everybody in this room, I think, so I have a memory that probably none of you probably have.

When I was in high school in Baltimore in 1966, the Orioles brought onto the team a young 30-year-old player,

was gonna meld with the young players that the team already had, like Jim Palmer, Brooks Robinson.

And that player's name was Frank Robinson.

And the result was we won a World Series that year.

And we beat a team called the Los Angeles Dodgers, who were thought to be unbeatable.

And Frank Robinson's number when he played in Cincinnati was 20.

Pete Alonzo's number

at the New York was 20.

Now because our 20 is retired here, he's agreed to play with 25, but the fact that both of them had the number 20, both of them in their early 30s, both of them are great power hitters, and both of them are people that really can work with younger players, makes us think we've got a great future ahead of us.

So I want to thank Pete for doing this, thank Scott for helping to make it possible, thank Mike for working on it,

And, you know, the best days are ahead of us.

So we're very, very happy.

The ownership group could not be more pleased with this.

And, you know, we'll do whatever else we need to do to make sure this team can win a championship.

And we're very optimistic that Pete's addition is going to be as helpful to us as Frank Robinson's was 1966.

I wish you all could hear it, because it's meaningful.

It gives them a sense of pride and confidence that illustrates that this franchise is committed.

Because in the player community, that's what gives these men the confidence to go out and do what they need to do in one of the toughest divisions and play against the greats in the game.