You’ll never call me an Orioles fan – I’ll be a NY Mets fan till the day I die, but living here on Delmarva it’s hard to avoid everything orange and black during the spring, summer and fall.  But I will admit to watching a few O’s games in my day – especially when it came to some of the bigger games – like championship games and Cal’s streak, but now, the era of Orioles’ Magic is truly over.
 
While Orioles’ Magic generally refers to the team’s glory years in the 1970s and 1980s, the man who was as well known to O’s fans as Cal Ripken and Jim Palmer has given fans their last spelling lesson.  William “Wild Bill” Hagy has died at the age of 68. 
 
Hagy ruled Section 34 at the old Memorial Stadium – and with his long beard, beer belly and wearing his straw cowboy hat - led cheers spelling the Orioles team name – using his body to create the letters. 
 
In a statement on the Orioles website –

“The Orioles organization is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of “Wild Bill” Hagy. While leading cheers from “The Roar from 34″ at Memorial Stadium, Wild Bill became a Baltimore institution. He was one of the great characters of the Baltimore sports landscape and was a true die-hard Orioles fan, supporting the club year in and year out. He will be missed by everyone who knew him and by everyone for whom he led the “O-R-I-O-L-E-S” cheer. All of us in the Orioles organization extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends.”

 Hagy was a cab driver until his retirement a few years ago.  He was found dead Monday morning at his home in Arbutus by his roommate – and efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.
 
Hagy did make the transition to Camden Yard, but didn’t lead cheers any longer as he said he was not happy with the ‘new breed’ of O’s fans who talked on their cell phones through games.  However during the playoffs – he did bring his cheering back in the mid-1990s when the O’s were contenders for a few years. 
 
Like Max Patkin, the clown prince of baseball, Hagy was one of a kind and though he’s not been around Camden Yard much, preferring to watch the games on TV, he will be missed.
 
 
 Tribute to “Wild Bill’ Hagy

 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 21st, 2007 at 1:15 pm and is filed under Entertainment, Maryland, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.