In a 17-season career, Powell posted a .266 batting average with 339 home runs, 1,187 RBI, .462 slugging percentage and a .361 on-base percentage in 2,042 games. Powell hit three home runs in a game three times, and stands third only behind Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken Jr. on the all-time home run list of the Orioles.
In 1983, Powell received five votes for the Hall of Fame (1.3% of all BBWAA voters) in his only appearance on the ballot.
Early life
Powell was born in Lakeland, Florida; he played for that city's team in the 1954 Little League World Series. After his family moved to Key West when he was 15, Powell played at Key West High School and graduated in 1959.[2] Powell received the nickname "Boog" from his father. As Powell explained, "In the South they call little kids who are often getting into mischief buggers (pronounced 'boogers'), and my dad shortened it to Boog."[3][4]
Career
Baltimore Orioles
Powell in 1966
Powell signed with the Baltimore Orioles; Jim Russo (the scout who signed him) was also the scout who would sign Jim Palmer and Dave McNally.[5] Powell joined the Orioles after leading the International League in home runs at Rochester in 1961. Powell spent his first three seasons in Baltimore as a slow-footed left fielder before switching to first base in 1965. At the plate he was an immediate success, hitting 25 home runs in 1963; in 1964 he led the American League in slugging percentage (.606) while blasting a career-high 39 home runs, despite missing several weeks because of a broken wrist. Powell slumped to .248 with 17 home runs in 1965, then won the American League Comeback player of the Year honors in 1966 (.287, 34 home runs, 109 runs batted in) while being hampered by a broken finger.
In 1966, Powell, along with Frank Robinson and Brooks Robinson, led the Orioles to the World Series, where they surprised the baseball world by sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers in four games to become baseball's world champions. Powell and the Dodgers Jim Barbieri (who was in the Little League World Series in 1953 and 1954 for Schenectady) became the first players to have played in both the Little League World Series and MLB World Series, though Powell was the Orioles full time first baseman and Barbieri had one pinch hit appearance in the 1966 World Series, which would be his last at bat as a major leaguer.[6][7][8]
Before the 1968 season, Powell lamented, "once, just once, I'd like to go through a whole season without an injury", and he did just that, playing over 150 games each of the next three seasons. In 1969 he hit a career-high .304 with 37 home runs and 121 runs batted in, and in 1970 he was the American League Most Valuable Player, hitting 35 home runs with 114 runs batted in and narrowly missed a .300 average during the last week of the season. In the 1970 World Series, Powell homered in the first two games as the Orioles defeated the Cincinnati Reds in five games. Prior to the 1971 season, Powell appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated for the 1971 baseball preview issue. Powell helped Baltimore reach a third straight World Series that year, blasting a pair of home runs in game two of the 1971 ALCS against the up-and-coming Oakland Athletics, but he hit only .111 in the Series as Baltimore lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates in seven games.
During his time with the Orioles from 1961 to 1974, the team had only two seasons where they lost more games than they won.[7]
Later career
Powell had been an American League all-star for four straight years (1968–1971). However, Oriole manager Earl Weaver believed in making liberal use of the platoon system; in 1973 and 1974, Powell fell victim to it, limiting his at-bats. He and Don Hood were traded to the Cleveland Indians for Dave Duncan and minor league outfielder Alvin McGrew on February 25 1975.[9] Powell, again a regular with the Indians, batted .297 (with 129 hits) and 27 home runs (his best season since 1970), and a .997 fielding percentage. However, he hit only nine home runs in 1976. He was waived by the Indians during spring training on March 30, 1977.[10] His final season was 1977, as a pinch-hitter for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He hit .244 with no home runs and 5 RBI's. He was released on August 31, 1977.
In popular culture
Powell at the Annapolis Book Festival in 2015
In the 1970s and 1980s Powell appeared in more than ten different television commercials for Miller Litebeer, including a memorable one with umpire Jim Honochick.[11] Playing on the theme of mocking umpires who make bad calls, the ad featured Honochick trying unsuccessfully to read the label on a beer bottle as Powell did the voice-over. Borrowing Powell's glasses to bring the label into focus, and suddenly able to see who is standing next to him at the bar and providing the narration, Honochick exclaims, "Hey, you're Boog Powell!"[12][13]
Powell is mentioned in an episode of Cheers entitled "Sam at Eleven". The fictional star of Cheers, ex-Red Sox reliever Sam Malone, relates his greatest moment in the Major Leagues: retiring Boog Powell in both games of a doubleheader.[14]
Powell is also mentioned in an episode of Bill Burr's Netflix original show F Is for Family. While searching for his wife after having an argument, Frank Murphy drives past a batting cage and hears the crack of the bat hitting a pitch. He then quips to his daughter Maureen, "That's either your mother or Boog Powell."
Powell was very often referenced in episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Example: when a giant hand bursts through a window, Servo exclaims, "Hey, it's Boog Powell!"
Current MLB announcer Jon Sciambi is nicknamed after him.
Post-career
Powell opened Boog's Barbecue at Camden Yards in April 1992. It was a pioneering and successful food vendor operating during Oriole games, which is still ongoing as of 2024.[15][16][17]
In 1997, Powell was diagnosed with colon cancer, and had surgery rapidly after the diagnosis. Powell's surgery was performed by the same doctor, Keith Lillimoe, who had treated then Orioles outfielder Eric Davis for colon cancer, followed by six months of chemotherapy treatments. Powell became an advocate for early colonoscopy screening and did a series of public service announcements with Davis, who lent support to Powell after his diagnosis.[18][19]
