60 Seasons, 60 Orioles - 1956: Bob Nieman

Bob Nieman is another Oriole that I have never heard of, so additional learning for me. In 1956, the O's fleeced the White Sox by trading pitcher Jim Wilson to Chicago for future Hall of Famer George Kell, former Negro League All-Star Connie Johnson, and Nieman. For a team lacking in quality and depth, this was a fantastic trade for the O's. Better yet, Nieman had one of his best seasons that year for the O's, batting .322 with 12 homers and 64 RBI in 114 games. More impressively, he had a .442 on-base percentage in 1956! He ended up finished 7th in MVP voting after that 1956 season.

Nieman played four seasons for the O's (1956-59), but they were all pretty solid, averaging a .303 batting average, 16 homers, and 64 RBI. A fun fact about Nieman is that he had the distinction of becoming the first player to homer in his first two MLB at-bats, on 9/14/1951. That has occurred only one other time in MLB history, and it was by Keith McDonald in 2000. For more information on Bob Nieman, in addition to the links above, I recommend these other links:

http://urbanshocker.wordpress.com/2007/09/10/bob-nieman-most-valuable-oriole-1956/
http://oriolescards.blogspot.com/2011/01/vintage-fridays-bob-nieman-1959-topps.html
http://www.seth.com/coll_histbseballs_32.html
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=niemabo01