Mets manager Buck Showalter stepped on the field at Camden Yards on Friday night and received a thunderous applause from Baltimore fans. No doubt they appreciate what he did during his nine-year run as Orioles manager.

The O’s even had a video tribute to Showalter before the game thanking him for his service to the team.

And why not?

Showalter is the second-winningest manager in team history behind Earl Weaver with 669 victories from 2010-18. Friday marked Showalter’s first appearance at The Yard since the team relieved him of his duties after the ‘18 season.

As he is walking towards his office at Citi Field, Showalter is wondering why anyone would be interested in his career in Crab Town. He is told about his success in that American League town. Instead, he wishes similar fortunes to his successor, Brandon Hyde, who has led the Orioles to the best record in the American League entering Friday's action.

Then, finally, Showalter talks about his time in Baltimore. One doesn’t detect any bitterness in his voice even though his time with the Orioles ended badly with the worst record (47-115) in baseball in ‘18.

“Life is too short. Are you kidding me? Do you know how lucky I am? Every day, being in a place for nine seasons, we had 10 acres out in the country. We had a barn,” Showalter said. “We spent a lot of time there during the offseason. We were part of the community.

“I have a lot of great memories there. The fans treated me and my family great. It was a great time of my life. It was an honor to be there. I’m so lucky. I’m excited that the Orioles are doing so well. They drafted well. Where they were drafting, you have to be an idiot not to draft those [top] guys. You draft them first and second in the country. I’m happy for them. I really am. I heard a lot of good things about Brandon and his staff. Ownership was great to me when I was there.”

Showalter said his best moments with the Orioles were when the team was winning. The city lit up like fireworks. They had their share of those winning moments when they went to the postseason in 2012, ‘14 and ‘16.

“It has always been a great baseball town,” Showalter said. “You just had to give them something to trust. That was the big thing. When I got there, we didn’t want to give them a lot of lip service. Show them. They had their hearts broken a lot. The Orioles mean a lot to the fans there. They got behind something they could trust.”

When he arrived in Baltimore on Thursday night after the Mets lost to the Royals in Kansas City, Showalter went by Camden Yards and noticed Topgolf was near the area.

“If they had that here [when I was managing the Orioles], I would have been a little late to the ballpark.” Showalter said. “Obviously, you spend this much time somewhere, I have a lot of memories. My son lives in Severna Park with his wife and child. I get back there sometimes. That’s about it. But nobody wants to hear [about the memories]. It is what it is.”

The Showalter Way
The best year during his time in Baltimore, of course, was in ‘14. That team was loaded. It had studs like Adam Jones, Nelson Cruz and Zack Britton and, despite losing Manny Machado and Matt Wieters for most of the season due to injuries, the Orioles went to the postseason and went as far as the American League Championship Series before being swept by the Royals. That is the closest to the World Series Showalter has ever come during his 22 years as a manager.

The highlight of that season was when the Orioles swept the Tigers in the American League Division Series. Baltimore pounded right-hander Max Scherzer in the first game and had their way with right-hander Justin Verlander in the next game, both future -- for a time -- players under Showalter with New York.

“Oh, man. We had such good chemistry on and off the field,” said outfielder Steve Pearce, who led the team in Wins Above Replacement. “[Despite the injuries], it was always the next man up. It was always somebody new every single day stepping up for the team like the Caleb Josephs and Ryan Flahertys. There was always somebody different.”

According to Pearce, a Showalter team in Baltimore meant doing the little things right. Like he does with the Mets, Showalter would ask his Orioles players questions about what was going on during the game.

“He was always crossing his T’s and dotting his I’s. Pay attention to detail. No matter who you were, he was always checking to see if everybody is doing the right thing,” Pearce said. “He is on top of his game. … He would not quiz us, but he would ask, ‘What would you do in this situation?’ As a player you are like, 'Holy crap, I don’t know that rule.' Or he would throw in a trick play and say, ‘What would you do here?’ He was in depth from Day 1.”

Showalter wasn’t always perfect in the dugout. It remains a mystery as to why Showalter didn’t use Britton during the Wild Card game against the Blue Jays in 2016. Britton was nearly unhittable that year, saving 47 games with a 0.54 ERA. In fact, he won the Mariano Rivera AL Reliever of the Year Award after the season.

But, with the score tied at 2 in the 11th inning, Ubaldo Jiménez entered the game and failed to record an out, ultimately allowing a three-run homer to Edwin Encarnación that eliminated the Orioles from the postseason. Seven years later, Showalter would not say why Britton was never used.

“I’ll never tell. Some things you wear. I’m not going to say things that will hurt innocent people,” Showalter said. “There are always things you could say that might make you look better, but reflect poorly on somebody else. The job description [as manager] says, ‘Wear it.’ A lot of things you must wear because your job is to protect certain things.”

The eloquent Showalter from Baltimore
Showalter may have been one of the best managers in Orioles history, but he also was eloquent off the field during a time of crisis. During the unrest in Baltimore due to the police mistreatment of Freddie Gray, Showalter was asked what advice he would give to young African Americans in Baltimore. Showalter honestly didn’t have any answers but spoke from the heart.

"You hear people try to weigh in on things that they really don't know anything about. ... I've never been Black, OK? So I don't know, I can't put myself there," Showalter said in 2015. "I've never faced the challenges that they face, so I understand the emotion, but I can't. ... It's a pet peeve of mine when somebody says, 'Well, I know what they're feeling. Why don't they do this? Why doesn't somebody do that?' You have never been Black, OK, so just slow down a little bit.

"I try not to get involved in something that I don't know about, but I do know that it's something that's very passionate, something that I am, with my upbringing, that it bothers me, and it bothers everybody else. We've made quite a statement as a city, some good and some bad. Now, let's get on with taking the statements we've made and create a positive.”

During the unrest, the Orioles and White Sox were forced to play without fans at Camden Yards on April 29. By May 1, in what should have been a home series, the Orioles traveled to Tampa to play a three-game series against the Rays.

“[Buck] handled it the right way. He handled it perfectly for the community,” said Mets first-base coach Wayne Kirby, who was on Showalter’s coaching staff in Baltimore. “You have to stay calm. You can’t be in an all-out panic.”