Longtime O’s groundskeeper Santarone dies at 79

While the Orioles produced some of the best teams in baseball over three decades, beginning in the 1960s, they went unchallenged when it came to their garden.

The tomato plants that grew at old Memorial Stadium, and the competitions between head groundskeeper Pat Santarone and manager Earl Weaver that sprouted along with them, are almost as legendary as any championships that were won. Santarone died unexpectedly Tuesday at his home in Hamilton, Mont. He was 79.

“Pat and I were very close. He was the best man at my wedding,” Weaver said. “And he meant a lot to Memorial Stadium. He was just like a part of that park itself.”

...Players loved to monitor the competition between Santarone and Weaver over the tomatoes they planted down the left-field line. “They argued like brothers,” Dempsey said.

So who had the better crop each year? “Well, he was there when I’d go on the road, and I think there was a little tomfoolery,” Weaver said. “He might have been pinching off some of my buds.”

Thanks to Camden Chat…