Final Voting in the Bird Tapes Holiday Gift Contest

One vintage interview from my archive will be unlocked and available to all subscribers on Monday, December 23. Last week, voters selected five finalists. Now it's time to pick a winner.

With one exception, favorites ruled in the first round of the Bird Tapes Holiday Gift Contest last week.

Now it’s time to pit those favorites with one surprise selection in the final round of voting, which begins now and will last for three days.

The contest, a March Madness-style bracket elimination event, determines which vintage Oriole interview will be made available to all Bird Tapes subscribers on December 23 — happy holidays, indeed.

In last week’s first round, I broke 25 interviews from the archive into five different polls and asked subscribers to vote for one former Oriole in each poll. Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Jim Palmer and Earl Weaver were in different polls, and not surprisingly, each easily garnered the most votes in their poll and advanced to this week’s final round.

But the fifth poll produced a surprising result. Cal Ripken Jr. was easily outdistanced by Boog Powell and Mike Flanagan, who battled back and forth for the lead throughout the three-day voting window. In the end, Flanagan won by a narrow margin (37 percent to 35 percent) to advance to the final round.

For the next three days, Bird Tapes subscribers can vote for either Flanagan, Palmer, Weaver, Brooks Robinson or Frank Robinson. The interview that gets the most votes will be the one I post next Monday, December 23, unlocked and available to all.

The deadline to vote is shortly after noon on Saturday, December 21. The winner will be unveiled Monday morning in the post containing the interview.

Please vote below and enjoy your holiday gift from the Bird Tapes!