Doug DeCinces

Douglas Vernon "Doug" DeCinces (born August 29, 1950) is a former Major League Baseball third baseman. His last name is pronounced "de-SIN-say". He played Pony League and Colt League Baseball in Northridge, California with Dwight Evans.

He began his major league career with the Baltimore Orioles late in the 1973 season, and he played for the Orioles in the ensuing eight full seasons. On June 22, 1979, in one of the most famous games in Orioles history, he hit a game-winning home run at Memorial Stadium off Detroit Tigers reliever Dave Tobik. The Orioles were trailing the Tigers 5-3 going into the bottom of the ninth inning. With one out, Ken Singleton hit a solo home run off Tobik to bring the Orioles within one. Eddie Murray reached base on a single, and, with two outs, DeCinces hit a two-run home run to give the Orioles a 6-5 victory. The win has been called "the night Oriole Magic was born." DeCinces said years later that the game and his home run "triggered something" and that "the emotion just multiplied from there", adding that the ensuing atmosphere of excitement was in no small part due to the excited call of the home run by announcers Bill O'Donnell and Charley Eckman on the Orioles' radio network. The Orioles went on to win the American League pennant in 1979.

In 1982, the Orioles traded DeCinces to the California Angels for Dan Ford in order to make room for Cal Ripken, Jr.. (Ironically, DeCinces had begun his career in Baltimore as the successor to Orioles third baseman Brooks Robinson.) In total, DeCinces played for fifteen seasons (1973–1987) in the major leagues for three different teams, including nine years with the Orioles and six years with the Angels. Released by the Angels on September 23, 1987, he concluded his major league career by playing in four games for the Saint Louis Cardinals late in the 1987 season.

In 1988, DeCinces played for the Yakult Swallows in Japan. He missed the final two months of the season because of back problems and, on his doctors' advice, retired from baseball after the end of the season.

DeCinces was a member of the American League All Star Team in 1983. He attended and played for Los Angeles Pierce College, and is in their Athletic Hall of Fame.

He was inducted into the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame on August 26, 2006.

On August 4, 2011, Doug DeCinces, along with three others, was charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with insider trading ahead of a company buyout. In a civil suit, the SEC alleged that DeCinces and his associates made more than $1.7 million in illegal profits when Abbott Park, Ill.-based Abbott Laboratories Inc. announced its plan to purchase Advanced Medical Optics Inc. through a tender offer. Without admitting or denying the allegations, DeCinces agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle the SEC's charges. In November 2012 he received a criminal indictment on insider trading related to the same incident and was charged with securities fraud and money laundering.

1. ^ http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL197906220.shtml Retrieved on April 18, 2012.
2. ^ John Eisenberg, From 33rd Street to Camden Yards: An Oral History of the Baltimore Orioles, pages 335-36 (2001). Retrieved on April 18, 2012.
3. ^ Id. at 336.
4. ^ Audio of the Orioles' radio network broadcast of Doug DeCinces's game-winning home run on June 22, 1979 on YouTube. Retrieved on May 11, 2013.
5. ^ 1979 Baltimore Orioles season
6. ^ Mike Penner, Latest Bout with Back Problems Forces DeCinces' Retirement from Baseball, Los Angeles Times (November 2, 1988). Retrieved on April 30, 2013.
7. ^ "SEC Charges Former Professional Baseball Player Doug DeCinces and Three Others with Insider Trading". Securities and Exchange Commission. Archived from the original on 6 August 2011. Retrieved 6 August 2011. 
8. ^ Id. See also Stuart Pfeifer, Ex-Angels player Doug DeCinces settles insider trading lawsuit, Los Angeles Times (August 5, 2011). Retrieved on April 18, 2012.
9. ^ "Former MLB All-Star Doug DeCinces indicted for insider trading". USA Today. November 28, 2012.