Trey Mancini is coming home to Baltimore one more time, and this time it’s to close the book where it started.
The Orioles announced Aug. 28 that Mancini will sign a one-day contract with the club and retire as an Oriole on Saturday, September 19, when Baltimore hosts the Milwaukee Brewers at 4:05 p.m. ET. Camden Yards will be the setting for a full pregame tribute, with fans invited to be there for what the team is calling a special day for one of its most beloved recent players.
Mancini’s path back to this moment has been anything but simple. Drafted in the eighth round of the 2013 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Notre Dame (IN), he spent his first six major league seasons with Baltimore from 2016-21, plus part of 2022, before being traded to the Houston Astros.
He went on to win the World Series that year. After that came stops with the Chicago Cubs in part of the 2023 season, the minors with the Cincinnati Reds to finish 2023, no game action in 2024, and then a 2025 minor league stint with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Earlier this year, Mancini opened the season in the minors with the Los Angeles Angels and was called up to the majors on June 8, his first MLB game in 1,043 days. He played in five games for the Angels before officially announcing his retirement on August 18.
His story with Baltimore has long been tied to something much bigger than baseball. Mancini was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer in 2020 after routine blood work during his yearly physical at Spring Training.
He missed the entire season while going through treatment, then returned after his cancer went into remission later that year. In 2021, he earned American League Comeback Player of the Year honors.
During his battle in 2020, the Orioles also produced “F16HT” t-shirts to support the Colorectal Cancer Alliance Patient and Family Support Services, and the proceeds topped $80,000.
For the Sept. 19 game, fans can buy a special ticket package that includes admission and a limited-edition hat featuring the “F16HT” logo. A portion of the proceeds will go to The Trey Mancini Foundation, which supports people dealing with food insecurity, illness, and hardships.
The special packages begin at $33, not including fees, and are available at Orioles.com/Mancini. Regular tickets for the game are also available there.
The team is planning several other tributes around Mancini’s return. The F16HT sign that has stayed in the home dugout tunnel since 2020 will be moved to the Club Level archives at Camden Yards, and a new permanent sign will be unveiled in the dugout during a pregame ceremony. Mancini will be joined by former teammates, coaches, staff members, medical professionals, and others who were important to his life and career, and he will also throw out the ceremonial first pitch.
As part of Fan Appreciation Weekend, Mancini will take part in a pregame kids-only autograph session at the ADA platform at the top of section 16. The session is for kids 12 and under, with one autograph per participant, no personalization, and no photos allowed. Autographs will be handed out on a first come, first served basis, and some fans will be selected at random to join the on-field pregame ceremony.
In Other News...
Tyler O'Neill Said Exactly What Orioles Fans Needed To Hear
Tyler O'Neill gave the Orioles a jolt in more ways than one during their August 22 win over the Rays, most notably when he made a crucial diving catch that helped preserve the kind of late-game momentum Baltimore has been trying to build. It was the sort of all-hands contribution that has mattered so much as the club keeps pushing for a Wild Card spot, especially with reliever Andrew Kittredge also pointing to the positive energy around the team.
Now the challenge is keeping that momentum going without one of the players who helped spark it. O'Neill was placed on the 10-day injured list on August 26 because of a strained rotator cuff, and for an Orioles team trying to stay in the race, the timing makes his absence feel even more significant. The balance between recent confidence and the need to weather another injury is becoming a defining part of Baltimores stretch run. [Read more 🡒]
Trey Mancini Is Getting A Birdland Farewell Fans Will Feel
Trey Mancinis baseball journey is set to come full circle in Baltimore this month, with the former Orioles standout returning for a formal farewell that will anchor a night at Camden Yards. Mancini, who announced his retirement from professional baseball, will sign a one-day contract so he can retire as an Oriole on Sept. 19 during the game against the Brewers, a fitting touch for a player whose name still carries real weight around Birdland.
The club is planning more than a simple ceremony, too, with a limited-edition hat and a new permanent sign in the dugout among the tributes built around his return. Mancinis place in Orioles memory goes beyond his production on the field, shaped just as much by his cancer battle and comeback as by the career that followed, and he is also scheduled to throw out the ceremonial first pitch as part of the sendoff. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles May Need A Full Outfield Reset For 2027
The Orioles have spent the last two seasons trying to patch together an outfield that has not given them much either at the plate or in the field, and the conversation around that group is starting to sound less like routine roster tinkering and more like a long-term reset. Former MLB executives Jim Duquette and Dan ODowd both raised concerns about the current mix, pointing to the lack of stability in a unit that has been hit by injuries and has not consistently solved either side of the ball.
With free-agent help looking thin and the internal options not offering an obvious fix, the discussion has widened to include bigger structural changes. One idea floating around is moving prospects like Jackson Holliday and Blaze Alexander to the outfield, while the team also weighs what to do with established names such as Colton Cowser and Tyler ONeill as it tries to build something more dependable for 2027. [Read more 🡒]