This won’t really make sense to anyone who hasn’t seen The Wire, but anyone who hasn’t seen The Wire should probably get on that. Trust me, once you get past how many Baltimore natives have British accents, it’ll be worth it.

I don’t know what Internet rabbit-hole led me to this 2009 Baltimore Sun “Catching Up With…” piece with former Orioles catcher and object of Herc’s affection Gus Triandos last night, but while I found it entertaining and learned that Triandos — as Herc acknowledged — seemed to have a pretty strong sense of humor about himself, it was disappointing to see that it contained no references to Triandos’ numerous mentions in the critically acclaimed series.

There’s a couple of likely explanations: First, it could be that veteran Baltimore sportswriter Mike Klingaman himself never saw The Wire, or he did and is so deeply entrenched in Baltimore-area sports stuff that he doesn’t think there’s anything particularly notable or funny about lengthy discussions of carnal relations with Gus Triandos. So when some reader — perhaps due to series, perhaps not — suggested he catch up Triandos for the series, he did not know or think to discuss the catcher’s inclusion in the show.

Alternately, it could be that Triandos himself never saw The Wire, and that given the nature of the conversations surrounding Triandos in the show, the topic was too awkward to broach with a then 78-year-old former ballplayer.

“Gus, have you seen The Wire?”

“No, I’m a 78-year-old man and it’s 2009. I exclusively watch Law and Order and its spinoffs.”

“Oh. Your name came up several times.”

“Yeah? In what context?”