He was originally drafted by the Montreal Expos as the eighth pick of the first round of the 1973 amateur draft. He earned the MVP Award in the Eastern League (U.S. baseball) in 1975. A year later, he made his major league debut for the Montreal Expos, hitting .222 in 29 games with two home runs and five runs batted in.\n', '

In 1977, Roenicke was traded with Joe Kerrigan and Don Stanhouse to the Baltimore Orioles for Rudy May, Randy Miller, and Bryn Smith.\n', '

Roenicke appeared in 27 games in his first season with the Orioles in 1978. A year later, in his first full season, he had perhaps the best season of his career, appearing in 133 games and hitting .261 with 25 home runs and 64 runs batted in. He even made the top ten in at-bats per home run, with one home run every 15.0 AB. The next year, he hit .239 with 10 home runs, 28 runs batted in. In 1981 he hit .269, but his power numbers were still significantly down, slugging only .384, whereas he had slugged .508 in his rookie season. In 1982, he hit .270 with a slugging percentage of .499 in 137 games, platooning with John Lowenstein and Benny Ayala. In 1984, he hit a grand slam during the Home Run Derby jackpot inning of a locally televised game against the Yankees, which resulted in a $1 million jackpot award to a Maryland viewer.\n', '

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