Orioles 4, Yankees 3 on 7/12/77

[Boy Howdy]

The New York Post is running daily box scores from the 1977 Yankees.

Here's one account us Baltimore fans should enjoy. I went to my first game at Memorial Stadium just eight days before this, and it captures the vibe for those who never experienced 33rd Street at its best.

(Cut 'n' paste from NY Post)


JULY 12, 1977
ORIOLES 4, YANKEES 3

MILWAUKEE - As far as I was concerned,” Earl Weaver said after the Orioles took their third straight from the Yankees, a ninth-inning 4-3 decision, “the whole series was a classic.”

It was classic baseball in a classic baseball setting. Last night, 42,605 frenzied, chanting fanatics turned out to watch the no-name Orioles’ 10th victory in 11 games. The four games between these two rivals attracted 154,835 customers, a Memorial Stadium record for a series.

“The fans make a difference,” Weaver said. “They were the most enthusiastic I’d ever seen them.”

They were singing, “Amen . . . Amen . . . Amen,” a popular Maryland college victory anthem in the ninth after Al Bumbry’s leadoff triple. They chanted “O-R-I-O-L-E-S” when Dick Tidrow replaced Sparky Lyle, after he’d been hit on the left hand by Rich Dauer’s liner (X-rays of Lyle’s hand were negative; he has a bruised small finger and may miss a couple of games). And when Eddie Murray lofted a fly ball behind a drawn-in Paul Blair in leftfield for the gamer, the stadium erupted.

[SteveA]

1977 was a great year. We had lost a ton of players due to this new thing called "free agency". Reggie Jackson, Don Baylor, Bobby Grich, 20 game winner Wayne Garland. (OK, Baylor was actually traded but the point is we had lost a ton of talent). Brooks was winding down and really not a contributor anymore. Our early 70s pitching staff, with the exception of Palmer, had run its course. That article calling us a team of no-names was true. We broke in a whole bunch of rookies or near-rookies (maybe didn't qualify as rookies but this was the first year they played major roles) that year:

DH -- Eddie Murray....came out of nowhere, he was not someone that had been highly touted in our farm system. But he had a great spring training and made the opening day roster as DH. By the end of the year he and veteran Lee May had swapped spots and Eddie was at 1B and Lee was at DH.

2B -- Rich Dauer -- he was a highly touted prospect, having come out of the great USC college program and hit over .300 in AAA. He never was a great major league hitter, but he held the position down for about 7 or 8 years, during which the Orioles averaged about 93 wins per year, and he committed very few errors (range was not all that great. If he got to it he made the play). Dauer would battle Billy Smith for playing time all this season, sharing it about 50/50, before taking over

3B -- Doug DeCinces -- really had taken over as a regular in 1976 but this was the year the position really became his.

C -- Rick Dempsey -- this was his first full year as starting catcher, as he had been acquired in the middle of the previous season.

SP -- Mike Flanagan...this was his first year as a regular starter in the rotation, he had been used mostly in relief as a rookie in 1976.

SP/RP -- Denny Martinez -- this was his break-in year, as the Orioles used to break in potential starters by using them in long relief. He did what Flannie did the year before, split time between the rotaiton and pen.

SP/RP -- Scotty McGregor -- same as Martinez, he both relieved and started this year. We still had Ross Grimsley, I believe, in the rotation along with Palmer and Flanagan. I think Martinez, McGregor, and someone else I am not recalling at the moment added up to be the 4th and 5th starters behind Grimsely, Palmer, and Flanagan.

So we were breaking in a ton of new talent after losing a lot. Yet the team stayed within a couple games of the lead most of the season, and were not eliminated by the Bronx-is-Burning Yankees until the final Friday evening of the season. It was a great season and the start of a great run....after losing all that talent, these guys formed the nucleus of a team that was within 3 games of first place in all but one of the 7 years from 1977-1983 (78 when Bumbry broke his leg and we still won 90 games but finished about 10 games out). All those kids I mention were still around on the team that finally won it all in 1983 except DeCinces, who was traded after 1982. Plus Singleton & Palmer were still on the 1983 team....so basically a nucleus of 9 guys that we built around with Stone's and Lowenstein's and Roenicke's and Ayala's and Dwyer's and Boddicker's and Sakata's, plus Cal as a rookie in 1982.....it was all there in 1977 and a team that was no expected to do anything was still fighting for the division title the last Friday night of the season. One of Earl Weaver's best managing jobs.

[RHall31]

Mid 70's to mid 80's was a great time to be an Oriole fan. I was 17 at the time of that game. You could get walk up tickets (usually upper deck)
for Yankee games. My best Buddy and I used just roll down after work
(from Cecil County) watch the games and have a blast. Yankee games
were especially wild. Yankee fans did not come into Memorial Stadium
and dominate a game the way they do at Camden Yards.

Back then, just listening to an Oriole game on the radio was a thrill!

[GUYMAN]

I was 14, and living up here in Yankee country (northern NJ). Boy those player names bring back great memories.

[MCL1021]

Mid 70's to mid 80's was a great time to be an Oriole fan. I was 17 at the time of that game. You could get walk up tickets (usually upper deck)
for Yankee games. My best Buddy and I used just roll down after work
(from Cecil County) watch the games and have a blast. Yankee games
were especially wild. Yankee fans did not come into Memorial Stadium
and dominate a game the way they do at Camden Yards.

Back then, just listening to an Oriole game on the radio was a thrill!


Yankee fans in those days didn't also come out in droves like they do now...different crowds back then.

I was going to make a new thread, with something similar to this one....but, since I've been watching The Bronx is Burning, I've been wondering what it was like for the one year that we had Reggie Jackson?

I wasn't born until 84, so I wasn't around, but I've heard that he didn't really like being here, wanted to get out of Baltimore and go play elsewhere....was that factual?