Which Orioles team was the greatest?

[Sports Guy]

Starting from 1954 through right now, which team do you think was the best team the Orioles ever had?

[IamtheSkip]

The 1969 club was unbelievable. It was considered a miracle that they lost for a reason.

[Frobby]

Pretty close to a toss-up between the 1969 and 1970 teams, IMO.

1969: 109 wins, 779 runs scored, 517 allowed.
1970: 108 wins, 792 runs scored, 574 allowed.

In my heart I feel the '69 team was the best, but they didn't win the Series so its hard to go against the '70 team.

[Sports Guy]

I also think the 69 team was the best.

I asked Brooks this question one time and he told me that even though they didn't win, that he felt the 1969 Orioles was the best team he played on.

[Woody Held]

1969 was the first team that popped into my mind. Seems to be the consensus here as well.

[Mark Carver]

Easily the 1969 team, despite them losing to the Mets in the WS.

I was lucky enough to see them take it to the Twins in the ALCS, sitting in the LF bleachers of Memorial Stadium.

[IHeartMASN]

Jim Palmer has also said over the years that the 1969 team was the best.

[OrioleLochRaven]

Are you kidding!? How about the 2008 Orioles? ;)

[swampdog]

By all means, I will not argue against the o's teams of my youth. 1969,70,71,72, but for discussions sake, how about the 1997 team. For those who never saw a young Jim Palmer or Brooks, the Blade, Paul Blair etc... you can remember the O's last winning team. Arguably, four future hall of famers, at the time, in Cal, Raffy, Alomar, and Mussina. They led the division from start to finish, led the American league in wins, 2nd in ERA, least # of hits and runs allowed, a closer with 45 saves, deep bull pen, etc... Unfortunately, the difference between 1997 and the early great tems was that the team developed the early players, while 1997 team was basically bought through free agency. The by product of that team structure has resulted in where we are now.

[TonySoprano]

In my heart I feel the '69 team was the best, but they didn't win the Series so its hard to go against the '70 team.The Series is the tiebreaker, IMO. When I put the question once to Weaver, he said 1970. Lost in the discussion is the 1971 team with the four 20-game winners, never done before or since.

[66-70-83-??]

Jim Palmer has also said over the years that the 1969 team was the best.

So has Brooks.......and Boog.......and Frank......and Blair.....and Hall, etc.

The core players seem to think 1969 was their best team.

But, for some reason, their best memories are of the 66 and 70 teams. :p

[SteveA]

I'm not claiming it's up to the level of 1969, but another team that gets lost in the shuffle and not talked about much, but was damn good was the 1980 team. First team in history to win 100 games but not win their division. No wild card back then so they didn't make the playoffs.

Outscored opponents 805-640.

Two 20 game winners (Stone 25, McGregor 20).

Great year for Bumbry....hit .318, onbase .392, 44 steals, 11 caught.

Murray, Singleton, Bumbry, Stone all got MVP votes.

Unforgettable 5 game series with the Yankees that drew over 250,000 fans.

One of the best benches in major league history. You had the Roenicke/Lowenstein thing going, whichever one you count as starter, the other is a great bench guy. Ayala/Crowley DH platoon. Dan Graham, the backup catcher, hit 15 HRs. Pat Kelly and Lee May were winding down their careers as valuable bench players.

Oh, you know how we have a 12 man pitching staff now? This team went with about 9 or 10 pitchers most of the year. They used 12 pitchers TOTAL. Essentially a 4 man rotation with the 2 20 game winners mentioned plus Palmer and Flanagain won 16 each. Dennis Martinez started when a 5th starter was needed, which happened once in a while because they had these things called scheduled doubleheaders (ask your grandfather to explain them to you). Pretty much just a 4 man bullpen with Stoddard, Tippy Martinez, Sammy Stewart, and Dave Ford all having one of their top years in an Oriole uniform. The 9 pitchers I have mentioned threw 98.1% of the Orioles innings that year. 98.1%.