1973-74 Orioles - How Good Were They?

The 1969-71 Orioles get a lot of attention and so do the 1979 Orioles but you don't hear much about the 1973-74 Orioles. I know they didn't get to the World Series but a lot of great teams have missed the World Series.Just how good was this team?

The '73 team was very good, and much better than the '74 team.

1973

97-65 record (best in the AL by three games)

Outscored opponents 754-561

3rd in runs scored

1st in ERA and fewest runs allowed

Led the league in triples, walks, OBP and stolen bases (!)

What I most remember about that team was suddenly we had a lot of speed, with Rookie of the Year Al Bumbry stealing 23, Don Baylor 32, and six others in double figures. Bumbry (.337/.398/.500) and Rich Coggins (.319/.363/.468) were huge catalysts for that team. Jim Palmer won the first of his three Cy Young awards.

The '73 O's lost a hard-fought series to Oakland, 3 games to 2. In my heart, I feel the O's had the better team that year.

1974

91-71 record

Outscored opponents 659-612

9th in runs scored

2nd in ERA and fewest runs allowed

What was memorable about this team was how they closed the regular season. On August 28 they were 63-65 and eight games out of first place. From there, they went 28-6 to close out the season, including winning 10 in a row to start that stretch and then finishing by winning 13 of the final 14 games, to win the division title by two games. Also, it was the only season in a nine-year stretch (1970-78) that Jim Palmer didn't win 20 games. Palmer was hurt for part of the year and had a very poor 7-12 campaign. Mike Cuellar picked up the slack by winning 22 games.

After that furious stretch run, the O's were outclassed by Oakland in the ALCS, three games to one.

The '73 team was very good, and much better than the '74 team.

1973

97-65 record (best in the AL by three games)

Outscored opponents 754-561

3rd in runs scored

1st in ERA and fewest runs allowed

Led the league in triples, walks, OBP and stolen bases (!)

What I most remember about that team was suddenly we had a lot of speed, with Rookie of the Year Al Bumbry stealing 23, Don Baylor 32, and six others in double figures. Bumbry (.337/.398/.500) and Rich Coggins (.319/.363/.468) were huge catalysts for that team. Jim Palmer won the first of his three Cy Young awards.

The '73 O's lost a hard-fought series to Oakland, 3 games to 2. In my heart, I feel the O's had the better team that year.

1974

91-71 record

Outscored opponents 659-612

9th in runs scored

2nd in ERA and fewest runs allowed

What was memorable about this team was how they closed the regular season. On August 28 they were 63-65 and eight games out of first place. From there, they went 28-6 to close out the season, including winning 10 in a row to start that stretch and then finishing by winning 13 of the final 14 games, to win the division title by two games. Also, it was the only season in a nine-year stretch (1970-78) that Jim Palmer didn't win 20 games. Palmer was hurt for part of the year and had a very poor 7-12 campaign. Mike Cuellar picked up the slack by winning 22 games.

After that furious stretch run, the O's were outclassed by Oakland in the ALCS, three games to one.

That wasn't a shabby A's team either, not that I was a fan of the guys, but 3 straight pennants isn't easy to do.

The Orioles might well have won the 1973 ALCS had one play in the eighth inning of Game 3 turned out differently.

Going into the last of the eighth, the Orioles were leading, 1-0, on the strength of an Earl Williams solo home run and Mike Cuellar's 1-hit pitching.

Jesus Alou led off the bottom of the eighth with a single. The A's sent in pinch-running specialist Allan Lewis (who never had an at-bat all year) to run for Alou.

Mike Andrews was the next Oakland batter and the A's manager called for a sacrifice. As Cuellar delivered his pitch, Lewis, evidently thinking Cuellar was going to make a pickoff throw to first, broke back to the bag.

Andrews laid down the bunt, which Cuellar fielded. Catcher Andy Etchebarren, seeing what a terrible jump Lewis had, screamed for Cuellar to throw to second base, but Mike never heard him. Believing he had no chance for a force at second because of Lewis' tremendous speed, Cuellar took the sure out at first, allowing Lewis to advance to second.

One out later, Joe Rudi singled Lewis home with the tying run. Had Cuellar gotten the force at second, Rudi's hit probably would only have advanced Andrews to second base. The A's would not have scored in the inning, and the Birds would have won Game 3 and taken the series the next day.

As it was, the A's won in the 11th on a leadoff homer from Bert Campaneris.

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What is sometimes lost on people is that the 1973 Orioles team came oh so close to having a rematch of the 1969 World Series with the Mets. The 1969 Mets had Seaver, Koosman, and Gentry. The 1973 Mets had Seaver, Koosman, and Matlack. The Orioles still had Palmer, Cuellar, and McNally atop their starting rotation, also.

SIDE NOTE: ) In my rat's ass of an opinion, the real Miracle Mets team was the 1973 team, not the 1969 team.

The 1969 team won 100 games, and swept the Braves in the NLCS.

The 1973 Mets made it to the World Series with a record of 82-79 with one rain-out ........ to this day, that is the worst record ever for a team that has made it to the World Series.

The 1973 Mets also were in last place on August 30th ........ that's right, they went from last place to first place in the final month of the season, leapfrogging the other 5 teams in their division in that one-month span.

Then they beat the heavily favored Cincinnati Red Machine in that year's NLCS.

Finally, they pushed one of the all-time great teams (the 1972-1973-1974 Oakland Athletics) to the brink in the World Series, 4 games to 3.

What the 1969 Mets and the 1973 Mets had in common were excellent pitching, and good defense ........ and when you have those two strengths, you can conquer giants in a short playoff series, as the Mets did in 1969 with the Orioles, and again in 1973 with the Reds, and nearly yet again in 1973 with the Athletics.

The 1973 Orioles were an outstanding team that was barely defeated by an all-time great team (the 1972-1973-1974 Oakland Athletics) in that season's ALCS.

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Happy birthday, Don Baylor.

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