Jump to content

A wound that time has not healed for me


Frobby

Recommended Posts

The year was 1969. I was 12 years old, and the Baltimore Orioles were my consuming passion in life. Before the baseball season began, the year had started badly, with the New York Jets beating my beloved Colts in the Super Bowl in what was probably the greatest pro football upset of all time. The Orioles wiped away the pain, it seemed, by running away with the AL East by 19 games, winning 109 regular season games and then sweeping the Twins in the ALCS to win the pennant Soon, the Orioles would be World Champions again and wipe away any lingering pain from the football season.

And then came the "Amazin' Mets."

Words cannot describe how painful it was to see that great Orioles team lose to a bunch of fluky upstarts from, of all the places on Earth, New York. It was the pain from the Super Bowl, squared.

Hindsight has allowed me to see that the Mets did have an excellent pitching staff, but there were so many painful moments in that series, and the Orioles were so clearly the superior team. To rub salt into the wound, the Mets' leading hitter in that series, Al Weis, was a career .219/.278/.275 hitter who somehow hit .455/.563/.727 in that Series. And it was Weis who, two years before while on the White Sox, had collided with Frank Robinson at 2B, causing a severe concussion and ending Frank's bid for a second straight Triple Crown. (In my 12-year old mind, that collision was entirely Weis' fault, though of course there is no evidence of that, and Frank had slid into 2B to break up a DP and his head had collided with Weis' knee.)

It's been 46 years and I've still never lived it down. The Mets got so much ink that winter, and in the years that followed, that it nauseated me. I've rooted against them ever since, and I always will.

Please, please, please beat the Mets!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 65
  • Created
  • Last Reply
The year was 1969. I was 12 years old, and the Baltimore Orioles were my consuming passion in life. Before the baseball season began, the year had started badly, with the New York Jets beating my beloved Colts in the Super Bowl in what was probably the greatest pro football upset of all time. The Orioles wiped away the pain, it seemed, by running away with the AL East by 19 games, winning 109 regular season games and then sweeping the Twins in the ALCS to win the pennant Soon, the Orioles would be World Champions again and wipe away any lingering pain from the football season.

And then came the "Amazin' Mets."

Words cannot describe how painful it was to see that great Orioles team lose to a bunch of fluky upstarts from, of all the places on Earth, New York. It was the pain from the Super Bowl, squared.

Hindsight has allowed me to see that the Mets did have an excellent pitching staff, but there were so many painful moments in that series, and the Orioles were so clearly the superior team. To rub salt into the wound, the Mets' leading hitter in that series, Al Weis, was a career .219/.278/.275 hitter who somehow hit .455/.563/.727 in that Series. And it was Weis who, two years before while on the White Sox, had collided with Frank Robinson at 2B, causing a severe concussion and ending Frank's bid for a second straight Triple Crown. (In my 12-year old mind, that collision was entirely Weis' fault, though of course there is no evidence of that, and Frank had slid into 2B to break up a DP and his head had collided with Weis' knee.)

It's been 46 years and I've still never lived it down. The Mets got so much ink that winter, and in the years that followed, that it nauseated me. I've rooted against them ever since, and I always will.

Please, please, please beat the Mets!

OK Now you ruined my entire day I hope your happy ;) as I too lived thru that disaster I could never figure which was worse the Colts gett'in busted, or the O's losing to the best NO NAME LOSERS IN BASEBALL history... :rolleyestf: I consider the Mets the DAMN YANKEE'S COUSINS I HATE THEM.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That was the worst year in Baltimore sports history. Not only did the O's lose to the Mets but the Bullets last to the Knicks, and the Colts lost to the Jets. I was in Vietnam that year. Lost a lot of money to the New Yorkers. Could've been worse but I didn't think so at the time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was a junior at UMD in a dorm populated with guys from NY/NJ. It was and is still painful. Ed Kranepool, Ron Swoboda, the shoe polish trick. I use it as the extreme example of the playoffs being a crapshoot. Heck, I am still pissed over the 2 game sweep in May. Beat the MEts!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had "mixed emotions". Being a newcomer to Oriole fandom and coming from New Yawk, I had a history. I grew up a New York Giant baseball fan. I was traveling to FL with parents on U. S. Route 1 when Bobby Thomson hit the shot heard 'round the world". My dad had to pull off the road while Russ Hodges' words, "the Giants win the pennant" ad infinitum still rang in our ears. I then knew what it meant to be a fan.

Those Giants rose to the occasion in 1954 beating the much favored Tribe in the Willie Mays Classic (their only WS win until last year). Then in 1957 they flew to the left coast and there went my passion for baseball. I hated the Yanks and the Mets, even with The Ole Perfesser, were buffoons. I was glad in a way.

In 1966, I was fresh out of college and in Washington, DC, who had a similar lot in the Senators. One of my co-workers from Arkansas loved Brooksie and the Orioles. I slowly came to love this team of grinders and a few superstars. Finally, a team to kick the Yankees' butt! I was all in. They won in '66 and '68 and were in the Series in '69 against the upstart Mets. The rest, as Frobby has spoken, came to pass. Freakin' Ron Swoboda!

Now as I watch the new upstart Metropolitans I get a similar feeling. Many of my NY friends love them. I love their young hurlers also. But, let's pay them back for '69 a little bit with a two game sweep!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When we got the interference call last night for the hitter running to 1B in fair territory, it reminded me of Richert drilling a Met in a similar situation. Of course, that call did not go our way.

I did get to go to Game 1 of the series. There is nothing like a World Series crowd. What an awful series.

And, it came on the tail of the Jets beating the Colts in the Superbowl.

And, the Bullets lost to the Knicks in the playoffs.

Wow, did I hate New York for years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest rochester

Interesting... I remember watching Game 1 in school. Our teacher took us to the auditorium to watch it. 1968 was my first big baseball year (ST.L/Det WS) but the O's were my favorite team. It's weird but I really do remember sitting and watching all of the games.. the catches....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting... I remember watching Game 1 in school. Our teacher took us to the auditorium to watch it. 1968 was my first big baseball year (ST.L/Det WS) but the O's were my favorite team. It's weird but I really do remember sitting and watching all of the games.. the catches....

Were you in Rochester or Baltimore?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When we got the interference call last night for the hitter running to 1B in fair territory, it reminded me of Richert drilling a Met in a similar situation. Of course, that call did not go our way.

I did get to go to Game 1 of the series. There is nothing like a World Series crowd. What an awful series.

And, it came on the tail of the Jets beating the Colts in the Superbowl.

And, the Bullets lost to the Knicks in the playoffs.

Wow, did I hate New York for years.

It's tough being "from there" and disliking so much about the Big Apple. I always wanted to leave and did so at the earliest moment. Funny that I end up in the DC area and, in many ways, that area is so full of itself also. So I escape to FL and OH to "get away from it all"! :laughlol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest rochester
Were you in Rochester or Baltimore?

Rochester - O's became my favorites because of the Red Wings. Never lived in Baltimore but was a Colts (not Ravens) and Bullets fan.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Being a Senators fan all through the 60s, didn't give much hopes for post season wins.

I wasn't much better following the Skins all through the 60's.

First extremely painful loss, was the Reskins Superbowl loss to the Dolphins, 14-7 in 1972.

I was an old man in 96, and sitting in the stands for Game 3 in OPACY, not too far from Chuck Thompson, The game came apart in the 8th inning. Todd Zeile thought he would fake a throw home to get the runner back to 3rd and threw the ball into the dirt and it bounced and that was all she wrote. That game is still burned into my mind, and left a bad taste with me for years, that I can't shake.

Thankfully, the Redskins had several SB victories after that bad lose in 72.

Still waiting on the Orioles to overcome that bad loss in 96 and win the damn WS.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK Now you ruined my entire day I hope your happy ;) as I too lived thru that disaster I could never figure which was worse the Colts gett'in busted, or the O's losing to the best NO NAME LOSERS IN BASEBALL history... :rolleyestf: I consider the Mets the DAMN YANKEE'S COUSINS I HATE THEM.

After much time and searching, I came to the conclusion that the Mets were simply the better team. They played .729 ball starting August 1 (51 wins and 19 losses) and no one could touch them. They had Nolan Ryan and Tom Seaver. They had Koosman who always pitched lights out in the postseason.

Honestly over a 70 game stretch, that's one of the best in baseball history. It was meant to be.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That was the worst year in Baltimore sports history. Not only did the O's lose to the Mets but the Bullets last to the Knicks, and the Colts lost to the Jets. I was in Vietnam that year. Lost a lot of money to the New Yorkers. Could've been worse but I didn't think so at the time.

Just in case you haven't heard it lately....thank you for your service.

Go O's!!!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


  • Posts

    • Twitter is a dumpster fire.  I'm not sure why you'd wanna be there, it's a bunch of people pissing in the ocean and thinking they're special.
    • I will continue to predict that he's traded for cash or PTBNL, to some outfield starved team with no good CF options. 
    • It's opening day for my team, the Baltimore Orioles, and I'm so excited. The team has a new owner, a real Oriole fan who grew up in Baltimore...the club has some fantastic young players and they will be there for a few more years...the ballpark will be filled today..and the fans too will be filled with anticipation of another great year. But the ONE person who wont be there is the ONE person who would have loved it more than just about anyone. This is the first year in my baseball life that Brooks Robinson wont be here, and it still weighs heavy in my heart. Brooks passed last last September 26 at the age of 86. Everything I loved about the game was embodied by that man. He was the best the game had to offer. A man of personal warmth, optimism, incredible skills in the field, congeniality, but also, he represented everything that was good and right about the game. I'd like to reprise a story I wrote about the time Brooks stayed at my home for a weekend with his son, Brooks David, and another Orioles legend, Jim Palmer. When Brooks and his son Brooks David came into my house, a house decorated in Orioles memorabilia..I didn't want to embarrass him by making it look like it was a shrine to him, but I also have to be who I am. I didn't take many things down. Instead of feeling embarrassed, Brooks seemed to look at my collection with wonder and joy. Brooks Robinson is perhaps the most beloved person I have ever known in my life...and not because he worked at it...but precisely because he DIDN'T. He didn't "dish". Didn't do "snark", and would never ever have told stories out of school. Perhaps most of all, thats why people loved him. As great a player as he was, with 16 Gold Gloves, he never ever pulled any kind of rank..never ever felt entitled to anything. Class isn't something you "work at". You have it, and your manner dictates it...class people never talk about themselves...never use their name as a third person. In all the years I knew Brooks Robinson, it never occurred to him that he was BROOKS ROBINSON.. I could say so many things about that weekend of his visit, but some thoughts are matters of the heart...mine..so I'll keep most to myself. But I will share one intimacy.at one point at dinner one night, It was time to toast my friends, and toasting Palmer was easy and funny...but then I turned to Brooks and said this: "I want you to know, and you do, how much I love you, and cherish you, and you must know, you are my hero, and always will be". I then started to cry. Brooks looked at me and said"I love you too Roy, and always will". Then Brooks David looked at me and said something that made me feel like a million bucks. "Roy, I love YOU, because you love my dad." The weekend was so joyous and warm and wonderful, and Palmer kept it light with hysterical banter. But the love was everywhere. We all attended Frank Robinson's memorial on that Sunday, and Brooks was asked to speak about Frank: 'Frank was about winning, and when when we won with him, we won something more than baseball games...we won as people..just knowing him was a win..I'm a better man from having known him", he said. Then we went back to my house. Brooks slept in MY bedroom. I slept in my guest room. The King gets the best room, the best bed. I wouldn't have it any other way. That Sunday, I dropped Brooks and Brooks David off at the airport. Palmer drove back to his home in his brand new car. When I returned from the airport, I was left alone in my house, and took a deep breath. My childhood heroes were my house guests that weekend, and every moment, every second, was cherished by me, and it won't ever be forgotten. I was introduced to becoming a sportscaster directly because of Brooks. He was my first interview when I was just 14. But far more than that, he was an inspiration. He was a man of character and generosity, and grace, and he specialized in human decency. I have never met a more decent and beloved person in all my life. How I carry myself in life came from my parents, and Brooks. I only hope I served them well. The house was quiet now, but the weekend my home was alive with memories, laughter, and a ton of love. As I dropped the Robinson's off a the curb.. we hugged tightly, and Brooks walked away to the counter. My eyes got misty again as they disappeared. You never know about life. You never know how much time you have left with people you dearly love. Nothing is guaranteed for anyone. So I was so deeply satisfied and grateful that our time that weekend was so very well spent, and the words were spoken, not kept away or protected. My God, how wonderful a life I've had. So many joys, so many experiences. This weekend ranked right near the top. To borrow Brooks' line about Frank..."Im a better man for having known them". Rest well, Brooks, I'm not sure about heaven..none of us really are...but if there IS one..you get a pass for eternity. Watching Opening Day today will be wonderful, but for me, it will be a bit empty and yes, a tad sad. Its the first Opening Day without Brooks in close to 70 years. I owe him so much. I will always love and admire and cherish the time we spent together. There will be other players, maybe even greater ones. But there will never be a greater human being than Brooks Robinson. I am blessed to have called him "friend" Oriole fans were always his friends too. Heres what I said when Brooks asked me to introduce his statue at Camden Yards.
    • Yeah man... people just get sucked way too far into it. It's really sad. There's a huge world out there that's way more invigorating than likes. I'm gonna do my best to keep my boys away from it as much as possible.  I had a Twitter account this winter for about a month. I just found that it pissed me off more than anything else. I don't need that noise.
    • Anyone know if we can watch the press conference live anywhere? 
  • Popular Contributors

  • Popular Now

×
×
  • Create New...