1996 Orioles Revisited - a love letter

[eddie83]

I don't view 1996 with as much love. Don't get me wrong it was awesome getting back to the playoffs but the journey wasn't a smooth one. The club actually fell under .500 in July. The pitching was terrible. 1997, 2012 and 2014 I view much better. I also enjoyed the 1989 season more to be honest. When we won the World Series in 1983 I wasn't old enough to know it might not happen again.

[ShaneDawg85]

The fact the O's had a staff ERA of 5.14 and had no starter with an ERA better than 4.81 and still made the playoffs gives me hope for this year. The O's ranked 8th in the AL even with such a horrible ERA, but the staff all had near career worst years.

If the 2016 O's staff can return to 2014 form, I think we'll have a chance to duplicate the 96 team's success.

I certainly understand the sentiments, but it's impossible to draw comparisons between the two periods of baseball given how out of control offense was at the time. It's embarrassing to look at it now, but that was the nature of the game in the time that they played. I'd certainly take a bad year from Mike Mussina with this years rotation if it meant that we had a pitcher like Mike Mussina on the staff.

[ShaneDawg85]

I don't view 1996 with as much love. Don't get me wrong it was awesome getting back to the playoffs but the journey wasn't a smooth one. The club actually fell under .500 in July. The pitching was terrible. 1997, 2012 and 2014 I view much better. I also enjoyed the 1989 season more to be honest. When we won the World Series in 1983 I wasn't old enough to know it might not happen again.

Given that I was 10-11 during that season, there are a lot of details about that team, and 1997 for that matter, that escape me now. However, remembering what I do and looking back at it now, this is kind of how I feel. If anything there's a great argument to be made that even in making the playoffs the '96 team greatly underachieved, and it extended to the season before when they finished under .500 after three respectable years to begin the new Camden Yards era despite having a really good rotation and a staff that finished second in ERA. To their credit though an argument can be made that the '96 team is kind of forgotten, like the 73-74 teams, because they're largely remembered for how the season ended stemming from the ALCS controversy, and for being overshadowed by the team the season after. It was an exciting time being in the postseason, and the being at games 3 and 5 of the ALCS that year, it was an awesome experience. However, it pales in comparison to the games and the fans in the stands in 2012 and 2014, and I don't just say that because I was so young then and I'm older and better able to understand things now, I say it because I truly believe it.

[Frobby]

Eddie coming back made me whole as a fan again.

[eddie83]

Eddie coming back made me whole as a fan again.

I was ecstatic over that.

[Moshagge3]

I don't view 1996 with as much love. Don't get me wrong it was awesome getting back to the playoffs but the journey wasn't a smooth one. The club actually fell under .500 in July. The pitching was terrible. 1997, 2012 and 2014 I view much better. I also enjoyed the 1989 season more to be honest. When we won the World Series in 1983 I wasn't old enough to know it might not happen again.

The team was 0-9 against the Yankees at Camden Yards, including playoffs. It's not my favorite year, either.

[MDtransplant757]

The team was 0-9 against the Yankees at Camden Yards, including playoffs. It's not my favorite year, either.

I would take 1997 over 1996.

[Tbone83]

The problem with 97 was that they SHOULD have at least got the WS if not won the WS. It was a great season that came up way too short. In 96, as noted, they stumbled into the playoffs with a fair amount of bad karma and proceeded to knock off the heavy favorites, Cleveland. In that sense I enjoyed 96 a bit more. Plus all those HRs...

But yeah, that Yankees series. I hear people say the Maier incident is overstated, but I don't think it is at all. It played a huge part in NY winning that game. Without it, the Birds very well go home up 2-0 and don't play so stiff.

[Filmstudy]

1996 was one of the most memorable seasons I've experienced in my 40 years of being an O's fan. Camden Yards was new, having been built just 4 years earlier in 1992. The O's led the league in attendance with 3.6M fans who created the most exciting home team environment in the majors with a sea of orange and black (I hardly remember seeing a Red Sox or Yankee jersey that season). Davey Johnson was at the helm and widely regarded as one of the best managers in the game. Angelos was largely in the background as an owner. The roster featured a true ace in Mike Mussina and several hall of fame caliber regulars including Ripken, Palmeiro, Robby Alomar and for the stretch run, Eddie Murrary.

Brady Anderson crushed 50 homers to become the O's all-time single season leader. Roberto Alomar and Mike Mussina won Gold Gloves to anchor a defense that was 3rd in the AL. Seven Orioles regulars hit 20+ home runs and the team hit 257 HRs which led the league and scored 949 runs total, which was 4th.

The mid season trade to bring Eddie Murray back to the O's was one of the best transactions I've ever seen. Baltimore traded pitcher Kent Merker, who was 3-6 with a 7.76 ERA to acquire Murray's services for the stretch run. The O's went 11 games over .500 after the trade to capture the AL Wildcard. On September 6th, against Detroit, Murray would hit his 500th career home run. If you weren't around to experience the days of the O's drawing 3M fans - check out how packed the stands are in this video for a weekday game against the lowly Tigers who went 53 - 109 (!!) that year.

The season was an absolute thrill ride with 5 of the games currently listed on the "Oriole Park Top 20 Classics" happening in 1996. This included a 12 - 11 come from behind walk off win against the A's, a 14 - 13 walk off win on grand slam by Chris Hoiles against the Mariners and a 5 run 9th inning come from behind win on another home run by Hoiles against the Blue Jays. Against the 96 O's, truly no lead was safe.

The Post Season was no different. The O's clinched the Wild Card on September 28th, the next to the last game of the season on, what else? a 10th inning home run by Roberto Alomar. The game was even crazier than normal for the 96 O's due to the fact that Alomar was in the midst of appealing a suspension for spitting in the face of umpire John Hirschbeck.

Writer John Eisenberg captured the strangeness of the O's season in his article the following day;

"They couldn't just clinch their first playoff berth in 13 years.

Not these Orioles, who have averaged a crisis a day since February.

They had to clinch on a home run hit by a player appealing a suspension for spitting in an umpire's face.

Is that perfect or what?

"A fitting ending to the season," manager Davey Johnson said.

They had to clinch on a day when the spat-upon umpire charged into their clubhouse threatening to kill that player.

Ho hum, just another day at the office for Team Calamity."

The O's limped into the playoffs going 6 - 7 their final 13 games and were setup to face the juggernauts of the American league that season, the 99 - 62 Cleveland Indians who finished the season 7 1/2 games better than anyone else in the AL.

The Indians were an offensive powerhouse scoring 952 runs with an obscene team OBP of .369 and a murders row of Albert Belle (48 HRs), Manny Ramirez (33 HRs) and Jim Thome (38 HRs). Their pitching staff also sported the best ERA in the AL at 4.34, which was almost a run better than the O's staff.

The O's won 3 games to 1 in a series where both teams combined averaged 11 runs, 3 HRs and nearly 2 Errors per game as the old adage of pitching & defense wins championships apparently went on vacation for the week. The deciding Game 4 was won in suitable fashion on an 11th inning go ahead home run by Roberto Alomar. With the win, the O's became the first WildCard team to advance to the LCS.

In the ALCS, the O's faced the Yankees who had finished with a 92 - 70 record and was statistically the 2nd luckiest team in the AL that season as they outperformed their Pythagorean W-L by 4 games. That luck immediately expressed itself in Game 1 of the series as the Yankees tied the game in the 8th on the infamous "Jeffrey Maier Incident." As described from Wikipedia;

"With the Yankees trailing 4?3 in the bottom of the eighth, rookie Derek Jeter hit a fly ball to deep right field off Orioles reliever Armando Ben?tez. Right fielder Tony Tarasco backed up to the wall, but twelve-year-old Yankees fan Jeffrey Maier reached over the fence and brought the ball into the stands and out of the field of play before Tarasco could attempt to catch the ball for a possible out. Tarasco immediately pointed above and protested that it was fan interference, but right field umpire Rich Garcia controversially ruled it a home run and his call was upheld by the other members of the umpiring crew. The game then went into extra-innings, where Bernie Williams ended it in the eleventh with a walk-off home run into the left field seats off Baltimore's Randy Myers."

The O's went on to win Game 2, but instead of having the momentum of a commanding 2 - 0 lead, the team played like their backs were against the wall for the rest of the series, dropping the final three games in Camden Yard to lose 4 games to 1.

The series against the Indians and Yankees were a microcosm of one of the most extraordinary seasons in the Orioles storied history. From the unbelievable high of the Indians series where the O's looked like an unstoppable force destined for a World Series championship, to the creeping despair of the Yankees series where poor pitching, lack of clutch hitting and random circumstance robbed the team of their herculean stature, the 1996 Orioles were the epitome of everything that this fan loves about the game of baseball.

Game 4 of the series against the Indians was an all-time classic. The Orioles struck out 23 times in 12 innings, blew a 2-0 lead, and had to rally off Jose Mesa with Alomar's 2-out game-tying hit scoring Manny Alexander in the 9th. The shade covered the batting area and was crossing the mound, so Mesa's pitches were almost invisible. In the 12th inning, Alomar hit the GW homer in his next AB. After the game, he was asked what his thoughts were after getting such a clutch hit, and he said "which one?" He wasn't being cocky and those were perhaps 2 of the 5 biggest postseason hits in team history.

After he hit the GW HR to clinch the WC in Toronto on National TV, the network game the game MVP to "The Baltimore Orioles" for surviving as a team. Obviously the network was unwilling to give the player of the game to Alomar the day after the spitting incident.

Alomar's time in Baltimore wasn't really plagued by controvery other than THE INCIDENT, yet somehow, this HoFer with the best baseball instincts you'll ever see, ended up playing for 7 teams. Some of it was economic, but either the Blue Jays or O's could have afforded to keep him. The only Oriole with equivalent baseball instincts was Palmer. Not even Brooks, Frank, or Cal.

[Crabcakes]

Alomar ....with the best baseball instincts you'll ever see ... The only Oriole with equivalent baseball instincts was Palmer. Not even Brooks, Frank, or Cal.

Maybe you need to re-define 'baseball instincts', because Palmer, as much as I can recall never once instinctively spit on Earl Weaver, no matter how many arguments they had over baseball.

[LordBaltimore]

Seeing Eddie's 500th home run was great. Brady's 50th home run was great. Jeffrey Maier is still a punk.