35 YEARS AGO: The Sporting News Article on the Orioles' New 3rd Baseman

[survivedc]

Ok, so how were those teams excluded from the playoffs with better records?

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[Babkins]

Ok, so how were those teams excluded from the playoffs with better records?

From Baseball-Reference.com: "Due to an extended player strike in the middle of the 1981 season, the season was divided into two halves with the first- and second-half champs facing each other in a divisional round prior to the league championship series."

The Yankees went 34–22 to lead the AL East in the first half, so they made the divisional playoff despite slipping to 25–26 in the second half (59–48 overall). The Orioles went 31–23 in the first half and 28–23 in the second to finish up 59–46, just a game back of Milwaukee's best-overall 62–47.

Wow. What a load of nonsense that is. Glad I was only three and don't remember it.

Full AL standings here.

[DrungoHazewood]

And he was terrible the rest of the season.

His performance night even have cost us a playoff spot. We became the first team in MLB history to not make the playoffs when a team in our division with a worse record did.

I doubt that Cal's 40 PAs over Wayne Krenchicki were the difference considering the poor performances from Belanger, Dwyer, Luebbers, et al.

[JohnBKistler]

Wow. What a load of nonsense that is. Glad I was only three and don't remember it.[/url]

I was 14, and I remember it, and it was a load of BS...especially since the Yankees benefited from it.

Those '77 to '83 seasons were magical (probably because I was young).

'79 was great up until they broke my heart in October. I can still remember my father trying to console me in our basement as I cried after the last out in the WS.

'80 was a thrilling season. The Orioles and Yankees met for a series in August and it was playoff like atmosphere. The Os swept the Yankees and really tightened up the race.

The Yankees went 25-7 after Labor Day, the Orioles 24-10...they just couldn't catch them. And they never played them head-to-head after that August series.

The last weekend in '82 was crazy. Especially after sweeping the DH on Friday. Sutton vs Palmer: 2 HOFers in the twilight of their career for the division on Sunday.

Glad the O's won it in '83. Memories.....

[OFFNY]

JohnBKistler said:

 

I was 14, and I remember it, and it was a load of BS...especially since the Yankees benefited from it.

Those '77 to '83 seasons were magical (probably because I was young).

'79 was great up until they broke my heart in October. I can still remember my father trying to console me in our basement as I cried after the last out in the WS.

'80 was a thrilling season. The Orioles and Yankees met for a series in August, and it was playoff like atmosphere. The O's swept the Yankees, and really tightened up the race.

The last weekend in '82 was crazy. Especially after sweeping the DH on Friday. Sutton vs Palmer: 2 HOFers in the twilight of their career for the division on Sunday.

Glad the O's won it in '83. Memories ........

 

o

 

I remember that series.

I went to the beach with my friend on the final game of that series (Sunday.)

When I got back, my brother Mark (Yankee fan) explained to me how the Orioles had an amazing comeback win in the 9th inning that day to complete the sweep.

And something that I will never forget was watching the highlights of that final game of the series later that night on the WPIX-11 news. After Eddie Murray hit the RBI-double in the top of the 9th inning to give the Orioles the lead, they showed a couple of little kids in the front row of the field level seats at Yankee Stadium wearing Orioles batting helmets. They were jumping up and down with joy, while all of the Yankee fans around them just sat there. I was 14 and-a-half years old at the time, and those 2 little kids reminded me of myself from a few years earlier.

 

o