The 100 Most Significant Dates in Modern Orioles History

[Frobby]

13 minutes ago, SteveA said:

Hmmm... they played a doubleheader two days earlier, on September 30.  He had two hits in the first game and sat out the 2nd game.   Then they didn't play on Sat Oct 1, I guess a rainout, and they had the doubleheader on the last day of the season Oct 2, which is the date I designated as his clinching the triple crown.

I guess that newspaper article felt that his 2 hits Friday night clinched it.   I'd have to do some math to see what Oliva would have had to do in the doubleheader if Frank went 0 for 8, to beat him out.   Maybe he would have had to go 7 for 8 or something and that is so unlikely, that the paper said after the Friday night games that Frank had clinched it.

If you look carefully, the date of the newspaper is Sept. 30.

[SteveA]

2 minutes ago, Frobby said:

If you look carefully, the date of the newspaper is Sept. 30.

It's also not a real newspaper, it's something Topps put together for a baseball card.

So Topps felt he "clinched" the Triple Crown on Friday night, the 30th.   And made up a phony newspaper headline, not thinking that such an article, if real, would have appeared in an October 1 newspaper.   They put the 30th on the card.

I felt he clinched it on October 2, the last day of the season, so I chose that date.   I'm going to stick with that date.   There was at least a mathematical chance that if Frank went 0 for 8 and Oliva went 8 for 8 he could have lost it.   I'm sure Frank probably wouldn't have been left in long enough to go 0 for 8 so probably it was for all practical purposes "clinched" on Friday.   But when it comes to clinching divisions and playoff spots, celebrations are always held off until it's mathematically clinched.   The team that goes 9.5 games up with 10 to play doesn't pop the champagne, even though no team has ever come from 9 games back with 10 left.   They wait until they win the next day.   So I feel comfortable with the date I chose.

I actually chose another picture,  that had Frank wearing a big crown and holding his MVP award.   It wasn't posed for a baseball card.   It was a cool picture that I found in a Google search.   But I couldn't get it to load as an image to the page for some reason so the picture I wound up using was my 2nd choice.   I will try to just put the URL in rather than using the "Insert other media" prompt...

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjx1Pfzk4jYAhXikOAKHdAnC8MQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.si.com%2Fmlb%2Fphotos%2F2013%2F11%2F21%2Fmlb-all-time-blockbuster-trades&psig=AOvVaw3vGxBl-E3cs1lI6OyHiMXg&ust=1513294620126528

[SteveA]

Just now, SteveA said:

It's also not a real newspaper, it's something Topps put together for a baseball card.

So Topps felt he "clinched" the Triple Crown on Friday night, the 30th.   And made up a phony newspaper headline, not thinking that such an article, if real, would have appeared in an October 1 newspaper.   They put the 30th on the card.

I felt he clinched it on October 2, the last day of the season, so I chose that date.   I'm going to stick with that date.   There was at least a mathematical chance that if Frank went 0 for 8 and Oliva went 8 for 8 he could have lost it.   I'm sure Frank probably wouldn't have been left in long enough to go 0 for 8 so probably it was for all practical purposes "clinched" on Friday.   But when it comes to clinching divisions and playoff spots, celebrations are always held off until it's mathematically clinched.   The team that goes 9.5 games up with 10 to play doesn't pop the champagne, even though no team has ever come from 9 games back with 10 left.   They wait until they win the next day.   So I feel comfortable with the date I chose.

I actually chose another picture,  that had Frank wearing a big crown and holding his MVP award.   It wasn't posed for a baseball card.   It was a cool picture that I found in a Google search.   But I couldn't get it to load as an image to the page for some reason so the picture I wound up using was my 2nd choice.   I will try to just put the URL in rather than using the "Insert other media" prompt...

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjx1Pfzk4jYAhXikOAKHdAnC8MQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.si.com%2Fmlb%2Fphotos%2F2013%2F11%2F21%2Fmlb-all-time-blockbuster-trades&psig=AOvVaw3vGxBl-E3cs1lI6OyHiMXg&ust=1513294620126528

If you click on that link you get to an article, and you have to scroll 90% of the way down to see the picture I WANTED to include but couldn't get to work.

[Frobby]

I agree he didn’t clinch anything until the final day.    I don’t really understand why Topps mocked that up for Sept. 30.   

[Beef Supreme]

On Tuesday, December 5, 2017 at 2:46 PM, Moose Milligan said:

If you don't trade Eddie, you keep Devereaux (traded for Mike Morgan, NOT part of the Eddie Murray package) and your 90s outfield is Brady, Devo and Finley which should be pretty strong defensively. 

I am not sure if I understand. Yes, the Orioles traded Morgan for Devereaux. And they kept him through 1994. Whether they "don't trade Eddie," they still have Devo for those years either way. I could understand, "If you don't trade Eddie, you keep Finley (instead of trading him for Glenn Davis) and your 90s outfield is Brady, Devo and Finley which should be pretty strong defensively."

Trivia Question: Which player was "blocking" Mike Devereaux from playing centerfield for the Dodgers?

Answer is below backwards

yblehsnhoj

[Beef Supreme]

29 minutes ago, SteveA said:

Hmmm... they played a doubleheader two days earlier, on September 30.  He had two hits in the first game and sat out the 2nd game.   Then they didn't play on Sat Oct 1, I guess a rainout, and they had the doubleheader on the last day of the season Oct 2, which is the date I designated as his clinching the triple crown.

I guess that newspaper article felt that his 2 hits Friday night clinched it.   I'd have to do some math to see what Oliva would have had to do in the doubleheader if Frank went 0 for 8, to beat him out.   Maybe he would have had to go 7 for 8 or something and that is so unlikely, that the paper said after the Friday night games that Frank had clinched it.

Interesting.
I think some of us are just trying to provide help as free editors for your soon-to-be published book. :-)

[SteveA]

It's 61 days until pitchers and catchers report to Sarasota.   Here is the 61st most significant date in modern Orioles history:

#61 October 4, 2016

The 2016 Orioles made the playoffs for the third time in five years, grabbing the second wild card.  The Orioles tied the Blue Jays for 2nd in the AL East, but Toronto got the #1 wild card thanks to winning 10 of 19 from the Orioles during the regular season

25 year old Marcus Stroman (9-10 with a 4.37 ERA) faced Chris Tillman (16-6 with a 3.77 ERA) despite a late season stint on the disabled list and a shoulder that was still bothering him.  The Blue Jays struck first in the bottom of the 2nd, on a home run by former Oriole Rule V Pick Jose Bautista.

Mark Trumbo's 2-run homer in the 4th put the Orioles up 2-1.  The Blue Jays tied it in the bottom of the 5th with a run that scored because Michael Bourn failed to get to a ball in right field that he usually gets to.  Tillman was chased, but the Orioles had a great, deep bullpen that year.  

One after another, the Orioles trotted out their fantastic bullpen arms, Mychal Givens going 2.1 scoreless innings, loogy Donnie Hart for an out, 1.1 shaky innings from Brad Brach, and 1.2 innings from Darren O'Day.

Meanwhile, the Orioles bats went silent, going hitless after the 6th.  The game was tied in the bottom of the 11th.  Buck Showalter had used the Orioles 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th best relievers.  At this point, the obvious move would be to try to get a couple innings out of Zach Britton, who had had a historically great season, one of the best ever by a reliever.

But instead, Buck decided to save Britton for an eventual save situation.  He brought in lefty Brian Duensing to get a lefthanded batter out, and then went to Ubaldo Jimenez, he of the 5.44 ERA and very little experience as a reliever.  Within five pitches, Jimenez had allowed two singles and a walkoff 3-run walkoff blast to Edwin Encarnacion, and the Orioles' season was over.

Buck Showalter had done wonders with the Orioles in his years as manager, but this  undefendable move on the national stage will be a blot on his record for ever, just as Bill Buckner is remembered less for his excellent career than for one play in 1986.  The decision will always be part of his legacy.

The next season, the Orioles had their first losing season in 6 years.  Was that just a minor downturn or was it the end of the run of success that had emerged from the rubble of the 14 straight losing seasons?

The Orioles currently do not look like contenders for 2018 either, (although to be fair, most people felt the same way at this time before 2012 and 2016 as well and Showalter piloted both those teams to the postseason).

So only time will tell whether October 4, 2016 marks the end of a brief 5 year "era" of success in Oriole history, or just a singular painful setback that will eventually be redeemed just like the painful endings in 1979, 1980, and 1982 were forgotten in the thrilling conclusion of 1983.

[Frobby]

What pained me most about that game was not Buck’s decision to use Ubaldo, but our consistently poor offensive approach throughout the game and particularly in the later innings. (They went down 1-2-3 in the final four innings.)   The O’s had five baserunners all game, to the Blue Jays’ 11.    They deserved to lose.    

[Moose Milligan]

That sucked.

[SteveA]

It's 60 days until Orioles pitchers and catchers report to Sarasota.  Here is the 60th most significant date in modern Orioles history.

#60 December 2, 1971

The Frank Robinson Era in Baltimore only lasted 6 years but what a 6 years it was.  The Orioles were in 4 World Series in his 6 years with the team, winning two.  

Many Orioles said that Frank "taught the Orioles how to win".  He only spent 6 of his 21 years as a player as an Oriole, but his Hall of Fame bust sports an Oriole cap and no other Oriole will ever wear number 20.  He is memorialized with a statue at Camden Yards in a pantheon of Oriole greats; the other players honored spent 23, 20, 18, and 13 years in the Oriole uniform.  That's an indication of the impact he had in those 6 short years.

But all eras eventually end, and the Frank Robinson era as a player in Baltimore ended on December 2, 1971, when the Orioles traded him, along with Pete Richert, to the Dodgers for Doyle Alexander and three other players at the age of 36.

The 36 year old Robinson would play 5 more years, the last two as player-manager of the Indians, where he became the first African American manager in baseball history.

Frank would later return to Baltimore and don the #20 uniform as a coach and a manager.  But the 6 years he spent in Baltimore as a player are the stuff legends are made of.   That relatively short time came to an end on December 2, 1971.

[OFFNY]

5 hours ago, SteveA said:

 

It's 60 days until Orioles pitchers and catchers report to Sarasota.  Here is the 60th most significant date in modern Orioles history.

#60 December 2, 1971

The Frank Robinson Era in Baltimore only lasted 6 years but what a 6 years it was.  The Orioles were in 4 World Series in his 6 years with the team, winning two.  

Many Orioles said that Frank "taught the Orioles how to win".  He only spent 6 of his 21 years as a player as an Oriole, but his Hall of Fame bust sports an Oriole cap and no other Oriole will ever wear number 20.  He is memorialized with a statue at Camden Yards in a pantheon of Oriole greats; the other players honored spent 23, 20, 18, and 13 years in the Oriole uniform.  That's an indication of the impact he had in those 6 short years.

But all eras eventually end, and the Frank Robinson era as a player in Baltimore ended on December 2, 1971, when the Orioles traded him, along with Pete Richert, to the Dodgers for Doyle Alexander and three other players at the age of 36.

The 36 year old Robinson would play 5 more years, the last two as player-manager of the Indians, where he became the first African American manager in baseball history.

Frank would later return to Baltimore and don the #20 uniform as a coach and a manager.  But the 6 years he spent in Baltimore as a player are the stuff legends are made of.   That relatively short time came to an end on December 2, 1971.

 

o

 

I actually saw Robinson play against the Mets at Shea Stadium in the summer of 1972, in between 1st and 2nd grade.

 

o

[Frobby]

A very sad day in my life.    It goes to show, nobody’s above being traded.    

[scbalt52]

On 12/14/2017 at 7:09 AM, SteveA said:

It's 61 days until pitchers and catchers report to Sarasota.   Here is the 61st most significant date in modern Orioles history:

#61 October 4, 2016

The 2016 Orioles made the playoffs for the third time in five years, grabbing the second wild card.  The Orioles tied the Blue Jays for 2nd in the AL East, but Toronto got the #1 wild card thanks to winning 10 of 19 from the Orioles during the regular season

25 year old Marcus Stroman (9-10 with a 4.37 ERA) faced Chris Tillman (16-6 with a 3.77 ERA) despite a late season stint on the disabled list and a shoulder that was still bothering him.  The Blue Jays struck first in the bottom of the 2nd, on a home run by former Oriole Rule V Pick Jose Bautista.

Mark Trumbo's 2-run homer in the 4th put the Orioles up 2-1.  The Blue Jays tied it in the bottom of the 5th with a run that scored because Michael Bourn failed to get to a ball in right field that he usually gets to.  Tillman was chased, but the Orioles had a great, deep bullpen that year.  

One after another, the Orioles trotted out their fantastic bullpen arms, Mychal Givens going 2.1 scoreless innings, loogy Donnie Hart for an out, 1.1 shaky innings from Brad Brach, and 1.2 innings from Darren O'Day.

Meanwhile, the Orioles bats went silent, going hitless after the 6th.  The game was tied in the bottom of the 11th.  Buck Showalter had used the Orioles 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th best relievers.  At this point, the obvious move would be to try to get a couple innings out of Zach Britton, who had had a historically great season, one of the best ever by a reliever.

But instead, Buck decided to save Britton for an eventual save situation.  He brought in lefty Brian Duensing to get a lefthanded batter out, and then went to Ubaldo Jimenez, he of the 5.44 ERA and very little experience as a reliever.  Within five pitches, Jimenez had allowed two singles and a walkoff 3-run walkoff blast to Edwin Encarnacion, and the Orioles' season was over.

Buck Showalter had done wonders with the Orioles in his years as manager, but this  undefendable move on the national stage will be a blot on his record for ever, just as Bill Buckner is remembered less for his excellent career than for one play in 1986.  The decision will always be part of his legacy.

The next season, the Orioles had their first losing season in 6 years.  Was that just a minor downturn or was it the end of the run of success that had emerged from the rubble of the 14 straight losing seasons?

The Orioles currently do not look like contenders for 2018 either, (although to be fair, most people felt the same way at this time before 2012 and 2016 as well and Showalter piloted both those teams to the postseason).

So only time will tell whether October 4, 2016 marks the end of a brief 5 year "era" of success in Oriole history, or just a singular painful setback that will eventually be redeemed just like the painful endings in 1979, 1980, and 1982 were forgotten in the thrilling conclusion of 1983.

I still don't agree that Britton should've been brought in, I was on board with Buck whole way. I actually didn't even consider him bringing in Britton early one time. I thought it was embarrassing after the game that people said how stupid it was not to use him. We never got to the point when he pitches, would've been stupid not to have him. Still think its pretty funny people discuss that.

[SteveA]

7 minutes ago, scbalt52 said:

I still don't agree that Britton should've been brought in, I was on board with Buck whole way. I actually didn't even consider him bringing in Britton early one time. I thought it was embarrassing after the game that people said how stupid it was not to use him. We never got to the point when he pitches, would've been stupid not to have him. Still think its pretty funny people discuss that.

Bring in the worst pitcher available instead of the best in a tie game?  You were on board with that?

Ubaldo should be the last option.   He was only on the playoff roster for the game in case Tillman got hurt in the first or second inning or something like that.

Yes, eventually if the game is still tied and your good guys can go as much as they can, of course you bring in Ubaldo then.  There's no choice.   But to do it when you have the best pitcher in baseball sitting on the bench?   Absurd.

And yes, you bring in britton, and maybe he can only go two innings.   He pitches a scoreless 11tth and 12th.   You finally score in the 13th, and yes, that means you have to bring Ubaldo in for the save.   Not a good situation.   But not as bad as bringing your worst pitcher in in a tie game in extra innings with your best pitcher sitting.  

Sorry, you can never convince me that wasn't one of the worst managerial moves ever.

[scbalt52]

6 minutes ago, SteveA said:

Bring in the worst pitcher available instead of the best in a tie game?  You were on board with that?

Ubaldo should be the last option.   He was only on the playoff roster for the game in case Tillman got hurt in the first or second inning or something like that.

Yes, eventually if the game is still tied and your good guys can go as much as they can, of course you bring in Ubaldo then.  There's no choice.   But to do it when you have the best pitcher in baseball sitting on the bench?   Absurd.

And yes, you bring in britton, and maybe he can only go two innings.   He pitches a scoreless 11tth and 12th.   You finally score in the 13th, and yes, that means you have to bring Ubaldo in for the save.   Not a good situation.   But not as bad as bringing your worst pitcher in in a tie game in extra innings with your best pitcher sitting.  

Sorry, you can never convince me that wasn't one of the worst managerial moves ever.

I was even thinking bring in Ubaldo. Try to get some innings out of someone until you win the game. Why would you bring Britton in the 11th randomly? If you bring him in then why didn't you bring him in when it was the 9th, 10th even before that? Why didn't you start him? The 11th is when we lost is why everyone says well I would've brought him in. I think the only arguable thing is after the runners got on maybe you scramble to get him in to 'save' the game and continue on. But if we score a run, Britton comes in and hopefully shuts the door, that is how we win the game. You have the best closer in history, we never got in a situation to use him unfortunately because the offense lost the game.