The 100 Most Significant Dates in Modern Orioles History

[Number5]

58 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I’ll go to my grave thinking that the ‘69-‘71 O’s were among the top 5 or so teams of all time, and better than a number of teams that won three consecutive World Series (e.g., the ‘72-‘74 A’s).    But, it is what it is.   The irony is, the team they beat in 1970 was better than the teams they lost to in ‘69 and ‘71.    But that’s baseball.

The underdog won all six World Series that the Orioles were in.  Dodgers, Reds, and Phils were favored over the Orioles.  The Orioles were favored over the Mets, Pirates, and Pirates.

[Redskins Rick]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

I’ll go to my grave thinking that the ‘69-‘71 O’s were among the top 5 or so teams of all time, and better than a number of teams that won three consecutive World Series (e.g., the ‘72-‘74 A’s).    But, it is what it is.   The irony is, the team they beat in 1970 was better than the teams they lost to in ‘69 and ‘71.    But that’s baseball.

In my heart, the 83 WS team is the one for me, on paper, with that manager, it should have never won.

Like, you stated so well, But, that's baseball.

.

 

[OFFNY]

5 hours ago, Frobby said:

 

I’ll go to my grave thinking that the ‘69-‘71 Orioles were among the Top-5 or so teams of all-time, and better than a number of teams that won three consecutive World Series (e.g., the ‘72-‘74 Athletics). But, it is what it is. The irony is, the team they beat in 1970 was better than the teams they lost to in ‘69 and ‘71. But that’s baseball.

 

o

 

The 1988-1990 Athletics sustained a very similar fate as did the 1969-1971 Orioles did.

They both won the middle series of their trilogies going away (1970 for the Orioles, 1989 for the Athletics), while losing the first and the last. They both lost going away (4 Games to 1) to a heavy underdog in their first series of the trilogies (1969 to the Mets for the Orioles, 1989 to the Dodgers for the Athletics.) They both lost the final series of their respective  trilogies (1971 to the Pirates for the Orioles, 1990 to the Reds for the Athletics.)

 

The only major difference was that the Athletics were heavily favored in all 3 of their World Series contests, while the Orioles were only heavily favored in the first two of the World Series while being only a slight favorite in their final World Series contest of that sequence. And the Orioles barely lost to the Pirates (4 Games to 3), while the Athletics were crushed by the Reds (4 Games to 0.)

 

o

[OFFNY]

6 hours ago, SteveA said:

o

 

It's 33 days until pitchers and catchers report to Sarasota.   Here is the 33rd most significant date in modern Orioles history, and it took place on 33rd Street:

#33 October 17, 1971

The defending World Champion Orioles once again brushed past the Minnesota Twins and made their 5th World Series in 6 years in 1971, this time matched up against the Pittsburgh Pirates, led by veteran Roberto Clemente and young Willie Stargell, two future Hall of Famers.

The Orioles had won 318 regular season games in three seasons, yet so far had only one World Championship to show for it.  The series opened in Baltimore.  The Pirates got 3 runs off Dave McNally early, thanks to some poor defense by the Orioles, but the O's came back.  Merv Rettenmund's 3-run homer off Dock Ellis keyed the Orioles comeback, McNally settled down, and the O's won 7-3.

After a rainout, Game 2 was played on a Monday afternoon.  Brooks Robinson had 4 RBIs, Jim Palmer had 7 shutout innings, and the Orioles coasted to a 11-3 win.  The O's took a 2-0 lead to Pittsburgh, with no day off due to the rainout.

Tuesday afternoon, the O's knew a win would give them a nearly insurmountable 3-0 lead.  But Steve Blass was sharp for the Pirates, and through 6 innings it was 2-0 Pittsburgh.  Frank Robinson hit a home run to cut it to 2-1. But in the bottom of the inning, Bob Robertson hit a 3-run homer off Mike Cuellar, after missing a bunt sign!  Pirates won 5-1.

The next day, the Orioles and Pirates played the first night game in World Series history.  The Orioles jumped on starter Luke Walker for 3 in the top of the first; Walker didn't survive the inning as Pirate manager Danny Murtaugh pulled Walker and brought in Bruce Kison to get the last out.  In the bottom of the first, Willie Stargell and Al Oliver hit back to back RBI doubles to make it 3-2.  The Pirates tied it in the 3rd.  Kison pitched 6.1 shutout innings in relief, and reliever Eddie Watt gave up a run in the bottom of the 7th, on a Milt May RBI single that was set up in part because Paul Blair dropped a fly ball.  Pittsburgh won 4-3 to even the series at 2.

Thursday in game 5, the Pirates went with future Oriole Nelson Briles, who was just a spot starter/long man, in order to save Steve Blass and Dock Ellis for games 6 and 7.  It worked as Briles pitched a complete game 2 hit shutout, and the Pirates took a 3-2 lead back to Baltimore.

Saturday afternoon in Baltimore, the Orioles were on the brink of elimination.  Dock Ellis was nursing an injury, so Pittsburgh was forced to start reliever Bob Moose.  He pitched 5 shutout innings, and Pittsburgh took a 2-0 lead into the 6th.  Don Buford homered to make it 2-1.  In the 7th, Mark Belanger singled, stole 2nd, and scored on a Davey Johnson single to tie the game.  The Orioles got 2 on in the bottom of the 9th with two outs but didn't score; the Pirates loaded the bases in the top of the 10th but Dave McNally, in relief, got out of it.  Finally in the bottom of the 10th, Frank Robinson walked, went to 3rd on a Rettenmund single.   Brooks Robinson lofted a fly ball to Vic Davalillo in center and Frank tagged and just beat the throw to the plate.  The Orioles had tied the series and forced a game 7.

On Sunday, October 17, game 7 was played at Memorial Stadium (at 2PM due to Baltimore's blue laws that also forced the Colts to start home games at 2; the previous 5 day games in the series had all been at 1PM).  The home team had won every game so far, and the Orioleshoped that continued  Steve Blass and Mike Cuellar took the mound,., and it was a pitcher's duel. Roberto Clemente broke a scoreless tie with a homer off Cuellar in the 4th.  Jose Pagan doubled in Stargell to make it 2-0 in the 8th.  The Orioles got a run in the bottom of the 8th, but Blass pitched a complete game 4-hit shutout.  The Pirates won the game 2-1 and the series 4-3.  

The 1969-1971 Orioles had one of the best 3 year stretches in baseball history; they were probably the best defensive team the game has ever seen.  But they only managed to win it all once in those 3 years, as they lost a heartbreaking 7 game series on October 17, 1971.

o

o

 

The beginning of my Orioles/Colts/Bullets fandom. I started rooting for the Orioles in October of 1971, when I was a six year-old boy in 1st grade. My whole family was rooting for the Pirates in the World Series because they liked Roberto Clemente ......... so naturally, I rooted for the Orioles. )  )I remember that we won Game 6 when an Orioles runner slid home underneath the Pirates' catcher who had leaped in the air for the throw (I later learned that it was Frank Robinson sliding underneath Manny Sanguillen.) I remember all of the Orioles hugging each other at home plate. The next day was a different story. It was a close game. My family was really excited with the Pirates having a 2-1 lead with only one out to go. I still remember the final out of the ninth inning. It was a groundout. My family whooped it up in the living room, while I went outside and pouted on the swing-set in our back yard in Brewster Heights. I've been bleeding orange and back ever since, and I haven't regretted my decision for one minute of my life. ) 

 

o

[SteveA]

It's 32 days until pitchers and catchers report.   Here is the 32nd most significant date in modern Orioles history:

#32 September 29, 2004

After the second Senators team left for Texas in 1971, the Orioles began to gradually gain fans in the DC area and south of Washington.

The Oriole radio network had stations in Virginia and, by the early 80s, even in North Carolina.  In 1979, prominent DC news station WTOP started broadcasting Oriole games.  The Orioles even opened up a fan store in Washington, and players and the Oriole Bird made appearances in the DC area and Virginia.

When I went to college in Virginia in the 1980s, the Orioles were the most popular team among the Virginia fans I met.  The first RSN to cover the Orioles, Home Team Sports, gained access to cable systems in Washington and Virginia.  The Orioles were really a regional team, whose region ranged from southern Pennsylvania to northern North Carolina.

When the Orioles moved to Camden Yards in 1992, it became a lot easier for fans from DC and Northern Virginia to get to the ballpark compared to the Memorial Stadium site in north Baltimore that was not near any major arteries.  Estimates were that 30-35% of the fans at Camden Yards came from the DC area.

The Montreal Expos were not doing well, and in 2001 MLB owners voted nearly unanimously to contract by two teams, with the only "no" votes being the two teams that would be contracted out of existence, the Expos and Twins.  Plans were made to disband the teams immediately, but the corporation that ran the Minnesota Metrodome won an injunction preventing the Twins from being contracted.  Baseball couldn't contract by an odd number, so the Expos were spared as well.

Meanwhile, John Henry, the owner of the Marlins, wanted to buy the Red Sox, a much more profitable franchise.  MLB bent over backwards to help him, setting it up so that Expo owner Jeffrey Loria could buy the Marlins from Henry and Henry could purchase the Sox.  MLB assumed ownership of the Expos.  So now the failing franchise was their problem.   They looked at relocation options, and played 44 Expo home games in San Juan, Puerto Rico on a two year span.

Finally, on September 29, 2004, Major League Baseball reached a deal to move the Expos to Washington.  The owners approved the deal 28-1, with Peter Angelos as the only dissenting vote, as he stated he felt that Baltimore-Washington was a single market.

MLB and Angelos eventually struck a deal that would allegedly protect the Orioles from any financial harm.  The Orioles would form a new network, MASN, to produce and distribute the telecasts of both teams.  As related in another post in this thread, the rights fees that MASN must pay to the Nats after the first 6 years are still in litigation.

But regardless of the resolution of the MASN dispute, the arrival of the Nationals has definitely had an effect on the Orioles.  The Orioles are no longer the only game in town.  Nationals attendance has grown steadily as the team has succeeded, and even after the Orioles ended their 14 year losing stretch, attendance at Camden Yards has never reached the zenith of the 90s.  The teams have had roughly equal success on the field nearly every year that the Nationals have been in DC, matching winning season with winning season and losing season with losing season almost perfectly, with Washington having just one more .500+ season, but the Orioles advancing to the LCS once while the Nationals have not.

It's hard to quantify how much revenue the Orioles have lost due to the arrival of the Nationals, but clearly it has had some effect and will continue in the future.  They have lost fans in the seats and television viewers, and likely revenue too. The competitive playing field has changed for Baltimore and it will never be the same.

[Frobby]

Quote

It's hard to quantify how much revenue the Orioles have lost due to the arrival of the Nationals, but clearly it has had some effect and will continue in the future.  They have lost fans in the seats and television viewers, and likely revenue too. The competitive playing field has changed for Baltimore and it will never be the same.

They've clearly lost fans in the seats.    I'm not sure if they've lost television viewers.    Ratings have been very high the last few years.    And of course, the O's take a slice of the Nats' potential TV revenue via their majority ownership of MASN.   

There's no question, though, that putting a team in DC was not a good development for the Orioles.   It was a good development for DC-area fans who wanted their own team and didn't like making the trip to Baltimore, and it was good for MLB having the Montreal mess off their hands.

[OFFNY]

2 hours ago, SteveA said:

o

 

It's 32 days until pitchers and catchers report.   Here is the 32nd most significant date in modern Orioles history:

 

#32 September 29, 2004

 

After the second Senators team left for Texas in 1971, the Orioles began to gradually gain fans in the DC area and south of Washington.

The Oriole radio network had stations in Virginia and, by the early 80s, even in North Carolina.  In 1979, prominent DC news station WTOP started broadcasting Oriole games.  The Orioles even opened up a fan store in Washington, and players and the Oriole Bird made appearances in the DC area and Virginia.

When I went to college in Virginia in the 1980s, the Orioles were the most popular team among the Virginia fans I met.  The first RSN to cover the Orioles, Home Team Sports, gained access to cable systems in Washington and Virginia.  The Orioles were really a regional team, whose region ranged from southern Pennsylvania to northern North Carolina.

When the Orioles moved to Camden Yards in 1992, it became a lot easier for fans from DC and Northern Virginia to get to the ballpark compared to the Memorial Stadium site in north Baltimore that was not near any major arteries.  Estimates were that 30-35% of the fans at Camden Yards came from the DC area.

The Montreal Expos were not doing well, and in 2001 MLB owners voted nearly unanimously to contract by two teams, with the only "no" votes being the two teams that would be contracted out of existence, the Expos and Twins.  Plans were made to disband the teams immediately, but the corporation that ran the Minnesota Metrodome won an injunction preventing the Twins from being contracted.  Baseball couldn't contract by an odd number, so the Expos were spared as well.

Meanwhile, John Henry, the owner of the Marlins, wanted to buy the Red Sox, a much more profitable franchise.  MLB bent over backwards to help him, setting it up so that Expo owner Jeffrey Loria could buy the Marlins from Henry and Henry could purchase the Sox.  MLB assumed ownership of the Expos.  So now the failing franchise was their problem.   They looked at relocation options, and played 44 Expo home games in San Juan, Puerto Rico on a two year span.

Finally, on September 29, 2004, Major League Baseball reached a deal to move the Expos to Washington.  The owners approved the deal 28-1, with Peter Angelos as the only dissenting vote, as he stated he felt that Baltimore-Washington was a single market.

MLB and Angelos eventually struck a deal that would allegedly protect the Orioles from any financial harm.  The Orioles would form a new network, MASN, to produce and distribute the telecasts of both teams.  As related in another post in this thread, the rights fees that MASN must pay to the Nats after the first 6 years are still in litigation.

But regardless of the resolution of the MASN dispute, the arrival of the Nationals has definitely had an effect on the Orioles.  The Orioles are no longer the only game in town.  Nationals attendance has grown steadily as the team has succeeded, and even after the Orioles ended their 14 year losing stretch, attendance at Camden Yards has never reached the zenith of the 90s.  The teams have had roughly equal success on the field nearly every year that the Nationals have been in DC, matching winning season with winning season and losing season with losing season almost perfectly, with Washington having just one more .500+ season, but the Orioles advancing to the LCS once while the Nationals have not.

It's hard to quantify how much revenue the Orioles have lost due to the arrival of the Nationals, but clearly it has had some effect and will continue in the future.  They have lost fans in the seats and television viewers, and likely revenue too. The competitive playing field has changed for Baltimore and it will never be the same.

 

 

o

o

 

Bob Bailey died on Tuesday.

He got the first hit ever in Expos/Nationals franchise history in April of 1969.

 

Bob Bailey, Who got Montreal Expos' 1st Hit Ever in 1969, Dead at 75

(By Frederic Daigle)

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/baseball/mlb/bob-bailey-montreal-expos-1.4481971

 

o

[SteveA]

It's 31 days until pitchers and catchers report to Sarasota.   Here is the 31st most significant dates in modern Oriole history:

#31 September 14, 1987

On September 14, 1987, the Orioles were winding down their worst season in 32 years.   Playing out the string in Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, Oriole pitchers Ken Dixon, Eric Bell, Mike Griffin, Mike Kinnunen, and Tony Arnold combined to give up an incredible 10 home runs, the all time major league record,  to the Toronto Blue Jays in a 18-3 loss.  No team had ever hit more than 8 homers in a game.   But that is not the only reason the game was significant.  In the bottom of the 8th inning, manager Cal Ripken Sr. made some defensive changes, including bringing in Ron Washington to replace Cal Ripken Jr. at shortstop.   One of the most obscure yet amazing streaks in baseball history had come to an end.

Back on June 4, 1982, the Orioles were shut out by the Twins' Brad Haven 6-0.  In the 9th inning of that game, Earl Weaver pinch hit Jim Dwyer for Ripken, taking Ripken out of the game for just that at bat.   The next day, of course, Cal was back in the starting lineup.  And not only did Cal start every game for the next five+ years, he was never removed from a game for any reason until the 18-3 drubbing in Toronto.

Cal played every inning of every game for 8,264 innings until his father put Washington in for him in Toronto.  That is a major league record and it's not even close.   SABR researchers have determined that the next closest such streak, and the record that had stood for 95 years until Cal broke it, was by George Pinkney of Brooklyn in the American Association, who played in 5,152 consecutive innings from 1885 to 1890.  (No one knew it at the time, but Cal surpassed Pinkney's record on August 31, 1985, when he played in his 5,153rd consecutive innings in a game vs the Mariners).

Cal's record exceeded the next best streak by over 60%, something that is practically unheard of in sports records.   For example,  Cal's consecutive game streak of 2632 games only beat Lou Gehrig by 24%;  Hank Aaron finished with 755 HRs, exceeding Babe Ruth's 714 by just 6%, and Bonds exceeded Aaron by less than that.

Cal's consecutive inning streak is one of the lesser known but amazing records in the history of baseball and it ended on September 14, 1987 on an ugly night in Toronto when the Blue Jays set an amazing major league record of their own at the expense of Oriole pitching.

[OFFNY]

1 hour ago, SteveA said:

 

It's 31 days until pitchers and catchers report to Sarasota.   Here is the 31st most significant dates in modern Oriole history:

 

#31 September 14, 1987

 

On September 14, 1987, the Orioles were winding down their worst season in 32 years.   Playing out the string in Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, Oriole pitchers Ken Dixon, Eric Bell, Mike Griffin, Mike Kinnunen, and Tony Arnold combined to give up an incredible 10 home runs, the all time major league record,  to the Toronto Blue Jays in a 18-3 loss.  No team had ever hit more than 8 homers in a game.   But that is not the only reason the game was significant.  In the bottom of the 8th inning, manager Cal Ripken Sr. made some defensive changes, including bringing in Ron Washington to replace Cal Ripken Jr. at shortstop.   One of the most obscure yet amazing streaks in baseball history had come to an end.

Back on June 4, 1982, the Orioles were shut out by the Twins' Brad Haven 6-0.  In the 9th inning of that game, Earl Weaver pinch hit Jim Dwyer for Ripken, taking Ripken out of the game for just that at bat.   The next day, of course, Cal was back in the starting lineup.  And not only did Cal start every game for the next five+ years, he was never removed from a game for any reason until the 18-3 drubbing in Toronto.

Cal played every inning of every game for 8,264 innings until his father put Washington in for him in Toronto.  That is a major league record and it's not even close.   SABR researchers have determined that the next closest such streak, and the record that had stood for 95 years until Cal broke it, was by George Pinkney of Brooklyn in the American Association, who played in 5,152 consecutive innings from 1885 to 1890.  (No one knew it at the time, but Cal surpassed Pinkney's record on August 31, 1985, when he played in his 5,153rd consecutive innings in a game vs the Mariners).

Cal's record exceeded the next best streak by over 60%, something that is practically unheard of in sports records.   For example,  Cal's consecutive game streak of 2632 games only beat Lou Gehrig by 24%;  Hank Aaron finished with 755 HRs, exceeding Babe Ruth's 714 by just 6%, and Bonds exceeded Aaron by less than that.

Cal's consecutive inning streak is one of the lesser known but amazing records in the history of baseball and it ended on September 14, 1987 on an ugly night in Toronto when the Blue Jays set an amazing major league record of their own at the expense of Oriole pitching.

 

 

o

o

 

 

I remember when the 1987 Orioles had an 11-game winning streak in July.

 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BAL/1987-schedule-scores.shtml

 

They actually had a news story on a New York news station about the Orioles at the time that that was happening. ll 

 

o

[SteveA]

It's 30 days until pitchers and catchers report.   Here is the 30th most significant date in modern Orioles history:

#30 September 26, 1971

On September 26, 1971, Jim Palmer pitched a complete game 3 hit shutout against the Cleveland Indians, winning his 20th game for the 2nd consecutive year.   Winning 20 games was the gold standard for quality starting pitchers back in the days of four man rotation and 300 inning seasons, and Palmer, the greatest Oriole pitcher,  did it 7 times in an 8 year span.

That shutout of the Indians also gave the Orioles four 20 game winners, only the second time in the history of baseball that such a feat had been achieved.  (The only other was the 1920 White Sox, with Red Faber, Eddie Cicotte, Lefty Williams, and DIckey Kerr achieving the feat).

Dave McNally, arguably the best lefty in Oriole history, had won his 20th game 5 days earlier and would finish 21-8.   It was his 4th 20 win season.

Mike Cuellar, another lefty, had been acquired by the Astros before the 1969 season for outfielder Curt Blefary, one of the lesser known great deals in Orioles history.   He won 23 games in his first year as an Oriole, and 24 games and the Cy Young Award in the 1970 championship season.   In 1971, he went 20-9 with a 3.08 ERA, winning his 20th in a doubleheader two days before Palmer notched #20.   The Cuban screwballer would go on to win 76 more games for the Orioles the next 5 years, including a 22 win season at age 37 in 1974.

Also in the doubleheader two days earlier, Pat Dobson secured his 20th win.  The Orioles had acquired Dobson the previous winter for Tom Pheobus and a few other low level players.   He would only pitch two years with the Orioles, after going 20-8 in 1971 he would be 16-18 with a 2.65 ERA in 1972, and would be dealt along with Davey Johnson to the Braves in an ill-fated deal for Earl Williams, a power hitting catcher that Earl Weaver coveted, who never really lived up to expectations.   Dobson would hang around the majors until 1977, putting up a 19 win season for the Yankees in '74 and a 16 win season for Cleveland in '76.

Throughout their winning years in the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s, the foundation for the Orioles was always great starting pitching, and the four twenty game winners in 1971 was the epitome of Oriole pitching prowess.

[OFFNY]

2 hours ago, SteveA said:

 

It's 30 days until pitchers and catchers report.   Here is the 30th most significant date in modern Orioles history:

 

#30 September 26, 1971

 

On September 26, 1971, Jim Palmer pitched a complete game 3 hit shutout against the Cleveland Indians, winning his 20th game for the 2nd consecutive year.   Winning 20 games was the gold standard for quality starting pitchers back in the days of four man rotation and 300 inning seasons, and Palmer, the greatest Oriole pitcher,  did it 7 times in an 8 year span.

That shutout of the Indians also gave the Orioles four 20 game winners, only the second time in the history of baseball that such a feat had been achieved.  (The only other was the 1920 White Sox, with Red Faber, Eddie Cicotte, Lefty Williams, and DIckey Kerr achieving the feat).

Dave McNally, arguably the best lefty in Oriole history, had won his 20th game 5 days earlier and would finish 21-8.   It was his 4th 20 win season.

Mike Cuellar, another lefty, had been acquired by the Astros before the 1969 season for outfielder Curt Blefary, one of the lesser known great deals in Orioles history.   He won 23 games in his first year as an Oriole, and 24 games and the Cy Young Award in the 1970 championship season.   In 1971, he went 20-9 with a 3.08 ERA, winning his 20th in a doubleheader two days before Palmer notched #20.   The Cuban screw-baller would go on to win 76 more games for the Orioles the next 5 years, including a 22 win season at age 37 in 1974.

Also in the doubleheader two days earlier, Pat Dobson secured his 20th win.  The Orioles had acquired Dobson the previous winter for Tom Phoebus and a few other low level players.   He would only pitch two years with the Orioles, after going 20-8 in 1971 he would be 16-18 with a 2.65 ERA in 1972, and would be dealt along with Davey Johnson to the Braves in an ill-fated deal for Earl Williams, a power hitting catcher that Earl Weaver coveted, who never really lived up to expectations.   Dobson would hang around the majors until 1977, putting up a 19 win season for the Yankees in '74 and a 16 win season for Cleveland in '76.

Throughout their winning years in the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s, the foundation for the Orioles was always great starting pitching, and the four twenty game winners in 1971 was the epitome of Oriole pitching prowess.

 

 

o

o

 

Palmer is the only one of the four that is still alive.

He also spanned two "generations" of a 1-2-3 punch which included himself and 2 very prolific left-handed starters that complemented him atop the rotation ........ Palmer-Cuellar-McNally, and Palmer-Flanagan-McGregor.

 

o

[Frobby]

A distant relative of mine was the head of concessions at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, and when the Orioles rolled into town for that series, he got all four members of the rotation to sign a ball, one signature in each quadrant, and sent it to me.    I believe three of the four starters won their 20th game in that series.

[Moose Milligan]

I always thought Cuellar was one of the more underrated pitchers of that time period.  69-75 he averaged 20 wins, 11 losses, a 3.08 ERA.   Hardly ever hear anything about him.

[OFFNY]

41 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

 

I always thought that Mike Cuellar was one of the more underrated pitchers of that time period. From 1969 through 1975 he averaged 20 Wins, 11 Losses, and had a 3.08 ERA. You hardly ever hear anything about him, though.

 

o

 

My cousins from West Springfield, VA (Yankee fans) said that the two players on the Orioles from the late-60's through the mid-70's that drove them the most crazy were Brooks Robinson in clutch-hitting situations, and Mike Cuellar (ALWAYS.)

 

o

[SteveA]

It's 29 days until pitchers and catchers report.   Here is the 29th most significant date in modern Orioles history.

#29 October 17, 1979

1979 was a banner year for the Orioles.   The youth movement that began in 1977 matured into a 103 win season, with Mike Flanagan winning 23 games.  The season was full of come from behind wins that spawned the phenomena of "Oriole Magic".   The Orioles shattered their previous season attendance record by almost half a million fans.

The Orioles beat the Angels 3 games to 1 in the ALCS, and were set to face the Pittsburgh Pirates, who had beaten the Orioles 8 years earlier in a 7 games.  The Pirates had had an exciting run to the postseason as well, set to the theme of top 40 Sister Sledge song "We Are Family".

The series was set to begin on Tuesday October 9 but an early Baltimore snow postponed it a day.   When they played on Wednesday,  Cy Young Winner-to-be Flanagan squared  off against Bruce Kison (one of 3 Pirates who participated in the last series between these two teams, along with Manny Sanguillen and Willie Stargell.  Earl Weaver, Jim Palmer, and Mark Belanger were the only Orioles left from 1971).   At 41 degrees it was the coldest gametime temperature in World Series history.  The Orioles jumped all over Kison for 5 in the first inning, including a Doug DeCinces HR, and hung on for a 5-4 win.

The next night, the game was 2-2 in the 9th, with Eddie Murray having knocked in both runs on a HR and a single.  But Eddie also had been thrown out at the plate on a great throw by Dave Parker, and had also gotten caught in a rundown after some poor baserunning.   In the top of the 9th, Manny Sanguillen's RBI single off Don Stanhouse plated Ed Ott, when Eddie made a questionable decision to cut off Singleton's throw.   Ott just beat Murray's relay, and the Pirates held on in the bottom of the 9th to win 3-2 and even the series.

The next night in Pittsburgh, the Pirates jumped out 3-0, but Benny Ayala hit a 2-run HR in the top of the 3rd.   Then there was a long rain delay, almost long enough to allow me to watch the entire movie "The Hound of the Baskervilles" on channel 45.   After the rain delay, Pirate starter John Candelaria stayed in the game.  The Orioles put up 5 in the 4th against him, capped by a Kiko Garcia bases loaded triple, and won 8-4.

In game 4, Willie Stargell's home run helped Pittsburgh to a 4-0 lead, and they led 6-3 going into the 8th.  With one out and the bases loaded, Pirate manager Chuck Tanner brought righty Kent Tekulve in to face Gary Roenicke; Weaver countered with LH hitter John Lowenstein, who hit a 2-run double.   After a walk loaded the bases, Earl sent up another lefty, Terry Crowley, who hit a 2-run double to give the Orioles the lead.   We were out of pinch hitters, so Tim Stoddard batted and singled in a run.   The O's won 9-6 and were just one win away from a World Championship, and 1979's best pitcher, Mike Flanagan, was ready to go.

Flanny faced veteran lefty Jim Rooker because Kison was injured.   The Orioles took a 1-0 lead into the 6th, but the Pirates finally got to Flanagan.  They picked up 2 in the 6th, 2 in the 7th, and 3 in the 8th for a 7-1 win.  The Orioles would have to win the championship at home.

After the first day off after 5 straight games, the Orioles tried to clinch in Baltimore.  Jim Palmer faced John Candelaria and it was a great pitchers duel, scoreless into the 6th.  In the 6th Pittsburgh got a Dave Parker RBI single and Stargell sac fly, and added 2 more in the 7th to win 4-0 and force game 7.   The Oriole bats were in a coma.

Scott McGregor took the mound in the pivotal game 7 on October 17.   President Carter was in house at Memorial Stadium.  McGregor took a 1-0 lead into the 6th, thanks to a Rich Dauer home run.  But in the 6th, Willie Stargell hit a monster 2-run homer off McGregor and Pittsburgh led 2-1.  In the top of the 9th, still down a run, Earl Weaver came out fot he mound for five pitching changes as he attempted to keep it a 1-run game, but Pittsburgh came up with two runs, and Kent Tekulve put the O's down in the bottom of the 9th.  Pittsburgh won the game 4-1 and had beaten the Orioles in yet another 7 game series.

The Pirates were just the 4th team ever to come from down 3-1 to win the World Series.   Eddie Murray finished the series on an 0 for 27 stretch that would leave him labelled as a postseason failure for the next four years.   And the storybook "Orioles Magic" season had ended in the ultimate disappointment.