The 100 Most Significant Dates in Modern Orioles History

[Frobby]

11 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

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.

No. 4 all time in wins for the Orioles.   

[Frobby]

As to the Pirates series just...don’t...play...  that....song!

[OFFNY]

2 hours ago, SteveA said:

o

 

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 White Sox 3 games to 1 in the ALCS, with Tito Landrum's extra inning home run providing the clincher, 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.

 

o

o

 

#29 October 17, 1978: ) Exactly one year prior to the Pirates' Game 7 win over the Orioles, Inez Genevieve Colon, a lifelong Yankee fan, sees her 13 year-old son Patrick literally crying as he watches the Yankees win their 2nd consecutive World Series over the Dodgers. She tells him that the following season she will drop her beloved Yankees like a hot potato and not only convert to being a Baltimore Orioles fan, but she also PROMISES HIM that they will win the World Series in 1979. The Orioles, who had not been to the World Series since 1971, fall just one game short.

 

o

[BarclaySouthway]

Eddie's bases-loaded, 2-out fly to Dave Parker in deep right was heartbreaking.  For a moment, right off the bat, it looked like Eddie might win the biggest game of the season, maybe the biggest game in most of the players' lifetimes in the ultimate Orioles Magic way.  It would have been the perfect ending to that season.  The ball died, along with our hopes, at the warning track. 

I wanted to cry, but nothing came; I was too old.  So I just went to bed and listened to the inevitable end of it in my bedroom.

[OFFNY]

21 minutes ago, BarclaySouthway said:

 

Eddie Murray's bases-loaded, 2-out fly ball to Dave Parker in deep right-field was heartbreaking. For a moment, right off the bat, it looked like Eddie might win the biggest game of the season, maybe the biggest game in most of the players' lifetimes in the ultimate Orioles Magic way. It would have been the perfect ending to that season. The ball died, along with our hopes, at the warning track. 

I wanted to cry, but nothing came out; I was too old. So I just went to bed, and listened to the inevitable end of it in my bedroom.

 

o

 

I did cry. I had just turned 14-years old two weeks earlier, and it was the last time that I cried tears of sadness over a sporting event.

 

Also, if you recall, Dave Parker made that play even more excruciating than it wound up being because he stumbled just before he got to the ball. It looked like it might drop in because of it (Parker's stumble), but he recovered just in time to make the catch.

 

o

[BarclaySouthway]

Yeah, Iike you, I cried in 1971.  Just couldn't work up the tears 8 years later.  It was a good time to cry-- a total bummer, especially after that season and being up 3-1.  Was that the first time a team down 3-1 came back to win?  I don't know.

[OFFNY]

18 minutes ago, BarclaySouthway said:

 

Yeah, like yourself, I cried in 1971. I just couldn't work up the tears 8 years later. It was a good time to cry ........ it was a total bummer, especially after that great regular season that they had, and after having been up 3 games to 1. Was that the first time ever that a team that was down 3 games to 1 came back to win ???  I don't know.

 

o

 

It had happened 3 times before that 1979 World Series.

The Tigers came back from being down 3 games to 1 to beat the Cardinals in 1968, the Yankees denied the Milwaukee Braves of winning back-to-back World Series 10 years earlier by coming back from a 3 games to 1 deficit in 1958, and the Pirates denied the original Washington Senators (now the Minnesota Twins) of winning back-to-back World Series by coming back from a 3 games to 1 deficit in 1925.

 

o

[Just Regular]

I was a little kid and remember thinking it was unfair Tekulve got to throw that way, figuring no one could ever hit him.  Not old enough to remember Game 5 the Pirates had to use an emergency starter.

For when the book comes, Landrum was 83 ALCS.

[SteveA]

1 hour ago, OrioleDog said:

I was a little kid and remember thinking it was unfair Tekulve got to throw that way, figuring no one could ever hit him.  Not old enough to remember Game 5 the Pirates had to use an emergency starter.

For when the book comes, Landrum was 83 ALCS.

Damn, how did I screw that up!

[SteveA]

It's 28 days until Orioles pitchers and catchers report to Sarasota.  Here is the 28th most significant date in modern Orioles history.

#28 August 22, 2007

The Orioles hired general manager Andy McPhail in June, 2007 to try to revive the Orioles franchise, which was in the midst of an unprecedented 10th consecutive losing season.  Since respected Pat Gillick had left nearly a decade earlier, the Orioles had suffered under front offices led by Syd Thrift, Jim Duquette, Jim Beattie, and Mike Flanagan and the losing seasons had piled up.

One of McPhail's first decisions was to remove the interim tag from Dave Trembley.  Trembley had taken over the manager's job from the fired Sam Perlozzo just days before McPhail was hired, and the Orioles responded by going 29-25 in Trembley's first 54 games.  On August 22, 2007, McPhail made Trembley the permanent manager, with a contract through 2008 and an option for 2009.

That evening, the Orioles hosted the Rangers for a rare twinight single-admission doubleheader.  Daniel Cabrera faced Kason Gabbard.  Through 3 innings, Cabrera had 3-hit shutout and a 3-0 lead.  In the 4th inning, Cabrera gave up 5 runs, including a grand slam to Ramon Vazquez.

Texas took that 5-3 lead into the top of the 6th inning.  Cabrera gave up a leadoff HR to Jarod Saltalamacchia to make it 6-3 and was relieved by lefty Brian Burres.  Burres allowed:  single, wild pitch, walk, out, single, Marlon Byrd home run, strikeout, then 5 consecutive 2 out singles.  Rob Bell came out of the pen and gave up a 2-run single to Ian Kinsler to complete a 9 run inning.  It was 14-3.

Bell pitched a perfect 7th.  With one out in the 8th he gave up two walks, 2 singles, and a Travis Metcalf grand slam, Texas's second slam of the game.  After a walk, Bell was replaced by Paul Shuey, who got the second out, but then gave up a double, a single, and a Saltalamacchia 3-run home run, and just like that it was 24-3.

In the 9th, Shuey walked the first two batters and gave up a single to load the bases.  Jason Botts hit a 2-run double to make it 26-3.  Shuey struck out Nelson Cruz, but gave up a single to David Murpy to make it 27-3.  Saltalmacchia struck out, and then Ramon Vazquez hit his 2nd home run of the game to make it 30-3.  That was the final.

The Rangers were the first team in MLB history to score 30 runs in a game.  The 27 run margin of victory was the greatest in baseball history.  #8 and #9 hitters Vazquez and Saltalamacchia each had 2 HRs and 7 RBIs.  They were only the 4th set of teammates ever to have 2+ HRs and 7+ RBIs in history, and the first to do it batting 8/9.  It was the only game in baseball history where 3 different relievers on a team allowed 7 or more runs.

And then the Orioles had to play again!  The Rangers won that game 9-7.

If any game symbolizes the 14 straight losing seasons the Orioles suffered from 1998-2011, it is this one.  On a day full of hope, when a new GM decided that he had the right man running the team on the field and gave him a contract, the Orioles suffered the worst defeat in the history of major league baseball.

[Frobby]

I was there.    Got there in the 5th inning (it was a twi-night doubleheader), just before the deluge began.    Ugh.

Looking at that photo of the scoreboard, it’s rather amazing that the Rangers were shut out in five different innings, and still scored 30.   

[MDtransplant757]

18 minutes ago, SteveA said:

It's 28 days until Orioles pitchers and catchers report to Sarasota.  Here is the 28th most significant date in modern Orioles history.

#28 August 22, 2007

The Orioles hired general manager Andy McPhail in June, 2007 to try to revive the Orioles franchise, which was in the midst of an unprecedented 10th consecutive losing season.  Since respected Pat Gillick had left nearly a decade earlier, the Orioles had suffered under front offices led by Syd Thrift, Jim Duquette, Jim Beattie, and Mike Flanagan and the losing seasons had piled up.

One of McPhail's first decisions was to remove the interim tag from Dave Trembley.  Trembley had taken over the manager's job from the fired Sam Perlozzo just days before McPhail was hired, and the Orioles responded by going 29-25 in Trembley's first 54 games.  On August 22, 2007, McPhail made Trembley the permanent manager, with a contract through 2008 and an option for 2009.

That evening, the Orioles hosted the Rangers for a rare twinight single-admission doubleheader.  Daniel Cabrera faced Kason Gabbard.  Through 3 innings, Cabrera had 3-hit shutout and a 3-0 lead.  In the 4th inning, Cabrera gave up 5 runs, including a grand slam to Ramon Vazquez.

Texas took that 5-3 lead into the top of the 6th inning.  Cabrera gave up a leadoff HR to Jarod Saltalamacchia to make it 6-3 and was relieved by lefty Brian Burres.  Burres allowed:  single, wild pitch, walk, out, single, Marlon Byrd home run, strikeout, then 5 consecutive 2 out singles.  Rob Bell came out of the pen and gave up a 2-run single to Ian Kinsler to complete a 9 run inning.  It was 14-3.

Bell pitched a perfect 7th.  With one out in the 8th he gave up two walks, 2 singles, and a Travis Metcalf grand slam, Texas's second slam of the game.  After a walk, Bell was replaced by Paul Shuey, who got the second out, but then gave up a double, a single, and a Saltalamacchia 3-run home run, and just like that it was 24-3.

In the 9th, Shuey walked the first two batters and gave up a single to load the bases.  Jason Botts hit a 2-run double to make it 26-3.  Shuey struck out Nelson Cruz, but gave up a single to David Murpy to make it 27-3.  Saltalmacchia struck out, and then Ramon Vazquez hit his 2nd home run of the game to make it 30-3.  That was the final.

The Rangers were the first team in MLB history to score 30 runs in a game.  The 27 run margin of victory was the greatest in baseball history.  #8 and #9 hitters Vazquez and Saltalamacchia each had 2 HRs and 7 RBIs.  They were only the 4th set of teammates ever to have 2+ HRs and 7+ RBIs in history, and the first to do it batting 8/9.  It was the only game in baseball history where 3 different relievers on a team allowed 7 or more runs.

And then the Orioles had to play again!  The Rangers won that game 9-7.

If any game symbolizes the 14 straight losing seasons the Orioles suffered from 1998-2011, it is this one.  On a day full of hope, when a new GM decided that he had the right man running the team on the field and gave him a contract, the Orioles suffered the worst defeat in the history of major league baseball.

I remember looking at that score when my buddy asked me what the score was. 

He responded by saying "You idiot, that's a football score."

[osfan83]

I was 14 in 1979 and had mini pennants hanging on my bedroom wall for each MLB team. As soon as we lost that game, 7, I took the Pirates pennant down, went out to the driveway, and burned it.  

[SteveA]

It's 27 days until Orioles pitchers and catchers report to Sarasota.  Here is the 27th most significant date in modern Orioles history.

#27 September 30, 2012

A winning season had already been clinched, ending 14 years of frustration.  The 2012 Orioles had gone 45-23 since late July, racing the Yankees neck and neck through September, matching win for win.  On Sunday, September 30, the Orioles took the field for their last home game of the season tied with New York for first place.

The division title was still in reach, but a playoff spot was even closer.   There was a tight 3-way race in the AL West, with the Angels in 3rd place.  The Orioles magic number was 2, any combination of two Oriole wins or Angel losses would assure the Orioles of at least a wild card, and return them to the postseason for the first time since 1997.

The Orioles faced the Red Sox, with former first round draft pick from Virginia Tech Joe Saunders facing Zach Stewart of the Red Sox.  Nate McClouth led off the bottom of the first with a home run, and the O's put two more on the board that inning.  JJ Hardy homered in a 2-run 3rd, and the O's led 5-0.  Baltimore coasted to a 6-3 win in a brisk 2 hour 19 minute game, with Jim Johnson nailing down the save.

The Orioles magic number was now just 1.  One Angel loss and the Orioles would be back in the postseason.  The first game of the Angels' day night doubleheader actually began a half hour before the Oriole game, but it was not as quickly paced.  Oriole fans and players watched on teh scoreboard at Camden Yards as the Texas Rangers took a 4-3 lead into the 9th.  But Joe Nathan couldn't make it stand, he gave up a 2-run double in the top of the 9th to Torii Hunter, and the Angels won 5-4.

The Orioles long awaited return to the postseason had to wait a bit.  That evening, LA jumped on Derek Holland for 4 runs in the top of the first and it looked like the Orioles would have to clinch on the road in Tampa.  But the Rangers tagged Ervin Santana for 6 runs in 2.2 innings and added another 2 in the 5th. In the top of the 7th, Howie Kendrick's 3 run homer made it 8-7 Texas.  Former Oriole Koji Uehara pitched a perfect 8th, and Joe Nathan came on for the second time that day trying to nail down a save.

With one out, Torii Hunter walked.  Future Oriole Mark Trumbo gave one a ride to deep right field but it was run down by future Oriole Nelson Cruz, not known for his defense.  At 10:24 PM on September 30, 2012, Kendrys Morales popped out to the catcher, and the Orioles had returned to the postseason for the first time in 15 years!

The Orioles traveled to Tampa hoping to nail down the division in the last 3 games of the season, but failed to do so.  The Yankees took the division, and the Orioles had to settle for a wild card spot.  They won the first wild card game in AL history, then played a tough, hard-fought series with the Yankees that went the distance, unfortunately resulting in a Yankee win.

 

[Frobby]

I was at that game.   It was bizarre standing around for 15-20 minutes after the game ended, watching the Angels game on the Jumbotron, along with a number of players who were watching from the dugout.   In the end, a great day.    Were there 26 days more significant than this one?    Maybe, but not 26 that were as happy.