The 100 Most Significant Dates in Modern Orioles History

[Moose Milligan]

13 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Maybe Johnson was fortunate to get out before the house of cards collapsed.    I do think the ‘98 team would have fared better if he’d stayed, but they were getting old and that would have been true no matter who the manager was.

This is what I was about to say.  As great as Davey was, I don't think he could have navigated that decaying team to winning seasons.  '98 might have been interesting but that's about it.  

Still, it sucks the way it went down.  When you add up the Angelos bungles (and there are many) this is one of the ones that people would have near the top of the list.  

The late 90s were tough.  Getting rid of Jon Miller, Davey and then Mussina goes to the Yankees after the 2000 season.  It was like two punches to the gut and then a right hook to the jaw to leave you on the canvas as an Orioles fan.

[SteveA]

It's 24 days until pitchers and catchers report to Sarasota.   Here is the 24th most significant date in modern Orioles history:

#24 September 22, 1966

Jim Palmer took the mound on a Thursday afternoon in Kansas City's Municipal Stadium to face the Kansas City Athletics in front of 5,520 fans.  The Orioles "magic number" was 2.   They needed any combination of two Oriole wins and Tiger losses to clinch the American League pennant, which would put the Orioles in the World Series.

The Tigers played a doubleheader at home vs the California Angels.   The Tigers lost, and an Oriole victory would give the Orioles the pennant.   The 20 year old Palmer made that happen, with a complete game 5 hitter, striking out 8.  Brooks and Frank Robinson each knocked in two runs.

The Orioles, who had come to Baltimore as a woebegone franchise 12 years earlier, a team that had 28 losing seasons in 31 years from 1929 to 1959 (with the only 3 winning seasons coming during WW2 when a lot of major league rosters were filled with replacement level players)... were in the postseason for the first time.   Paul Richards had built a foundation and gotten the team into contention by 1960, and they had been extremely competitive from 1960 to 1965, winning 90 games 3 times and high 80s 2 other times.   But it took Harry Dalton's trade for Frank Robinson to put the O's over the top.   And on a ballfield that is pretty much forgotten today, in front of a tiny crowd on a September afternoon, the Orioles were World Series bound for what would be 6 trips in the 18 years.

 

[SteveA]

It's 23 days until pitchers and catchers report to Sarasota.  Here is the 23rd most significant date in modern Orioles history:

#23 September 16, 2012

The Orioles stretch of 14 consecutive losing seasons was a horrible time in Orioles history.   It included an horrendous 4-32 finish to a season, a major league record tying stretch of 5 consecutive seasons with a declining record, a 40+ game stretch with 1 home run with men on base, a record setting 30-3 loss, 7 managers, a multitude of GMs and GM combinations, declining attendance at the best ballpark in the majors, dashed moments of false hope in 2002, 2005, and 2010, a fan protest, the loss of exclusivity in the Baltimore/Washington area, years of wandering Florida without a spring training home, being dumped by a long time minor league affiliate, and the tragic deaths of a pitching prospect as well as one of the most beloved players in franchise history.

On Sunday, September 16, 2012, the losing came to an end, as the Orioles clinched a winning 2012 by winning their 82nd game of the year at O.co Coliseum in Oakland.

Veteran Randy Wolf, a pennant race acquisition, took the mound for the Orioles against Dan Straily.  Josh Reddick touched him for a HR and a 2-0 lead in the first, but the Orioles scored the next 7 runs, including a HR by young catcher Matt Wieters, and coasted to a 9-5 victory.  Manager Buck Showalter used 5 relievers over 5 innings (Hunter, Matusz, O'Day, Strop, Johnson) to nail down the victory.

The Orioles would go on to make the playoffs 3 times in 2012 and twice more, with four winning seasons and one .500 season in a five year stretch.

[Moose Milligan]

Even by that time of the season you knew they'd finish above .500...with everything terrible outlined above, i was dreading another 4-32 stretch or something similar.  That team was too good to do something like that but an above .500 season was too good to be true.

 

[Moshagge3]

One of my favorite things about August/September 2012 was the series of posts by SteveA, marking every time the Orioles surpassed the win total of one of the 1998-2011 Orioles. It was cathartic, truly like an exorcism. Reliving all of those disastrous seasons made 9/16/2012 all the sweeter. 

[VaBird1]

I know not everyone loves DD but my son has never known an Orioles team without Adam Jones and they have only had a losing season once in my daughter’s life.  They don’t think of the franchise as losers.  There isn’t the baggage we all have, and DD and Buck have overseen that. 2012 was huge.

[Moose Milligan]

1 hour ago, VaBird1 said:

I know not everyone loves DD but my son has never known an Orioles team without Adam Jones and they have only had a losing season once in my daughter’s life.  They don’t think of the franchise as losers.  There isn’t the baggage we all have, and DD and Buck have overseen that. 2012 was huge.

Yeah, one of the reasons I don't go too hard on DD is because of this.  He's certainly not the perfect GM but he's been able to do what no other GM has been able to do for an extended period of time under Angelos.

These past few years have been really fun, he's played a large part in putting that '98-'11 stretch comfortably in the rearview mirror.  

[Can_of_corn]

9 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Yeah, one of the reasons I don't go too hard on DD is because of this.  He's certainly not the perfect GM but he's been able to do what no other GM has been able to do for an extended period of time under Angelos.

These past few years have been really fun, he's played a large part in putting that '98-'11 stretch comfortably in the rearview mirror.  

I'm not overly harsh with him since I think of lot of what he does that I don't care for is because his choices are limited by the owner.

I certainly don't think he wanted to package a draft pick with Matusz's contract for instance.

[Moose Milligan]

5 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

I'm not overly harsh with him since I think of lot of what he does that I don't care for is because his choices are limited by the owner.

I certainly don't think he wanted to package a draft pick with Matusz's contract for instance.

We'll never know how hamstrung he was by the ownership, but I think we can all agree that he was.  

[SteveA]

It's 22 days until pitchers and catchers report.   Here is the 22nd most significant date in modern Orioles history:

#22 October 9, 1996

With some agressive spending and player acquisition by GM Pat Gillick under owner Peter Angelos, who had bought the team 3 years earlier, and the hiring of former Oriole Davey Johnson to manage, the Orioles returned to the postseason after a 13 year absence in 1996.

The Orioles were 88-74, winning the AL Wild Card by 3 games over the White Sox, Red Sox, and Mariners.  In the AL Division Series, the Orioles beat the Indians 3 games to 1.  They won the first game 10-4 in Baltimore, the first postseason game ever at Camden Yards, highlighted by a Bobby Bonilla grand slam.  A 3-run 8th broke a 4-4 tie and gave the O's a 7-4 win and a 2-0 lead.  The Indians took game 3 9-4 to stay alive, scoring 5 late runs vs the Orioles' pen, with Jesse Orosco the primary victim.  The O's won the 4th game, and the series, 4-3 on a Roberto Alomar home run in the top of the 12th inning.

That set up an AL Championship series vs the hated Yankees, who had just returned to the postseason for the first time in 14 years the previous season, losing a memorable series with Seattle.  The Yankees had defeated the Rangers in their division series.

The ALCS opened in New York on Wednesday afternoon October 9th.  Veteran Scott Erickson started for the Orioles, young Andy Pettitte for the Yankees.  New York led 2-1 until Brady Anderson's solo HR tied it in the 3rd.  Raffy Palmeiro touched Pettite for a HR in the 5th, and another run in the 6th knocked in by BJ Surhoff made it 4-2.  Erickson ran into trouble in the 7th, and Jesse Orosco came on to get one out, but Armando Benitez walked Daryl Strawberry with the bases loaded to make it 4-3, before striking out Mariano Duncan to end the threat.

Benitez struck out the first batter in the bottom of the 8th, and the Orioles were 5 outs away from taking a 1-0 lead in teh series.  Derek Jeter lofted a fly ball to deep right field.  Oriole rightfielder Tony Tarasco positioned himself right in front of the wall to make the catch, but 12 year old Yankee fan Jeffrey Maier reached over the fence with his glove.  The ball bounced off his glove and into the stands.  The umpire in RF was Richie Garcia.  Outfield umps are only used in the postseason to make the calls on critical plays exactly like that one.  Garcia ruled that the ball was "not catchable" and called it a home run.  The Yankees had tied the game.

The Yankees went on to win the game in extra innings.  The Orioles won the next game 5-3 on a strong performance with David Wells, and if they had won the first game, they would have come home with a 2-0 lead.  Instead, it was 1-1 and the Yankees won the next 3 to go tot he World Series.

Maier was toasted in New York.  He appeared on talk shows and the Yankees gave him seats right behind the dugout for later postseason games.  That was his "reward" for violating rules, as all fans are instructed not to interfere with balls in play.  Umpire Richie Garcia was later learned to have associated with Florida based bookmakers who were known drug dealers, and according to information collected from federal wiretaps, he had problems paying off gambling debts.  He admitted he made the wrong call, but in the days before replay, nothing could be done about it when it happened.

It was one of the most notable blown calls in World Series history, and it cost the Orioles a chance at the World Series.

[Frobby]

4 minutes ago, SteveA said:

Umpire Richie Garcia was later learned to have associated with Florida based bookmakers who were known drug dealers, and according to information collected from federal wiretaps, he had problems paying off gambling debts.  He admitted he made the wrong call, but in the days before replay, nothing could be done about it when it happened.

So are you implying that Garcia made that call because he was “on the take?”   I’m not buying it.    It was just a lousy call.   

[Moose Milligan]

As sickening as the kid doing the act and the umpire blowing the call was, the most vile thing was that kid getting carted around like he was a hero.

Anyway, NSFW, language.  https://deadspin.com/5922164/the-second-time-they-met-jeffrey-maier-didnt-dare-mess-with-tony-tarasco

[SteveA]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

So are you implying that Garcia made that call because he was “on the take?”   I’m not buying it.    It was just a lousy call.   

Implying is a strong word.   Just putting the possibility out there.   I think a player with Garcia's associations would have been treated more harshly by baseball than Garcia would be.

[OFFNY]

4 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

 

As sickening as the kid doing the act and the umpire blowing the call was, the most vile thing was that kid getting carted around like he was a hero.

 

Anyway, NSFW, language. ll  https://deadspin.com/5922164/the-second-time-they-met-jeffrey-maier-didnt-dare-mess-with-tony-tarasco

 

o

 

The NY Daily News arranged for Maier to have free box seat tickets to the very next game of that ALCS (Game Two.) That day, the commentators on WFAN in New York got his father on the phone. To their credit, Mike and the Mad Dog both confronted Maier's father about accepting free box seat tickets to a playoff game for his kid as a "reward" for behavior that would otherwise get you ejected from the game.

 

They asked him, "Mr. Maier, don't you think that it's wrong for your kid to be rewarded for interfering with a crucial play in a post-season game?" 

Mr. Maier responded by saying, "Why can't my kid go to the game ???" 

Francesca and Russo didn't let his lame answer/excuse get him off the hook. They kept at him: "Mr. Maier, that isn't the point. Your kid can go to the game like everyone else, but why should he be rewarded with free box seat tickets for interfering with a play? Other parents' kids should be able to go to the game. They didn't do anything wrong. Why shouldn't they get free tickets? You're his parent. What exactly are you teaching your kid by accepting this "reward" for interfering with a play in a post-season game?" 

Mr. Maier simply repeated his nonsensical "Why can't my kid go to the game?"

 

Not only did Mr. Maier essentially condone what his kid did, he didn't even have the courage to come out and admit it when confronted on the air. To me, he was/is even more of a weasel than was/is his kid.

 

o

[Moose Milligan]

5 minutes ago, OFFNY said:

o

 

The NY Daily News arranged for Maier to have free box seat tickets to the very next game of that ALCS (Game Two.) That day, the commentators on WFAN in New York got his father on the phone. To their credit, Mike and the Mad Dog both confronted Maier's father about accepting free box seat tickets to a playoff game for his kid as a "reward" for behavior that would otherwise get you ejected from the game.

 

They asked him, "Mr. Maier, don't you think that it's wrong for your kid to be rewarded for interfering with a crucial play in a post-season game?" 

Mr. Maier responded by saying, "Why can't my kid go to the game ???" 

Francesca and Russo didn't let his lame answer/excuse get him off the hook. They kept at him: "Mr. Maier, that isn't the point. Your kid can go to the game like everyone else, but why should he be rewarded with free box seat tickets for interfering with a play? Other parents' kids should be able to go to the game. They didn't do anything wrong. Why shouldn't they get free tickets? You're his parent. What exactly are you teaching your kid by accepting this "reward" for interfering with a play in a post-season game?" 

Mr. Maier simply repeated his nonsensical "Why can't my kid go to the game?"

 

Not only did Mr. Maier essentially condone what his kid did, he didn't even have the courage to come out and admit it when confronted on the air. To me, he was/is even more of a weasel than was/is his kid.

 

o

I don't disagree with that.

But it's gotta be really hard to be a parent in that situation.  Your kid is all of a sudden getting a ton of media attention in the span of a few hours, the Yankees are throwing free stuff at you and your kid.  I mean, it's HARD to be a parent on the national stage like that.

I don't think that kid intentionally knew what he was doing, I don't think he had any malicious intent.  I mean, reverse the roles if that was you or any one of us in the first row in LF with a glove and Ripken hit one right at me....I'd be fighting like hell to catch it.  I might reach over the fence in a really exciting moment, not totally aware of my actions.  A home run ball from my all time favorite player in a playoff game?  You gotta be kidding me.

I hate Maier cause....well, it victimized my team.  But being a 12 year old kid trying to catch a home run ball, I get it.

Anyway, if I'm the dad in that situation....I'd have a long sit down with my kid, tell him what he did was wrong, don't do it again.  Have some awareness about a situation like that, don't interfere with balls in play....

...but let's enjoy all this free stuff we're getting here for a few days.  

That sends a mixed message, to be sure.  But life ain't perfect.