The 100 Most Significant Dates in Modern Orioles History

[Frobby]

12 minutes ago, SteveA said:

Mussina prospered with the Yankees, going 123-72 with a 3.88 ERA over 8 years.  He never won 20 games or a Cy Young but was the Yankees best pitcher for much of that time.

Mussina won his 20th game of the season in the final start of his career in 2008, finally filling that hole in his resume.

I guess you could say December 7 is a day that will live in infamy.    That was a very dark day for me.

[SteveA]

23 hours ago, Frobby said:

Mussina won his 20th game of the season in the final start of his career in 2008, finally filling that hole in his resume.

I guess you could say December 7 is a day that will live in infamy.    That was a very dark day for me.

Oops, thanks for the correction.

[SteveA]

It's 86 days until pitchers and catchers report.   Here is the 86th most significant date in modern Oriole history:

#86  August 28, 1957

The Browns/Orioles franchise had a stretch of just 3 winning seasons in a 31 year stretch, and those 3 came during the war when many stars were overseas and the Browns did a better job finding replacement players than other teams did.

They finally broke through in 1960, and a key factor in them breaking through was the "Kiddie Corps", a bunch of excellent young pitchers signed and developed by Oriole manager/GM Paul Richards.

The"Kiddie Corps" consisted of Jerry Walker, Milt Pappas, Steve Barber, and Chuck Estrada.   They all earned spots in the Orioles rotation in the late 1950s, culminating with the Orioles winning, contending season in 1960, when all four of them were either 21 or 22 years old.

Jerry Walker was the first of the Kiddie Corps to hit the majors, making his first start with the Orioles at age 19 on August 28, 1957.

 

 

[SteveA]

It's 85 days until pitchers and catchers report.   Here is the 85th most significant date in modern Orioles history:

#85 April 2, 1976

Reggie Jackson was one of the biggest superstars of the 1970s, hitting over 269 home runs and putting up 48 WAR in just over 8 seasons with the Athletics.

His relationship with A's management (owner Charlie Finley) had been fractious, with several contract disputes.   And baseball players had finally won the right to free agency.  Reggie refused to accept the A's contract offer in the spring of 1976, and was due to be a free agent after the year.

Now of course it is common place to trade a soon-to-be free agent before he hits free agency, to get value for him rather than let him leave for little or no compensation.  But free agency was new in 1976, and no one was exactly sure how things would play out.  But Finley was sure he wasn't going to pay Jackson beyond the season, so shortly before Opening Day, he dealt him to the Orioles, who had battled the A's in back to back ALCS's just two years earlier.

The Orioles gave up Don Baylor and Mike Torrez, and got Jackson, Ken Holtzman, and minor leaguer Bill Van Bommel, who would never make the majors.       

But Jackson had not yet signed a 1976 contract, and held out until finally agreeing to a whopping $200K contract for the remainder of the season on May 2.  That was $60,000 more than he had made in any previous season.  

Despite missing a month, Jackson had a big year for Baltimore, leading the team with 27 HRs and finishing 2nd to Lee May with 91 RBIs, with a .853 OPS.   But it wasn't good enough, as the Orioles won only 88 games, their 2nd lowest total between 1968 and 1983 excluding the strike shortened 1981, and finished 10.5 games behind the Yankees.

Reggie then left for free agency, signing with the Yankees, whose new owner George Steinbrenner was one of the first to take immediate advantage of the new free agency system by signing the likes of Jackson and Catfish Hunter to bolster an already strong team.

Change is not always easy for fans, and for many years the status quo was that players stayed with teams as long as teams wanted them, having little options but to take what was offered or find another occupation.  We understand now how unfair that was, but in an era of economic downturn and inflation, fans saw these players jumping for salaries far more than the average American makes as examples of pure greed.  Many predicted free agency would ruin the game.

As a result, and also due to his brash personality, Reggie was always viewed as a villian in Baltimore, first for his holdout and then for jumping ship as one of the first batch of high profile free agents. The Orioles under owner Jerry Hoffberger and GM Hank Peters were slow to react to the new world of free agency, but the nucleus they had built was so strong that they kept winning for 8 more years after 1976 without signing any big name free agents (Steve Stone was probably the biggest Peters ever signed).

It was a new era, and Baltimore fans had a new player to hate... the man who held out for a month and then took the money and ran to the hated Yankees, helping them reach the playoffs in 4 of his 5 years there and the World Series in 3 of them.

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, SteveA said:

the Orioles won only 88 games, their 2nd lowest total between 1968 and 1983 excluding the strike shortened 1981

Sigh.....

[bobmc]

4 hours ago, SteveA said:

It's 85 days until Opening Day.   Here is the 85th most significant date in modern Orioles history:

#85 April 2, 1976

Reggie Jackson was one of the biggest superstars of the 1970s, hitting over 269 home runs and putting up 48 WAR in just over 8 seasons with the Athletics.

His relationship with A's management (owner Charlie Finley) had been fractious, with several contract disputes.   And baseball players had finally won the right to free agency.  Reggie refused to accept the A's contract offer in the spring of 1976, and was due to be a free agent after the year.

Now of course it is common place to trade a soon-to-be free agent before he hits free agency, to get value for him rather than let him leave for little or no compensation.  But free agency was new in 1976, and no one was exactly sure how things would play out.  But Finley was sure he wasn't going to pay Jackson beyond the season, so shortly before Opening Day, he dealt him to the Orioles, who had battled the A's in back to back ALCS's just two years earlier.

The Orioles gave up Don Baylor and Mike Torrez, and got Jackson, Ken Holtzman, and minor leaguer Bill Van Bommel, who would never make the majors.       

But Jackson had not yet signed a 1976 contract, and held out until finally agreeing to a whopping $200K contract for the remainder of the season on May 2.  That was $60,000 more than he had made in any previous season.  

Despite missing a month, Jackson had a big year for Baltimore, leading the team with 27 HRs and finishing 2nd to Lee May with 91 RBIs, with a .853 OPS.   But it wasn't good enough, as the Orioles won only 88 games, their 2nd lowest total between 1968 and 1983 excluding the strike shortened 1981, and finished 10.5 games behind the Yankees.

Reggie then left for free agency, signing with the Yankees, whose new owner George Steinbrenner was one of the first to take immediate advantage of the new free agency system by signing the likes of Jackson and Catfish Hunter to bolster an already strong team.

Change is not always easy for fans, and for many years the status quo was that players stayed with teams as long as teams wanted them, having little options but to take what was offered or find another occupation.  We understand now how unfair that was, but in an era of economic downturn and inflation, fans saw these players jumping for salaries far more than the average American makes as examples of pure greed.  Many predicted free agency would ruin the game.

As a result, and also due to his brash personality, Reggie was always viewed as a villian in Baltimore, first for his holdout and then for jumping ship as one of the first batch of high profile free agents. The Orioles under owner Jerry Hoffberger and GM Hank Peters were slow to react to the new world of free agency, but the nucleus they had built was so strong that they kept winning for 8 more years after 1976 without signing any big name free agents (Steve Stone was probably the biggest Peters ever signed).

It was a new era, and Baltimore fans had a new player to hate... the man who held out for a month and then took the money and ran to the hated Yankees, helping them reach the playoffs in 4 of his 5 years there and the World Series in 3 of them.

 

Is a "villian" more vile than a villain?  Asking for a friend....

 

I never really "warmed up" to Reggie in any form once he left the A's.  I am sure OFF will chime in with his love and adoration ;-) but what is everyone's memories of "the Reggie Bar", as an O and before he became a Yank?

[NCRaven]

Ken Singleton and Reggie Jackson in the same outfield with Paul Blair and Al Bumbry.  I'm slobbering like Homer Simpson over a donut.

[Redskins Rick]

On 11/18/2017 at 8:07 AM, Frobby said:

Mussina won his 20th game of the season in the final start of his career in 2008, finally filling that hole in his resume.

I guess you could say December 7 is a day that will live in infamy.    That was a very dark day for me.

Its silly that some posters (not yourself)  keep using the 20 game criteria to knock Mussina.

In the entire MLB for 2017, there was not a single 20 game winner, several 18 game winners.

With 5 man SP staffs, early hooks, and skipping a start when a pitcher is not 100% the norm, we are not going to see many 20 game winners.

Its passe, as it the complete game stat, which is even more passe.

[SteveA]

It's 84 days until pitchers and catchers report.   Here is the 84th most significant date in modern Orioles history:

#85 September 27, 1996

Late in the 1996 season the Orioles were fighting for a playoff spot, and one of the best players on the team was 2nd baseman Roberto Alomar.  In the first inning of a critical game in Toronto, plate umpire John Hirschbeck called Alomar out on strikes.

There are different stories of exactly what was said in the ensuing argument, whether Hirshbeck used offensive and insulting language to Alomar or not.  But after being ejected, before manager Davey Johnson could defuse hte situation, Alomar spit in Hirschbeck's face.

Alomar said that Hirschbeck used racial insults, including one about his mother; Hirschbeck denies it.  Davey Johnson, the only person in position to here, maintains that "both were guilty".

Alomar made things worse after the game by referring to the death of Hirschbeck's son to a rare disease as having changed his personality and making him "bitter".  When Hirschbeck heard of the comments he rushed into the Orioles clubhouse saying he wanted to kill Alomar and had to be restrained by other umps.

Alomar played in the Orioles final two regular season games, including driving in the game winning run in the game that clinched a wild card berth for the Orioles.  The AL suspended him for five games, but announced it would take effect at the start of next season.  This caused further outrage.

The umpires came close to striking during the playoffs because Alomar was allowed to participate, but their collective bargaining agreement prohibited it.

The perspective of time has softened things.  Alomar and Hirschbeck have made up and Alomar has helped with Hirschbeck's charity.  But for a few weeks in September/October of 1996, Robby Alomar was one of the most hated sports figures in America and the subject of national derision, at least until a 12 year old fan replaced him a couple weeks later.  But that will be a subject for discussion later.

[SteveA]

Geez, somehow when I went to visit my mother the other weekend and prepped a bunch of these in advance, I somehow replaced the fact that we are counting down the 100 days until pitchers and catchers report, to counting down to Opening Day.  It got into my template so I continued the error.   Don't know how that happened.  I have fixed all of those.

[SteveA]

It's 83 days until pitchers and catchers report.   Here is the 83rd most significant date in modern Orioles history:

#83 April 21, 1949

The date pre-dates the actual existence of the modern Orioles, but it is the day that a man who became an institution in Baltimore first did radio play by play for the Baltimore Orioles.

On April 21, 1949, 27 year old WW2 veteran Chuck THompson did the play by play for Opening Day for the International League Baltimore Orioles, and later that year he did the same for the Baltimore Colts, members of the fledgling All America Football Conference.

When the major league Orioles arrived in 1954, Chuck could not initially remain as broadcaster, because he worked for a different beer company than the one that sponsored the team.   But that was rectified in a year, and he began broadcasting Oriole games in 1955.  

Other than a couple more years when beer sponsorship issues forced him to move down the road and do Senators games, Chuck Thompson was part of Oriole radio and/or TV broadcasts for nearly four decades, until his retirement due to macular degeneration in 2000.

Chuck Thompson's sonorous voice and friendly style made him a beloved figure in Baltimore.  He also spent many years broadcasting Baltimore Colts games through many of their great seasons.   His catchphrases included "Ain't the Beer Cold" and "Go to War Miss Agnes".  (By the way, I once spotted him driving a Lincoln Continental on the Baltimore Beltway with a license plate frame that said "Ain't the Beer Cold").

In an era when baseball was consumed more via radio than TV, Chuck Thompson's voice was a fixture in Baltimore.   On summer nights when windows were open, you could hear his descriptions coming out of houses up and down Baltimore streets.  He received the Ford Frick Award, essentially a Hall of Fame induction for broadcasters, in 1993.

Chuck Thompson passed away at age 83 in 2005.

[Frobby]

By and large, Orioles fans have been very lucky to have great radio broadcasters.     Chuck’s longtime partner Bill O’Donnell was no slouch either.    He loved to structure his sentences backwards (“a left-handed hitter, is Powell”).   Chuck and Bill personified the Land of Pleasant Living when I was a kid.

[SteveA]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

By and large, Orioles fans have been very lucky to have great radio broadcasters.     Chuck’s longtime partner Bill O’Donnell was no slouch either.    He loved to structure his sentences backwards (“a left-handed hitter, is Powell”).   Chuck and Bill personified the Land of Pleasant Living when I was a kid.

I liked Bill O'Donnell's personality but I had a couple issues:

   1) For whatever reason, his voice was a bit monotonous.   When I was a kid trying to stay up way past my bedtime with a transistor radio to my ear under the bed sheets, O'Donnell would put me to sleep a lot quicker than Chuck would.

   2) The other mannerism was his use of "wise" all the time.   "Glove-wise, Belanger is an excellent shortstop".   "Hitting-wise, Singleton can really hit the ball".

[OFFNY]

On 11/20/2017 at 2:54 PM, NCRaven said:

 

Ken Singleton and Reggie Jackson in the same outfield with Paul Blair and Al Bumbry. I'm slobbering like Homer Simpson over a donut.

 

o

 

One year later in 1977, I remember when Ken Singleton edged Mickey Rivers by 2 points for the Bronze in the American League (.328), while Al Bumbry also finished in the Top-10 at .317.

 

o

[OFFNY]

5 hours ago, SteveA said:

o

 

It's 83 days until pitchers and catchers report. Here is the 84th most significant date in modern Orioles history:

#83 April 21, 1949

The date pre-dates the actual existence of the modern Orioles, but it is the day that a man who became an institution in Baltimore first did radio play by play for the Baltimore Orioles.

On April 21, 1949, 27 year old WW2 veteran Chuck THompson did the play by play for Opening Day for the International League Baltimore Orioles, and later that year he did the same for the Baltimore Colts, members of the fledgling All America Football Conference.

When the major league Orioles arrived in 1954, Chuck could not initially remain as broadcaster, because he worked for a different beer company than the one that sponsored the team.   But that was rectified in a year, and he began broadcasting Oriole games in 1955.  

Other than a couple more years when beer sponsorship issues forced him to move down the road and do Senators games, Chuck Thompson was part of Oriole radio and/or TV broadcasts for nearly four decades, until his retirement due to macular degeneration in 2000.

Chuck Thompson's sonorous voice and friendly style made him a beloved figure in Baltimore.  He also spent many years broadcasting Baltimore Colts games through many of their great seasons.   His catchphrases included "Ain't the Beer Cold" and "Go to War Miss Agnes".  (By the way, I once spotted him driving a Lincoln Continental on the Baltimore Beltway with a license plate frame that said "Ain't the Beer Cold").

In an era when baseball was consumed more via radio than TV, Chuck Thompson's voice was a fixture in Baltimore.   On summer nights when windows were open, you could hear his descriptions coming out of houses up and down Baltimore streets.  He received the Ford Frick Award, essentially a Hall of Fame induction for broadcasters, in 1993.

Chuck Thompson passed away at age 83 in 2005.

 

o

o

 

On the final weekend of the season in 1977, I remember listening to the radio (we got WBAL up here in Brewster after 7 PM), and the final out of the game against the Red Sox which mathematically eliminated the Orioles was a groundout. Chuck Thompson said, "They've been eliminated from contention on the 3rd to last game of the season, but let's give a hand to the Orioles of '77."

 

o