The 100 Most Significant Dates in Modern Orioles History

[OFFNY]

8 hours ago, SteveA said:

o

 

It's 76 days until pitchers and catchers report to Sarasota.   Here is the 76th most significant date in modern Orioles history:

#76 January 10, 1991

It was going to be the Orioles' last year in Memorial Stadium, and general manager Roland Hemond wanted to add a big bat to the lineup.  Soon to be 30 year old Glenn Davis had hit 164 home runs in the last 5 years in the spacious Astrodome, putting up a 129 OPS+.  He was a righthanded pull hitter with power, and Memorial Stadium, with the 309' down each line, was a pull hitter's paradise, and the new ballpark that would open the next year was also expected to be a good hitter's park.

Davis would be a free agent after the 1991 season, and the 5 years / $25 million that it would likely take to keep him would be prohibitive for the Astros.  So they were looking to deal him.  Davis had an Oriole connection, having spent his team years as a near-brother to former Oriole pitcher Storm Davis after his parents divorced, and Storm's parents (not related to Glenn) let Glenn move in with them.

So the Orioles pulled the trigger on a huge deal.  To acquire Davis, the O's sent Pete Harnisch, Curt Schilling, and Steve Finley to Houston.  Harnisch had been a mainstay in the Oriole rotation for two seasons.  Schilling was a young, hard throwing prospect who had put up a 4.54 ERA in 69 innings with the Orioles since being acquired along with Brady Anderson from the Red Sox in 1988 for Mike Boddicker.  Finley was a speedy outfielder with some pop in his bat.  The Orioles had a surplus of young, speedy outfielders, with Finley, Anderson, and Mike Devereaux, not to mention veteran Dwight Evans.

After the deal, Davis signed a 1 year, $3.275 million contract with the Orioles, the highest single season salary the team had ever paid.

In his first spring training, Davis suffered a nerve injury in his neck that would wind up keeping him out of the lineup from April to August, and the little he did play in 1991 he only hit .227 with 10 home runs.  He had a respectable season in 1992, but nothing like he had had in Houston.

In 1993 he got off to a horrific start, and then broke his jaw in a bar fight.  That kept him out of the lineup for a while, and just when he was ready to come back he was sitting in the dugout during a game and got hit in the head by a line drive off the bat of teammate Jeffrey Hammonds.  He didn't come off the DL until September, and then, when he complained about not being in the lineup, he was unceremoniously released.

For his 3 years with the Orioles, he got paid over $10 million, which was huge money back in that era.  He had fewer than 700 at bats, and put up a .247 average, .312 onbase, and hit just 24 HRs.   The huge acquisition was a complete failure, and he never played in the majors again after the age of 32.   He put up 0.7 WAR for the Orioles.

Meanwhile, the 3 guys the Orioles traded away all had successful careers, putting up a total of 241.4 WAR after leavint the Orioles.  241.4 WAR for 0.7 WAR makes this possibly the most lopsided trade in the history of baseball.   Finley had a long career, hitting over 300 home runs, winning 5 Gold Gloves, and winning a World Series with the Diamondbacks.  Harnisch's career was hampered by injury, but he had several productive years in the Astros rotation, making an All Star team, and winning 16 games twice.  Schilling is a potential Hall of Famer, winning over 200 games, making 6 All Star teams, and finishing in the top 5 of the Cy Young voting 4 times.

The deal makes everyone's list of the worst in baseball history.  The only reason that it doesn't make the list of best deals from the Astros point of view is because the Astros did not hang on to these guys enough to get the full benefit.  Of the 241 WAR they put up after leaving Baltimore, the Astros only got 24 WAR.  Schilling pitched in relief for them for one year, putting up a 3.81 ERA, and then they dealt him to Philadelphia for Jason Grimsley. Finley gave them four solid years, but at age 29 they traded him along with Ken Caminiti and several others to the Padres in a deal to acquire Derek Bell, Ricky Gutierrez, Phil Plantier and others, not knowing that Finley had 10 very productive years left as a major leaguer.  Harnisch left after four years as a free agent.

There's no telling if the Orioles would have hung onto Schilling longer than the Astros did, but the 1990s could have been a lot better in Baltimore with Shilling, Harnisch, and Finley, and this disastrous deal is a black mark on the long career of Roland Hemond as a major league executive.  What might have been !!

 

 

o

o

 

One year later, Glenn was reunited with his brother, Storm.

Storm's family adopted Glenn when he was in high school.

Oddly enough, Glenn's name prior to the adoption was ....... Glenn Davis. His biological parents just happened to be named "Davis", also.

 

Storm Davis' Double Reunion with the Orioles and Glenn Davis

(By Peter Schmuck)

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1991-12-18/sports/1991352084_1_glenn-davis-storm-davis-jim-palmer

 

o

[OFFNY]

27 minutes ago, OFFNY said:

o

 

One year later, Glenn was reunited with his brother, Storm.

Storm's family adopted Glenn when he was in high school.

Oddly enough, Glenn's name prior to the adoption was ....... Glenn Davis. His biological parents just happened to be named "Davis", also.

 

Storm Davis' Double Reunion with the Orioles and Glenn Davis

(By Peter Schmuck)

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1991-12-18/sports/1991352084_1_glenn-davis-storm-davis-jim-palmer

 

o

o

 

Another strange coincidence is that while both Glenn and Storm were drafted by the Orioles in 1979, Glenn chose instead to attend college and play baseball at that level for a couple of years.

One of the colleges that Glenn attended was the State College of Florida, Manatee–Sarasota ........ a school that defeated the Orioles in an exhibition game in April of 2012.

Of course, the victory was a bit misleading because of the fact that the State College of Florida, Manatee–Sarasota was using the Orioles' pitchers for themselves when the Orioles' offense was batting.

 

State College of Florida Manatees Top Baltimore Orioles in Charity Baseball Game

(By Jason Dill)

http://www.bradenton.com/sports/college/article34544832.html

 

o

[Beef Supreme]

On Monday, November 27, 2017 at 4:43 PM, Legend_Of_Joey said:

Griffey isn't the only person who has hit the Warehouse. He was just the first. This season alone, Schwarber and Gallo hit the Warehouse in batting practice almost a week apart.

However, I do agree that Cito sucks! Could have just brought Mussina in with 2 outs ffs.

Juiced balls in 2017. Very juiced. And seems flattened.

[Beef Supreme]

9 hours ago, SteveA said:

(Glenn Davis) put up 0.7 WAR for the Orioles.

Meanwhile, the 3 guys the Orioles traded away all had successful careers, putting up a total of 241.4 WAR after leaving the Orioles.  241.4 WAR for 0.7 WAR makes this possibly the most lopsided trade in the history of baseball. 

I was just bitching in another post about WAR, but it sure makes for an eye-popping comparison here.

[SteveA]

15 hours ago, Frobby said:

This probably would go much higher on my list.   The ‘92-97 teams were pretty strong; imagine them with Schilling, Harnish and Finley added.   

Yep, in retrospect you are right.

I spent quite a bit of time coming up with the 100 dates.  I actually had about 105 ideas, put them in a spreadsheet.   I had a column for "weight" where I put numbers from 1 to 1000.   So for my initial cut I just kind of put "900", "800", ... down to "100" in the columns and sorted based on that column.   Then I refined it by changing some of the 900s to 870, 880, 890, 910, 920, 930, and sorting again.   I kept doing this until I felt I had the order I wanted.   I don't know what possessed me to put the Davis deal so low.

[foxfield]

   Agree with you above, but this is still wonderful and many thanks for doing it.  

[Frobby]

I can’t even imagine the effort that went into this list and the narratives.    They’re fantastic.  

[SteveA]

It's 75 days until pitchers and catchers report to Sarasota.   Here is the 75th most significant date in modern Orioles history:

#75 November 11, 1970

Boog Powell was not quite a Hall of Fame ballplayer, but he was a great star of the Orioles' 4 World Series teams in 6 years between 1966 and 1971.  The highlight of his career was when he was awarded the American League Most Valuable Player Award on November 11, 1970.

The big burly lefthanded hitter made his debut with the Orioles at age 20 in late September 1961, and was up to stay the next season.  He played left field for the Orioles for the first several years of his career before moving to first base for good in 1966.  Powell hit 300 home runs in 14 years with the Orioles.

1964 was one of his best years, wth a .290 average, .606 slugging percentage, and an OPS over 1.000. He had three other seasons with an OPS over .900.  He was a 4 time All Star.  He also was a very solid first basemen, which you might not realize due to his size.

In 1970, as the Orioles completed their 2nd of 3 consecutive 100+ win seasons and won the World Series, Boog was the American League MVP, outdistancing Tony Oliva.  He hit .297 with 35 home runs, and his .962 OPS was the second best of his career.  Before the 1975 season, the Orioles traded the 32 year old Powell to Cleveland for Dave Duncan, as he had become a part time player in Baltimore.  Given one last chance to play full time, he had a great year with Cleveland, hitting .297 with 27 HRs and a .906 OPS.  But two years later, his career was over.

After his career, Boog remained popular due to his likeable personality and his Lite Beer commercials.  When Camden Yards opened, he opened a pit barbecue stand on Eutaw Street that, 25 years later, is still the most popular food stand at Orioles Park.

[Frobby]

I think the idea that Boog was a good defensive 1B is something of a myth.    dWAR has him at -10.9 from 1966 (when he moved to 1B full-time) to the end of his career, and he was -11 Rtot for his career at 1B.   He made 10+ errors in seven different seasons at 1B, something Chris Davis has only done once.

I think it’s fair to say Boog was not a butcher out there, and probably better than one might expect given his size, but really he was a bit below average defensively.

[Redskins Rick]

18 hours ago, Beef Supreme said:

I was just bitching in another post about WAR, but it sure makes for an eye-popping comparison here.

Schilling was a wet behind the ears pitcher, his three year war here was .3.

Finely was another nice prospect that hadnt done much for his first 2 years, .2 and .3 WAR

Harnisch was another nice prospect that hadn't done too much, a .1, .4 and .9

Of the three, I thought Finely was the one that I hated giving up, and Schilling wasnt that all impressive to me, but heck, look at it turned out.

To me, the Orioles got taken, just like Seattle got taken with the Bedard trade.

[Beef Supreme]

26 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I think the idea that Boog was a good defensive 1B is something of a myth.    dWAR has him at -10.9 from 1966 (when he moved to 1B full-time) to the end of his career, and he was -11 Rtot for his career at 1B.   He made 10+ errors in seven different seasons at 1B, something Chris Davis has only done once.

I think it’s fair to say Boog was not a butcher out there, and probably better than one might expect given his size, but really he was a bit below average defensively.

I would rather compare his stats with players of the same era rather than against current players. Playing fields now offer truer hops, fewer bad hops Lighting of night games is far superior now. Even expectations from official scorers have changed: how many times have we seen a play we expect to be called an error declared to be a hit or changed to a hit subsequently.

I think phillyOs119 may have an opinion to share about Boog's seven seasons of 10+ errors versus Chris Davis's one season of 10 errors. :-D

[Frobby]

48 minutes ago, Beef Supreme said:

I would rather compare his stats with players of the same era rather than against current players. Playing fields now offer truer hops, fewer bad hops Lighting of night games is far superior now. Even expectations from official scorers have changed: how many times have we seen a play we expect to be called an error declared to be a hit or changed to a hit subsequently.

I think phillyOs119 may have an opinion to share about Boog's seven seasons of 10+ errors versus Chris Davis's one season of 10 errors. :-D

There’s a reason why I only cited errors after discussing dWAR and Rtot.    Both of those stats are relative to other players in the same era.    As to errors, you’re right that, in addition to the limits on the utility of that statistic, in general first basemen make fewer errors today than in Boog’s era.

[OFFNY]

4 hours ago, SteveA said:

 

It's 75 days until pitchers and catchers report to Sarasota.   Here is the 75th most significant date in modern Orioles history:

#75 November 11, 1970

Boog Powell was not quite a Hall of Fame ballplayer, but he was a great star of the Orioles' 4 World Series teams in 6 years between 1966 and 1971.  The highlight of his career was when he was awarded the American League Most Valuable Player Award on November 11, 1970.

The big burly lefthanded hitter made his debut with the Orioles at age 20 in late September 1961, and was up to stay the next season.  He played left field for the Orioles for the first several years of his career before moving to first base for good in 1966.  Powell hit 300 home runs in 14 years with the Orioles.

1964 was one of his best years, wth a .290 average, .606 slugging percentage, and an OPS over 1.000. He had three other seasons with an OPS over .900.  He was a 4 time All Star.  He also was a very solid first basemen, which you might not realize due to his size.

In 1970, as the Orioles completed their 2nd of 3 consecutive 100+ win seasons and won the World Series, Boog was the American League MVP, outdistancing Tony Oliva.  He hit .297 with 35 home runs, and his .962 OPS was the second best of his career.  Before the 1975 season, the Orioles traded the 32 year old Powell to Cleveland for Dave Duncan, as he had become a part time player in Baltimore.  Given one last chance to play full time, he had a great year with Cleveland, hitting .297 with 27 HRs and a .906 OPS.  But two years later, his career was over.

After his career, Boog remained popular due to his likeable personality and his Lite Beer commercials.  When Camden Yards opened, he opened a pit barbecue stand on Eutaw Street that, 25 years later, is still the most popular food stand at Orioles Park.

 

o

 

In April 11th of 1979, my cousin Donnie (Yankee fan that lived in West Springfield, VA) took me to to my only game ever at Memorial Stadium.

And that was the night that "Orioles Magic" TRULY began.

The Orioles had a miraculous comeback against the Yankees that night. They were losing 5-2 going into the bottom of the 9th. They scored 3 runs to tie the game at 5-2. The next inning, the Orioles had 2 outs and the bases-loaded. Rick Dempsey hit a check-swing single that blooped into center-field between the Yankee infielders and outfielders. Mickey Rivers was so pissed that he actually tried to throw the runner out at the plate. The 16,000-plus fans at the stadium went crazy, and the celebration carried out into the parking lot. I still remember a guy with long hair with his arms triumphantly raised into the air, saying, "Orioles of '79 !!!"

 

The trivia question at the beginning of the game was, "What year did this happen ??? Boog Powell hit a home run against the Senators in the Opening Day Game in Washington." Then, they played a song to give us a hint (It was "Louie, Louie," by the Kingsmen.) The year was 1963.

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL197904110.shtml

 

o

[Frobby]

4 minutes ago, OFFNY said:

o

 

In April 11th of 1979, my cousin Donnie (Yankee fan that lived in West Springfield, VA) took me to to my only game ever at Memorial Stadium.

And that was the night that "Orioles Magic" TRULY began.

The Orioles had a miraculous comeback against the Yankees that night. They were losing 5-2 going into the bottom of the 9th. They scored 3 runs to tie the game at 5-2. The next inning, the Orioles had 2 outs and the bases-loaded. Rick Dempsey hit a check-swing single that blooped into center-field between the Yankee infielders and outfielders. Mickey Rivers was so pissed that he actually tried to throw the runner out at the plate. The 16,000-plus fans at the stadium went crazy, and the celebration carried out into the parking lot. I still remember a guy with long hair with his arms triumphantly raised into the air, saying, "Orioles of '79 !!!"

 

The trivia question at the beginning of the game was, "What year did this happen ??? Boog Powell hit a home run against the Senators in the Opening Day Game in Washington." Then, they played a song to give us a hint (It was "Louie, Louie," by the Kingsmen.) The year was 1963.

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL197904110.shtml

 

o

You are a scary, scary person.  Do you recall what you had for breakfast that day?

[Redskins Rick]

4 minutes ago, Frobby said:

You are a scary, scary person.  Do you recall what you had for breakfast that day?

Not even sure what I had for breakfast today. LMBO