The 100 Most Significant Dates in Modern Orioles History

[JohnBKistler]

I just stumbled upon this thread...

First-off, to echo many here, this is really terrific work and worthy of any professional historian/writer...being that I am on the north side of 50, I lived through many of these dates and these vignettes help me remember a lot of what I had forgotten.

Second...some comments on the already posted days:

August 6, 1986:  Growing up an Orioles fan in the 70s was unique (in my experience).  The Orioles having a winning team and, if not making the playoffs, always being right there at the end was just the way it was.  It was expected just as it was expected that the nights would get colder and the days shorter.  It's August, so the Orioles must be making a run towards the pennant.  So when you are living through an epic era of success, you don't appreciate how good you have it and it it is hard to know when it truly all ended.  But end it did and with a little perspective, 8/6/86 is about as close as any date to mark it. (I personally think the end was started when a terminally ill Edward Bennett Williams instructed his front office to go spend money on the free agents at the expense of the farm system somewhere around 1984/85 in a bid to get him one last championship before he died.  But your date works for the reason you stated with regards to the records.)

The Davis trade.  Truly an epic failure....but to me, that was the result of an earlier, more costly mistake...

Eddie Murray.  If you don't trade Eddie after the 1988 season (and I am sure this date will make the list), presumably you don't need to trade for Davis in 1991.  It goes without saying, but Eddie was one of the truly great Orioles...both on and off the field (I believe he still to this day contributes to some Baltimore-based causes).  Maybe had social media been around back then, we would have gotten a different perspective of the man.  As it was, a petulant media (led by a talk radio host) decided that Eddie would be the scapegoat for all the ills of the Orioles organization in the late 80s and proceeded to run off a 1st ballot HOFer (pre-steroid era), and one of the greatest, if not THE greatest, Oriole leaders to ever be in the clubhouse.  The list is a short one: there is Frank and Eddie..and let me get back to you...there is a reason in my mind that all the Orioles' championships were won shortly after these men arrived in the clubhouse, and none thereafter.  Brooks is my favorite Oriole.  But if Brooks is #1, Eddie is #1A.

Can't wait to read the rest!!!

[Redskins Rick]

48 minutes ago, Beef Supreme said:

I get 142.1 WAR for their combined careers -- including their time in Baltimore -- by using bbref's calculation. Finley 44.0, Schilling 79.9, Harnisch 18.2.
Still might be the most lopsided trade using that formula. But I am thinking something went awry in your calculation.

 

Really sucks worse, when you see the metrics about how badly it turned out.

[SteveA]

1 hour ago, Beef Supreme said:

I get 142.1 WAR for their combined careers -- including their time in Baltimore -- by using bbref's calculation. Finley 44.0, Schilling 79.9, Harnisch 18.2.
Still might be the most lopsided trade using that formula. But I am thinking something went awry in your calculation.

 

You are probably right, I will check it out sometime this weekend and make some corrections if necessary.   I was using bbref as my source, so I probably just added something wrong.

[SteveA]

18 hours ago, Frobby said:

It’s a little hard to see that April 11 game as the start of Orioles Magic, since they lost the next six games in a row.   But I’ve always thought citing the June 22 game as some sort of watershed moment was a bit overrated.   The team was 44-22 before that game was played.   

You guys probably weren't regular listeners to the Orioles' new radio station that year (I'm sure Patrick wasn't, and I don't know if you could get it down DC way).   But they were a younger skewing top 40 station that aggressively marketed the Orioles throughout all of their daily programs, a big change from the staid, more conservative talk/news station WBAL that had broadcast the Orioles for many years.   And that marketing REALLY took off when they began putting the most exciting radio calls, especially the June 22 one, into montage/cutins in the middle of popular songs (most notably Bachman Turn Overdrive's "You Ain't Seen Nothing' Yet").   For those of us that DID listen to that station many hours a day, not just to the actual Oriole broadcasts, the June 22 game is really cemented in our minds because of that.

But more on that later....

[SteveA]

4 hours ago, Frobby said:

Several days after Eddie got hurt, the O’s called up Jim Traber, who hit .313/.373/.716 with 8 homers and 22 RBI in 18 games in Eddie’s absence.   He became kind of a cult hero, and when the O’s started losing when Eddie returned, somehow a group of vocal fans decided that was Eddie’s fault.   Never mind that Traber (who continued to play regularly as a DH/OF) hit .240/.274/.340 the rest of the season, while Eddie hit .320/.409/.486.

And part of why he became a cult hero was that he was a hometown guy (Wilde Lake High School, Columbia).

And it's pretty obvious race had something to do with it too.  

[SteveA]

It's 73 days until pitchers and catchers report.   Here is the 73rd most significant date in modern Orioles history:

#73  November 3, 1996

Jon Miller came of age as an announcer in Baltimore from 1983 to 1996, after brief stints in Boston and Texas.   He was widely considered the best radio play by play man in the game, and in 1990 he was chosen to helm the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball game of the week.   His knowledge of the game, precision delivery, and sense of humor had made him very popular in Baltimore, taking the mantle from beloved veteran announcer Chuck Thompson, whose career was winding down as a part-timer at this point.

There was no reason to believe Miller wouldn't become in institution in Baltimore just like Thompson did.  Until November 3, 1996, when, out of the blue, the Orioles announced that Miller would not be back.   Miller claims that Orioles owner Peter Angelos wanted Miller to be more of a "homer" and not say negative things about the team; Angelos denies this.    Miller went on to become the San Francisco Giants play by play man for the past two decades and is still considered the best in the business.

When Peter Angelos bought the team from the going-bankrupt Eli Jacobs, he was viewed as a hero.   He was the first Baltimorean to own the team since Jerry Hoffberger, and he initially spent significant money to make the team better.   Some people were not happy when he overruled his front office in the middle of the 1996 season when they wanted to trade veterans for young talent in an attempt to bolster the future of the team, but the majority of fans were on Angelos' side on that one, and when the team went on to make the playoffs and advance to the ALCS, most fans were glad Angelos had overruled hte baseball guys.

But firing Jon Miler was different.    Seeing Angelos toss aside someone who was the best in the business and intensely popular, this was the first seismic shift in the public perception of Angelos.   Instead of local savior trying to build a winner, his reputation soon shifted to an incompetent meddler who made poor decisions that prevented the Orioles from being successful.   Firing Dave Johnson, getting rid of Pat Gillick, hiring yes-men for GM, over-emphasizing questionable medical reports, refusing to spend money in certain ways to be competitive (international free agents, free agent pitchers), going for over a decade with inadequate spring training facilities, etc.   Angelos today is regarded as one of the least competent owners in major league baseball and when the Orioles have won (4 seasons in the last 20) many people have felt it was despite Angelos rather than because of him.   The beginning of the negative perception of Angelos in the mind of most people was his firing of Jon Miller on November 3, 1996.

[Frobby]

Boy, you’re really stacking the downers together here, aren’t you? Yeah, this one really sucked.    

[JohnBKistler]

18 hours ago, SteveA said:

Miller claims that Orioles owner Peter Angelos wanted Miller to be more of a "homer" and not say negative things about the team; Angelos denies this.

"In my conversations with his agent, I was asked in a friendly way what I thought of his broadcasts. I said he's pretty good, but he'd do well to bleed a little black and orange. I mean, in that fifth playoff game, we were losing 6-1, and he was as joyful that we were losing and out of the playoffs as if he were a Yankee announcer." - Peter Angelos

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A99179-1997Mar2.html

Seems pretty cut-and-dry to me.  By the way, the line about Miller being "joyful as a Yankees announcer" when the Orioles lost is total bullshit.  I do recall his ability to entertain being the only reason I listened to games on the radio during some completely horrid years.

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, JohnBKistler said:

"In my conversations with his agent, I was asked in a friendly way what I thought of his broadcasts. I said he's pretty good, but he'd do well to bleed a little black and orange. I mean, in that fifth playoff game, we were losing 6-1, and he was as joyful that we were losing and out of the playoffs as if he were a Yankee announcer." - Peter Angelos

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A99179-1997Mar2.html

Seems pretty cut-and-dry to me.  By the way, the line about Miller being "joyful as a Yankees announcer" when the Orioles lost is total bullshit.  I do recall his ability to entertain being the only reason I listened to games on the radio during some completely horrid years.

Reading that portion of the article you cited, it’s even a little worse than that quote portrays.   One of the worst moves Angelos ever made.

[SteveA]

It's 72 days until pitchers and catchers report to Sarasota.   Here is the 72nd most significant date in modern Orioles history:

#72  November 19, 1964

1964 was probably the finest of Brooks Robinson's 23 seasons as an Oriole, and on November 19, 1964, he was awarded the American League Most Valuable Player Award.   Brooks was the first Oriole ever to win the coveted honor.

Brooks had a fine season at age 23 in 1960, winning his first of 16 straight Gold Gloves and finishing 3rd in the AL MVP voting.  He received votes for hte award in the next two years as well.  In 1964, Brooks put up the highest batting average (.317), onbase (.368), and slugging percentage (.521) of his career, while playing his normal great third base.

The Orioles won 97 games that year, the highest total up to that point in their history, and missed the playoffs by just two games.  They weren't eliminated until the next to last day of the season, making 1964 the most successful season in Orioles history to that point, as well as the best of Brooks' career.

Brooks outdistanced Mickey Mantle, Elston Howard, and Tony Oliva for the award.

[OFFNY]

2 hours ago, SteveA said:

 

It's 72 days until pitchers and catchers report to Sarasota.   Here is the 74th most significant date in modern Orioles history:

#74  November 19, 1964

1964 was probably the finest of Brooks Robinson's 23 seasons as an Oriole, and on November 19, 1964, he was awarded the American League Most Valuable Player Award.   Brooks was the first Oriole ever to win the coveted honor.

Brooks had a fine season at age 23 in 1960, winning his first of 16 straight Gold Gloves and finishing 3rd in the AL MVP voting.  He received votes for hte award in the next two years as well.  In 1964, Brooks put up the highest batting average (.317), onbase (.368), and slugging percentage (.521) of his career, while playing his normal great third base.

The Orioles won 97 games that year, the highest total up to that point in their history, and missed the playoffs by just two games.  They weren't eliminated until the next to last day of the season, making 1964 the most successful season in Orioles history to that point, as well as the best of Brooks' career.

Brooks outdistanced Mickey Mantle, Elston Howard, and Tony Oliva for the award.

 

 

o

o

 

Brooks Robinson was Roy Firestone's first interview ever, when Roy was 15 years-old in 1969:

 

FRIDAY, MAY 15th, 2007:

 

SCOTT GARCEAU: ORoy, how did you first get into interviewing athletes ???

ROY FIRESTONE: OMy first interview was Brooks Robinson, when I was only 15 years-old. The tape jammed, and I had to do it again ...... to which Brooks said, "No problem, Roy." Brooks was, and still is, a really sweet guy.

 

I move to California in 1977. I eventually wound up doing over 5,000 Up Close shows for over 20 years. David Letterman has done his show for over 33 years. Now THAT is amazing. I'm not putting myself in his (Letterman's) category, I'm just giving an example of somebody who has had that type of longevity.

I loved doing Up Close, and I would love to do it again. I LOOOOOVE to talk, so I love interviewing.

 

o

[SteveA]

It's 71 days until pitchers and catchers report to Sarasota.   Here is the 71st most significant date in modern Orioles history:

#71  April 10, 1977

Going into the 1977 season, the Orioles had been consistent winners for quite a while.  But the outlook did not appear very bright moving forward, as the team had lost many of the players who had made the last 9 straight winning seasons possible.

In the 18 months preceding Opening Day, 1977, the Orioles had parted ways with many of their key players due to trades, age, or the players' newly won right to free agency.

The pitching staff had lost Cy Young winner Mike Cuellar, 20 game winner Mike Torrez, and 20 game winner Wayne Garland.  Other guys no longer with the team included Don Baylor, Bobby Grich, Paul Blair, and Tommy Davis, as well as one season rental Reggie Jackson.  And it was clear that the great Brooks Robinson was in the waning twilight of his great 23 year career.

Many people predicted this would be the Orioles' first losing season in nearly a decade.   The 31,000+ fans at Memorial Stadium for the opener, which the Orioles would lose 2-1 to the Rangers, were not sure what kind of team they were seeing.

But instead of marking the end of a winning era that dated back to 1960, Opening Day 1977 was the beginning of a "second wind" for that veteran Oriole team, as an infusion of youth from the farm system and from a key trade with the Yankees the prior June helped form the nucleus of a team that would be a strong contender for the next 7 years, going to two World Series and only being eliminated before the final week of the season once.

The trade with the Yankees the year before brought a new starting catcher, Rick Dempsey, and a young lefthanded starter, Scott McGregor, who would be one of the top 10 pitchers in Oriole history, as well as reliever Tippy Martinez.  25 year old Mike Flanagan had earned a spot in the rotation midway through the previous season, and 23 year old Denny Martinez would join him in 1977.  Rich Dauer, a former first round draft pick from the legendary USC college baseball program, had been up for a cup of coffee in 1976, and he was the Opening Day starter at 2B in 1977.  

A couple of other young players, Kiko Garcia and Andres Mora, also debuted in 1977.  And 1977 was the year that the transition at 3rd base from Brooks Robinson to 26 year old Doug DeCinces would become complete.

Finally, a 21 year old slugger who had never played above AA ball had a fantastic spring and forced Earl Weaver to take him north.  Eddie Murray was the starting DH on Opening Day 1977, his major league debut.  It was the start of a Hall of Fame career that would see him become just the 3rd player ever to get 3000 hits and 500 home runs, joining Aaron and Mays.

Instead of being the beginning of a downturn in Oriole fortunes, Opening Day 1977 was a breath of fresh air for an aging team and the beginning of a 7 year run of excellence for the team that culminated with a World Championship, and the start of a Hall of Fame career for Eddie Murray, who used to say "It's great to be young and an Oriole!"

[SteveA]

It's 70 days until pitchers and catchers report to Sarasota.   Here is the 70th most significant date in modern Orioles history:

#70 July 31, 1996

The 1996 Orioles had a lot of hope, as they had spent a lot of money on high paid (for the time) players such as Rafael Palmeiro, Roberto Alomar, Bobby Bonilla, David Wells, Scott Erickson, BJ Surhoff, Randy Myers, Roger McDowell, and Jesse Orosco.  They were a veteran team, and believed they were strong contenders in the AL East.

But a 15-22 stretch between mid June and mid July, knocked the Orioles under .500 and a full 10 games off the division lead.  There was a wild card, but the Orioles were 5 games off that pace and trailing three different teams.  And they were just 12-29 vs teams with winning records.

The Orioles' general manager, Pat Gillick, felt that the aging Orioles were unlikely to go anywhere in 1996, and needed to start to rebuild.  Two high paid veterans, Bonilla and Wells, were free agents after the season, and Gillick felt they had to be dealt to bring some youthful talent into the organization rather than just playing out the season and letting them walk.

Gillick worked with several teams on deals for Bonilla and Wells.  In every case, he told the other teams they would have to be approved by the owner, Peter Angelos.  Angelos had spent a lot of money to build a winning team, and Camden Yards was selling out all 81 games a season, and he believed that breaking up the team mid-season would be defrauding fans who had bought tickets to see that team.

Gillick had a deal worked out to send Wells to Seattle for a package of prospects led by catcher Chris Widger, and he also is reported to have a deal he could make for Bonilla.   And just before the trading deadline, Gillick worked on a couple more deals.  One would send Wells and Jeffrey Hammonds to Cleveland for two young players, outfielder Jeromy Burnitz and pitcher Allen Embree.  He also talked about sending Bonilla to the reds for prospects, led by AAA outfielder Steve Gibralter.

Angelos vetoed the Wells deal, and would not permit Bonilla to be dealt either.   Basically he shot down every deal that Gillick proposed that involved trading veterans who were a big part of the current team.

Angelos was quoted as saying:  “To discuss dismantling the club in those circumstances is something ownership must be involved with.  That’s not just a baseball decision. That’s an organizational policy decision.”  He may also have been thinking that punting the season just days before Baltimore's new NFL team took the field in the preseason for the first time would cost him in the new battle with the Ravens for local corporate sponsorship dollars.

And the Orioles responded by winning.  They finished the season on a strong 37-23 run, grabbing the wild card.  And they defeated a strong Cleveland team in the first round of hte playoffs to reach the ALCS, where they lost to the Yankees (I might be writing about that a bit later).

Angelos seemed vindicated.  The Orioles had gone deep into the postseason with Wells, Bonilla and Murray.  Not only that, instead of starting a rebuild after the season, Angelos had the Orioles front office work on a winner for 1997, and they built a team that went wire to wire in first place and also went to the ALCS.  And time would prove that many of the guys that Gillick had coveted, such as Widger and Gibralter, amounted to little or nothing as major leaguers.

But Gillick's fears for the future of the team were correct too.  The team was old in a lot of places, and after 1997 they began a stretch of 14 consecutive losing seasons.  Gillick left the day his contract was up, and the Orioles front office also lost other respected baseball minds such as  Kevin Malone.  And it was hard to replace them, as quality baseball men did not want to work for an owner who would tie their hands so much.

The legacy of the July 1996 non-selloff was that Angelos felt vindicated and only on rare occasions since has he allowed any attempts at a wholesale rebuild or trading veterans for youth.  It also cemented his reputation as a meddling owner and made it difficult for him to hire front office people.  But there's no doubt that the second half of 1996 and the postseason were exciting and unforgettable, and 1997 was a great season as well.  And it's also possible that Gillick's potential deals would not have prevented the Orioles' subsequent downfall, as the players we know to be the centerpieces of some of the deals did not turn out to be very good.

The legacy of July 1996 is mixed and long-lasting, and still has reverberations to this day.  It may well be part of why the Orioles did not trade veterans for youth at any of the last 6 trade deadlines.  In most of those years there was a significant segment of fans and media who thought they should.  In 3 of those years the Orioles advanced to the postseason, and in 3 they did not.  Twenty one years later, the philosophical questions about building a ballclub that Gillick and Angelos wrestled with are still with us, and the future of the Orioles going forward is just as unknown as it was 1996.  Peter Angelos' philosophy was hardened in stone by what happened that July.

[Frobby]

Are you sure that Gillick was trying to trade Eddie Murray?   I’d never heard that, and the Orioles didn’t even acquire him until July 21.   Trading him away immediately would have been a PR nightmare.

I wouldn’t say the Orioles’ “loss” of Frank Wren was related in any way to what happened in July 1996.    Wren was hired after Gillick resigned, and then fired by Angelos a year later.   He didn’t choose to leave.    Whether he should have been fired is a whole other story, but it’s not really related to Gillick.

[Redskins Rick]

5 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Are you sure that Gillick was trying to trade Eddie Murray?   I’d never heard that, and the Orioles didn’t even acquire him until July 21.   Trading him away immediately would have been a PR nightmare.

I wouldn’t say the Orioles’ “loss” of Frank Wren was related in any way to what happened in July 1996.    Wren was hired after Gillick resigned, and then fired by Angelos a year later.   He didn’t choose to leave.    Whether he should have been fired is a whole other story, but it’s not really related to Gillick.

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1996-08-04/sports/1996217139_1_gillick-angelos-orioles

Is a good read.