1989 - 30th Anniversary: Why Not?

[DrungoHazewood]

6 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Of course, those guys started no more than 3 games together all year, possibly fewer, and even late in games could not have been on the field together in more than 21 games total.    Here’s a breakdown of who started in the OF that year (total games for the “big 3” added in parentheses):

CF: Devo 72 (80), Brady 65 (75), Finley 18 (23), Jefferson 7.

LF: Bradley 138, Orsulak 19, Finley 3 (14),  B. Davis 1, Jefferson 1, Devo (4), Brady (3)

RF: Orsulak 80, Finley 33 (41), Devo 25 (35), Jefferson 24, Brady (1).

So, of the three only Finley ever started in LF, and that was only 3 times.    The three combined only got in 21 games in LF, including 18 times as defensive substitutions.  So that’s the maximum number of times all three could have been in the OF at the same time.   

While we're killing sacred cows I should mention that the 1989 Orioles were only third in the league in defensive efficiency at .705, a mere .008 better than the decrepit, old, slow 1988 team.  Maybe Ken Gerhart got better jumps than I remember.

[Moose Milligan]

8 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Of course, those guys started no more than 3 games together all year, possibly fewer, and even late in games could not have been on the field together in more than 21 games total.    Here’s a breakdown of who started in the OF that year (total games for the “big 3” added in parentheses):

CF: Devo 72 (80), Brady 65 (75), Finley 18 (23), Jefferson 7.

LF: Bradley 138, Orsulak 19, Finley 3 (14),  B. Davis 1, Jefferson 1, Devo (4), Brady (3)

RF: Orsulak 80, Finley 33 (41), Devo 25 (35), Jefferson 24, Brady (1).

So, of the three only Finley ever started in LF, and that was only 3 times.    The three combined only got in 21 games in LF, including 18 times as defensive substitutions.  So that’s the maximum number of times all three could have been in the OF at the same time.   

Finley got hurt really early in the season, right?

[Frobby]

6 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Finley got hurt really early in the season, right?

He missed 2.5 weeks in April and also the month of August.

[DrungoHazewood]

9 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Finley got hurt really early in the season, right?

Ran into the RF wall making a great running catch on opening day.

[Frobby]

Just to follow up, I looked at the three games where Finley started LF, and in none of those games did Devo and Brady both start at the other OF spots.     Of the 18 other games where one of them played LF as a defensive sub, there were 7 games where they were all on the field simultaneously.   In 6 of those, while they were all on the field Brady was the CF, with the other two each playing 3 times in LF and 3 times in RF.    The one other game, Devo was the CF, Finley in RF, Brady in LF.

It’s funny how memories blur over time.    I knew they weren’t together in the OF the majority of the time, but I sure would have guessed it happened way more often than it did, especially late in games.    

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

This is probably my favorite memory of the 1989 season. 

I remember Doug Rader going ballistic claiming Mike Devereaux’s home run was a foul ball, and getting ejected from the next day’s game handing in the lineup card still peeved about the previous night’s events.

 

[The Goob]

This was my favorite Orioles season every.  They came out of no where and Memorial Stadium was electric in the middle of the summer.  I was in middle school.  My cousin and I used to take the bus from Loch Raven Blvd to 33rd Street for games.  Amazing memories of that season:

• Cal homered and we beat Roger Clemens and the Red Sox on opening day
• Caught a ball in batting practice that I got signed by Randy Milligan that now sits on a shelf in my son's room
• Cal and Billy up the middle all year.  It seemed like no ground ball every got by them
• Tettleton playing out of his mind all year.  He had an autograph signing at Greeting and Readings on Taylor Avenue and was signing Fruit Loops boxes all day
• Devereaux making crazy catches in CF
• Gregg Olson struck out Dave Parker, Dave Henderson and Mark McGwire in the 9th inning of a game in April with the best curve balls I have ever seen before or since and I thought he was a god
• Jeff Ballard somehow won 18 games
• I was at the last home game that season and remember it was the "Shirt off our backs" promotion where a fan drawn at random would get the jersey of a player.  I remember an overweight fan got one from Jim Taber and my cousin and I thought it was the funniest thing ever
• Bradley homered in the first at bat in the deciding series in Toronto
• The radio stations in town playing the Why Not songs on repeat
• Pete Harnish stepped on a nail and could not pitch in that series somehow, still think we could have won it if he had
• We used to stand by the player's entrance trying to get autographs before games and one day a strange looking guy walks by and into the entrance and none of us knew who he was until he got to the entrance to the stadium and turn around and called to us and took off a hat and fake mustache and large coat and waved.  It was Billy Ripken.

I don't know short of winning a World Series if there will ever be a season I love more than the 1989 Orioles.  It wasn't about stats or launch angles or spin rate or prospects or if they were a fluke or not.  For me it was as pure as a kid who loved baseball watching his team shock the world.

[SteveA]

11 minutes ago, The Goob said:

This was my favorite Orioles season every.  They came out of no where and Memorial Stadium was electric in the middle of the summer.  I was in middle school.  My cousin and I used to take the bus from Loch Raven Blvd to 33rd Street for games.  Amazing memories of that season:

• Cal homered and we beat Roger Clemens and the Red Sox on opening day
• Caught a ball in batting practice that I got signed by Randy Milligan that now sits on a shelf in my son's room
• Cal and Billy up the middle all year.  It seemed like no ground ball every got by them
• Tettleton playing out of his mind all year.  He had an autograph signing at Greeting and Readings on Taylor Avenue and was signing Fruit Loops boxes all day
• Devereaux making crazy catches in CF
• Gregg Olson struck out Dave Parker, Dave Henderson and Mark McGwire in the 9th inning of a game in April with the best curve balls I have ever seen before or since and I thought he was a god
• Jeff Ballard somehow won 18 games
• I was at the last home game that season and remember it was the "Shirt off our backs" promotion where a fan drawn at random would get the jersey of a player.  I remember an overweight fan got one from Jim Taber and my cousin and I thought it was the funniest thing ever
• Bradley homered in the first at bat in the deciding series in Toronto
• The radio stations in town playing the Why Not songs on repeat
• Pete Harnish stepped on a nail and could not pitch in that series somehow, still think we could have won it if he had
• We used to stand by the player's entrance trying to get autographs before games and one day a strange looking guy walks by and into the entrance and none of us knew who he was until he got to the entrance to the stadium and turn around and called to us and took off a hat and fake mustache and large coat and waved.  It was Billy Ripken.

I don't know short of winning a World Series if there will ever be a season I love more than the 1989 Orioles.  It wasn't about stats or launch angles or spin rate or prospects or if they were a fluke or not.  For me it was as pure as a kid who loved baseball watching his team shock the world.

I went to 45 games that year, by far the most I'd ever been to before or since.   I had gotten out of college the year before and at the end of 1988 season I bought a 13 game plan for 89 (yes, I bought in right after what was until then the worst season of my lifetime).   But I wound up going to 32 additional games beyond just the 13.

1979 will always be my favorite season, but 1989 (and 1982) are not far behind.

[Frobby]

One guy nobody ever seems to mention from the ‘89 team is Craig Worthington, who finished 4th in the ROY voting.    He had a nice year at the plate, and though his defensive metrics look pretty poor, I remember him making some pretty spectacular defensive plays at times.   

[SteveA]

While we probably won't duplicate what the 89 Orioles did, I hope they are honored sometime during this 30th anniversary year.   I'll bet they will be, the promotions department has done a good job the past 2 years and nostalgia is one of the few things this team has to sell this year.

[SteveA]

Just now, Frobby said:

One guy nobody ever seems to mention from the ‘89 team is Craig Worthington, who finished 4th in the ROY voting.    He had a nice year at the plate, and though his defensive metrics look pretty poor, I remember him making some pretty spectacular defensive plays at times.   

Yeah, I had a 13 game plan in Section 5, right behind 3rd base, in Terrace Box just under the overhang so I got to watch him all year.   I think he probably didn't have great range but he had a quick reaction time and got to a lot of hard hit balls quickly.   I was a fan of his, and was disappointed to see him lose his job to Leo Gomez a couple years later.   I know, his production was not adequate for a corner infielder in the late 80s.  But hey, we won a World Series with Todd Cruz at 3B not too many years earlier.

[now]

4 hours ago, Frobby said:

Of course, those guys started no more than 3 games together all year, possibly fewer, and even late in games could not have been on the field together in more than 21 games total.    Here’s a breakdown of who started in the OF that year (total games for the “big 3” added in parentheses):

CF: Devo 72 (80), Brady 65 (75), Finley 18 (23), Jefferson 7.

LF: Bradley 138, Orsulak 19, Finley 3 (14),  B. Davis 1, Jefferson 1, Devo (4), Brady (3)

RF: Orsulak 80, Finley 33 (41), Devo 25 (35), Jefferson 24, Brady (1).

So, of the three only Finley ever started in LF, and that was only 3 times.    The three combined only got in 21 games in LF, including 18 times as defensive substitutions.  So that’s the maximum number of times all three could have been in the OF at the same time.   

Enter Strat-O-Matic. 

[Dr. Unk]

 

 

[DrungoHazewood]

15 hours ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

This is probably my favorite memory of the 1989 season. 

I remember Doug Rader going ballistic claiming Mike Devereaux’s home run was a foul ball, and getting ejected from the next day’s game handing in the lineup card still peeved about the previous night’s events.

 

That's one of my favorite memories of baseball, and I didn't even see it live.  I got off working late at Roy Rogers and the post game show was still on, giddy and unbelieving.

The next day they won on a Tettleton double down the RF line just over the first base bag, I think in the 10th inning.  My recollection was Rader losing his mind about that after the previous night's controversy... but I could be mixing things up.

[DrungoHazewood]

15 hours ago, Frobby said:

One guy nobody ever seems to mention from the ‘89 team is Craig Worthington, who finished 4th in the ROY voting.    He had a nice year at the plate, and though his defensive metrics look pretty poor, I remember him making some pretty spectacular defensive plays at times.   

Worthington was the 1988 International League MVP.  Which is quite a thing, they must have been astonished by his defense because he hit .244 with 16 homers.

So I looked up the '88 IL... they must have been using surplus WWII balata balls or something.  In the entire league there were only four players with 300+ PAs and an .800 OPS.  Worthington was tied for 2nd in the league in homers with 16, and his 73 RBI were also 2nd in the league.