It's Opening Day! (for real, for real)

[SteveA]

My favorite OD has to be 1989.   Coming off the 107 loss season, facing Clemens, and there had actually been media buzz that Clemens on OD vs the weak Orioles could produce a no hitter.

It was a stunningly beautiful day, I want to say mid 80s.   I was sitting in the upper deck pretty high behind home plate, so maybe section 40, 41, 1, or 2.   Maybe 10 rows from the top.

We hung around with Clemens, I think maybe 3-3, and scored after he left to win the game by a run, so he didn't take the loss.   But he didn't no-hit us either.   And that was the start of the Why Not year.

That's all from memory and it's been 32 years, I'm sure if I check baseball reference I'll  find some of the details in my memory are totally wrong.

[SteveA]

4 minutes ago, SteveA said:

My favorite OD has to be 1989.   Coming off the 107 loss season, facing Clemens, and there had actually been media buzz that Clemens on OD vs the weak Orioles could produce a no hitter.

It was a stunningly beautiful day, I want to say mid 80s.   I was sitting in the upper deck pretty high behind home plate, so maybe section 40, 41, 1, or 2.   Maybe 10 rows from the top.

We hung around with Clemens, I think maybe 3-3, and scored after he left to win the game by a run, so he didn't take the loss.   But he didn't no-hit us either.   And that was the start of the Why Not year.

That's all from memory and it's been 32 years, I'm sure if I check baseball reference I'll  find some of the details in my memory are totally wrong.

Another was '82.   Seniors in high school, and we were the "good" / "smart" kids so teachers let us get away with stuff that they wouldn't tolerate in others.   A few of us snuck out of school to go to the stadium to the ticket office in mid March the day that OD tickets went on sale to the general public to stand in line to get OD tickets, and then about 6 of us blew off the afternoon to go to the game.   Beautiful weather, a great group of friends that probably hasn't been back all together in one place in about 38 years now.   Sat out in the left field gold seats, maybe Section 12.   Eddie hit a 3-run HR, someone (Dan Ford?) had a grand slam.   O's scored about 13 runs, hit maybe 5 HRs (Roenicke too I think) and blasted the Royals.

[eddie83]

15 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Funny, I thought I had remembered we had three in a row, but I really couldn’t remember the third one at all.   I guess I’ve done my best to just block 2018 out of my mind entirely.    What a miserable experience that was.  

Yeah. Only good part of season was that day. 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

34 minutes ago, eddie83 said:

Yeah. Only good part of season was that day. 

2018 was also bookended with a 4-0 shutout against the Astros to close out the season not that it mattered by game 162. 

[spiritof66]

49 minutes ago, SteveA said:

Another was '82.   Seniors in high school, and we were the "good" / "smart" kids so teachers let us get away with stuff that they wouldn't tolerate in others.   A few of us snuck out of school to go to the stadium to the ticket office in mid March the day that OD tickets went on sale to the general public to stand in line to get OD tickets, and then about 6 of us blew off the afternoon to go to the game.   Beautiful weather, a great group of friends that probably hasn't been back all together in one place in about 38 years now.   Sat out in the left field gold seats, maybe Section 12.   Eddie hit a 3-run HR, someone (Dan Ford?) had a grand slam.   O's scored about 13 runs, hit maybe 5 HRs (Roenicke too I think) and blasted the Royals.

Eddie hit the GS. Ripken, Roenicke and Ford also homered. O's squeaked by KC, 13-5.

https://www.baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=198204050BAL

[OFFNY]

o

 

September of 2009 ...... I love the Orioles, regardless of where they are in the standings.

 

 

o

[Moose Milligan]

At least we get another day of being .500.

[interloper]

4 hours ago, OFFNY said:

o

 

September of 2009 ...... I love the Orioles, regardless of where they are in the standings.

 

 

o

Lol epic.

[eddie83]

7 hours ago, SteveA said:

My favorite OD has to be 1989.   Coming off the 107 loss season, facing Clemens, and there had actually been media buzz that Clemens on OD vs the weak Orioles could produce a no hitter.

It was a stunningly beautiful day, I want to say mid 80s.   I was sitting in the upper deck pretty high behind home plate, so maybe section 40, 41, 1, or 2.   Maybe 10 rows from the top.

We hung around with Clemens, I think maybe 3-3, and scored after he left to win the game by a run, so he didn't take the loss.   But he didn't no-hit us either.   And that was the start of the Why Not year.

That's all from memory and it's been 32 years, I'm sure if I check baseball reference I'll  find some of the details in my memory are totally wrong.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL198904030.shtml

 

57 degrees. I wasn’t there but recall it well. Of course watching the Why Not Tape 2,000 times helped. 

[SteveA]

31 minutes ago, eddie83 said:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL198904030.shtml

 

57 degrees. I wasn’t there but recall it well. Of course watching the Why Not Tape 2,000 times helped. 

OK, maybe I'm confusing it with another really warm temperature Opening Day.

[SteveA]

2 minutes ago, SteveA said:

OK, maybe I'm confusing it with another really warm temperature Opening Day.

Opening Day 1991... 89 degrees in early April!

Not a good outcome for the O's though.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL199104080.shtml

[eddie83]

12 minutes ago, SteveA said:

OK, maybe I'm confusing it with another really warm temperature Opening Day.

I remember coming home from school and watching it like it was yesterday. 
 

Changed the jerseys that year and it was first time they wore them. They wore the cartoon bird hats and old style jerseys in spring. It was like a fresh start. 
 

Of course years later I was happy it was brought back. Hope it never changes.  

[eddie83]

11 minutes ago, SteveA said:

Opening Day 1991... 89 degrees in early April!

Not a good outcome for the O's though.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL199104080.shtml

Harbinger of things to come that year. 

[SteveA]

7 minutes ago, eddie83 said:

I remember coming home from school and watching it like it was yesterday. 
 

Changed the jerseys that year and it was first time they wore them. They wore the cartoon bird hats and old style jerseys in spring. It was like a fresh start. 
 

Of course years later I was happy it was brought back. Hope it never changes.  

Oh yeah, I do remember the hat change.   But that Opening Day was NOT actually the debut of the anatomically correct bird hat.   A couple days earlier they had played an exhibition game vs the Mariners at RFK Stadium and they wore them for the first time then.   I went to that game.

RFK hadn't been used for baseball in forever so the mechanism to move a section of seats to reconfigure the ballpark was rusted out.   So they had a monster wall in LF that was about 250 feet from home plate.

[eddie83]

24 minutes ago, SteveA said:

Oh yeah, I do remember the hat change.   But that Opening Day was NOT actually the debut of the anatomically correct bird hat.   A couple days earlier they had played an exhibition game vs the Mariners at RFK Stadium and they wore them for the first time then.   I went to that game.

RFK hadn't been used for baseball in forever so the mechanism to move a section of seats to reconfigure the ballpark was rusted out.   So they had a monster wall in LF that was about 250 feet from home plate.

Did not know that! I didn’t have cable back then so if it was on TV I missed it.  I remember them playing games at RfK late 80’s, early 90’s.