DeCinces-Ford deal: 40th Anniversary

[Just Regular]

In elementary school, up in good old Bawlmer, i did not read the Washington Post.

Holy cow is Boswell amazing here with so much fun stuff in his story.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1982/01/29/orioles-give-up-decinces-for-ford/5394b6d9-9944-4858-be7d-1cd6bd415fb3/

It also seems crazy in the era of the Tight Ship Elias here how Hank Peters is just passing out quotes about a trade he's gonna make in a few more weeks, when the interleague trading blackout period (wait, what?) expires.

The gift of B-Ref with the easy details that after not getting Garry Templeton, Earl tolerated Sakata/Bonner half the year until "SS Ripken" began on July 1st.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BAL/1982-lineups.shtml

Spring Training 2023....if Half SS/Half 3B Gunnar/Westburg can ace the high minors this year, would love if Cal did anything fun with the improving ballclub.

[Tony-OH]

Those are some amazing quotes by Peters, especially openly talking about trying to trade for Gary Templeton. That would never go over now.

Imagine had he actually traded for Templeton, Ripken may never have been converted. 

[Frobby]

I liked these quotes from Peters, which you’d never get out of a GM today:

Oriole General Manager Hank Peters, asked whether Ford would still use his famous corked bat (about which the Orioles frequently complained to umpires) replied, "Only when necessary."

And what about posing for centerfolds?

"We consider that 'off the field activity,' " Peters said, grinning.

Also, I’d forgotten (if I ever knew) that there was an “interleague trading period” back in the day.  

[SouthRider]

I remember sitting in jr high school during those winter meetings dreaming of a huge rumored trade between Baltimore and California.  It was supposed to include some big names on both sides.   Ended up just being this trade.   Very interesting article.  I did not know the O's pursued Reggie again.  The Templeton thing is just bizarre, especially since Baseball-Almanac says he was traded for Ozzie Smith on 12/10/81.  I'd say St. Louis did okay on that trade.  

Ford helped us win it all in '83, but DeCinces had a longer and better career after the deal. 

 

[SteveA]

DeCinces just had to get out from Brooks' shadow.  He was a good player who was never going to be good enough for Baltimore fans.

I remember going to a game with my Cub Scout troop and DeCinces made an error, and the father of one of my fellow Cub Scouts, stood up and yelled loudly enough for all 15,000 people in tbe balloark to hear, "Way to pick it Brooksie!".  I probably didn't know the term at the time, but the guy was a real d-bag. 

And it made sense with Cal just making the majors, as a third baseman.  DeCinces was stuck between two legends, or so it appeared.  The move to short was just a notion in the back of Earl's brain at the time.

So although the trade doesn't appear to be a good one, in hindsight, I have a hard time faulting it.

[Just Regular]

The part about Reggie surprised me too.   Wasn't his 1976 here kind of a misadventure?   This is where I've only heard anecdotes from uncles about late reporting, maybe some dogging and not playing that well, maybe upset that Finley "stuck him in Baltimore" with free agency coming.   I kind of imagined the Orioles sour on Reggie after that.

My perception of 277/351/502 is also messed up by Chicks Dig The Long Ball - it seems not that great, but also appreciating tonight for first time Oriole Reggie has OPS+ black ink.

• April 2, 1976

  Traded Don Baylor, Paul Mitchell and Mike Torrez to the Oakland Athletics. Received Bill VanBommel (minors), Ken Holtzman and Reggie Jackson.

I guess in 1982 the Angels disappointed the Orioles Vlad-style as well, but with their adding an outfielder it loosened up Disco Dan.

• January 22, 1982

  Signed Reggie Jackson as a free agent.

• January 28, 1982

  Traded Dan Ford to the Baltimore Orioles. Received Doug DeCinces and Jeff Schneider.

[Frobby]

8 hours ago, Just Regular said:

The part about Reggie surprised me too.   Wasn't his 1976 here kind of a misadventure?   This is where I've only heard anecdotes from uncles about late reporting, maybe some dogging and not playing that well, maybe upset that Finley "stuck him in Baltimore" with free agency coming.   I kind of imagined the Orioles sour on Reggie after that.

My perception of 277/351/502 is also messed up by Chicks Dig The Long Ball - it seems not that great, but also appreciating tonight for first time Oriole Reggie has OPS+ black ink.

• April 2, 1976

  Traded Don Baylor, Paul Mitchell and Mike Torrez to the Oakland Athletics. Received Bill VanBommel (minors), Ken Holtzman and Reggie Jackson.

I guess in 1982 the Angels disappointed the Orioles Vlad-style as well, but with their adding an outfielder it loosened up Disco Dan.

• January 22, 1982

  Signed Reggie Jackson as a free agent.

• January 28, 1982

  Traded Dan Ford to the Baltimore Orioles. Received Doug DeCinces and Jeff Schneider.

Reggie really liked playing for Earl, and Earl liked him too IIRC.    But Baltimore was never going to pay top dollar for him.  

[Just Regular]

10 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

Those are some amazing quotes by Peters, especially openly talking about trying to trade for Gary Templeton. That would never go over now.

Imagine had he actually traded for Templeton, Ripken may never have been converted. 

When the lockout ends, one of the press gaggle in the first Elias Zoom about baseball players should try a curveball like, "Have you heard anything about what Paul DeJong's been up to during the break"?

I wonder if by the mid-80's Peters was past peak, or if the downfall of the post-1983 Orioles was free agency after 7-8 ish years (hey, about the same amount of time getting Samuel Basallo or Maikol Hernandez into a big-league contributor might be).

The 1966-1983 teams were so great, and after '83 they still had Peters, Ripken at 22, Murray at 27 and two strong young SP in Boddicker and Davis.   But looking at the rest of that team B-Ref page with today's eye, the rest of the roster was as old as Methuselah.   No wonder Cal and Eddie bonded so well in those early 80's clubhouses.

[Grady]

Disco Dan batting second behind Bee was almost a certain run. Bee got on 1st, Disco moved him to 3rd with single to right, Ripken base hit or Sac or ground out to bring home a run. Then Eddie, if he didn’t do it Bro Lo or Reoniki would do something.

 Oh for the roar from 34 again.    Leee Mayyy!!!

Edited January 29, 2022 by Grady

[UMDTerrapins]

For all the player mentions in this article, I like how Ryne Sandberg is excluded from the Bowa/DeJesus deal. We should really get one of those throw-in hall of famer throw-ins someday. 

[UMDTerrapins]

Just now, UMDTerrapins said:

For all the player mentions in this article, I like how Ryne Sandberg is excluded from the Bowa/DeJesus deal. We should really get one of those hall of famer throw-ins someday. 

 

[Just Regular]

39 minutes ago, UMDTerrapins said:

For all the player mentions in this article, I like how Ryne Sandberg is excluded from the Bowa/DeJesus deal. We should really get one of those throw-in hall of famer throw-ins someday. 

That guy.   He was just a 20th round pick who hit .167 in his cup of coffee at the end of '81.   Probably never going to amount to anything, or at least hadn't registered on Tom Boswell's radar in January 1982.    Though one of my favorite bits of the read was Angels OF prospect Tom Brunansky.   Brunansky would have been more relevant to his filing that day as I guess he was kind of the "Angels Ripken" guy, who along with Reggie combined to make Ford more available.

Would love to have 80's prospect rankings to see how Ripken and Sandberg would have rated that offseason, but sounds like Baseball America was just in its infancy in the early 80's.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/minor-league-top-10s-paved-the-way-for-ba-prospect-rankings/

[Just Regular]

Rabbit hole mode on, plopping them side by side.

Ripken 8.24.1960

20 - .919 OPS in AAA (good luck with that one, Gunnar!)

The 1981 Orioles finished 2.0 games out in both the first and second half races while Belanger and Sakata combined for about a 60 OPS+ as Orioles shortstops....hmmm.   Of course Cal did get a 8.10.1981 MLB debut that I believe was "early second half" post-strike and went 5-for-40, so can't say they didn't try.

19 - .859 OPS in AA

18 - .772 OPS in A

https://ghostsofbaltimore.org/2013/09/24/os-2-draft-pick-ripken-fans-17-1978-championship/

Ripken would have been one of those super young draftees today's models like at ~17.75 at the time of the June 1978 draft.

Sandberg 9.18.1959

21 - .750 OPS in AAA

20 - .872 OPS in AA

19 - .662 OPS in A

One view of the MLB results:

https://www.fangraphs.com/graphsw.aspx?players=1010978,1011411&wg=2

[Tony-OH]

6 hours ago, Just Regular said:

When the lockout ends, one of the press gaggle in the first Elias Zoom about baseball players should try a curveball like, "Have you heard anything about what Paul DeJong's been up to during the break"?

I wonder if by the mid-80's Peters was past peak, or if the downfall of the post-1983 Orioles was free agency after 7-8 ish years (hey, about the same amount of time getting Samuel Basallo or Maikol Hernandez into a big-league contributor might be).

The 1966-1983 teams were so great, and after '83 they still had Peters, Ripken at 22, Murray at 27 and two strong young SP in Boddicker and Davis.   But looking at the rest of that team B-Ref page with today's eye, the rest of the roster was as old as Methuselah.   No wonder Cal and Eddie bonded so well in those early 80's clubhouses.

If you ever look at the drafting by the Orioles from really the mid to early 70s on it was quite terrible. Add in no international presence and a limited budget, and it was clear that free agency and poor drafting really destroyed a once great franchise.

[Tony-OH]

Here's my Disco Dan Ford story.

Ford had a very closed stance and pull approach at the plate. I was 12-years old in my last year of 10-12 Little league ball when Ford was acquired and for some reason, I was excited about him. 

Before the 1982 season I was actually traded. Yes, in the Pasadena Riviera Beach little league apparently coaches could trade, but it was rare. Either way, I was traded from the Yankees (I hated playing for them for obvious reasons) to the Red Sox because the Red Sox needed a catcher (I was a catcher) and the Yankees needed a pitcher. 

I was actually happy because more of my closer friends were on the Red Sox so off I happily went, though I was a little offended that my manager traded me, a perennial All-Star, for a kid who I didn't feel was very good.

Now, the funniest thing here is I was traded because I wasn't a pitcher really. I had a good arm but as a short kid, no one ever really wanted to teach me how to pitch so I was pretty wild in the chances I did get.

So we finally face the Yankees for the first time and my manager decides to let me start against them even though I had only pitched occasionally. I was so pumped because not only was I going to start against the team who traded me, but my Father was at the game (he was late to many mid-week games because of work) since it was a Saturday morning.

So I ended up giving up two runs to put us behind 2-0 going into the bottom of the 5th inning. 

With two outs and two runners on, I came up to plate. I walked into the batters bat and closed my stance like Dan Ford for some reason. I wasn't hitting like him all season, but for some reason I felt the need to bat like Ford. 

Did I mention I was actually facing the kid I was traded for as well?

Down 2-0, against the team that traded me and the kid I was trade for, I took a fastball and just like Ford, pulled it deep down the left field line. It was probably longest ball that I hit in 10-12 ball and it landed well past the left field fence for a three-run homer. 

As I shook my 3rd base coaches hand, I made eye contact with the manager who had traded me (I really didn't like him before the trade so I really didn't like him after he traded me). So there was 12-year old me locking eyes with the man who traded me the entire way to the plate down the 3rd base line.

He was the kind of guy who never smiled, but even he had a little smirk on his face like, "You got me kid!"

It was the greatest moment of my 12 year old life. I held them in the 6th and we won 3-2, making me the winning pitcher with the game winning homer.

All thanks to my Dan Ford batting stance.