A question for those who remember 1989

[spleen1015]

I was speaking to that statement above yours that Ced was the only one known nationally. Should have quoted.

[csgordos]

Was Means on our opening day roster this year??  I thought he started on the IL.   I debated about Mancini….his All star HR showing made him recognizeable because they told his story then.   I honestly forgot about him now that he is traded…early signs of Dementia.

my other issue is I know what those players ended up becoming with Finley, Shilling, Brady, Ripken brothers.   Hopefully we will say the same in years to come about some of these players, with the caveat that Elias doesn’t trade away Shilling and Finley and Harnish for the worst Orioles trade in my lifetime!!!

[ExileAngelos]

I was 18 for the Why Not season.  Nothing compares to it.  Was a different time.  It was my first year at college.  Freshmen had to park about a mile from campus.  There was no internet and no way to watch on TV.  I would make that walk to my car to barely pull in WTOP and hang on Jon Miller's every third word or so I could make out lol.  I came home for the Toronto weekend and watched that Gregg Olson curveball hit the dirt.  That 18 year old fell to the ground and cried. 

 

 

[Aristotelian]

1 hour ago, jdwilde1 said:

Three big differences IMO. First, as mentioned above, the O’s were in it from the start.  The season opener, which set the tone for the season, was a come from behind extra innings win against the Red Sox with Cal hitting a three run jack off of Clemens. Second, the O’s had been so good for so long the fan base was still used to winning in 1989 despite the three previous seasons.  Third, there was no wild card (let alone three), so being in the run for the playoffs just had a different feel.  I would guess that folks older than me feel the same way about pre-divisional play when the regular season was for the pennant.

The seasons are similar in that they are really fun teams with unexpected success. Lot’s of crazy plays! 

Agreed, they caught fire right from the get go. I was at the opener and remember the final play in the bottom of the 9th. Os got 1st and 3rd with one out. The Sox brought an outfielder into the infield to go for a ground ball, but Worthington got a fly ball into the outfield to complete the come from behind win. They didn't look back from there.

They seemed to play a lot of close games and win them with a strong bullpen. 

[Aristotelian]

39 minutes ago, csgordos said:

 

89 seemed like a team of Destiny.  End was almost as heartbreaking as 82. And 79.  This year I keep waiting for reality with our starting pitchers to come crashing down.  We are do for some Andino type of magic at the end of the season luck.  

Exactly, perhaps it was being young but even though we went from worst to first I believed instantly that this was a great team. I knew the Jays were good but I just thought we were better and never doubted we would win. This year I have no expectations. Even though I like this team a lot they have some obvious flaws, the competition is better, and we are one bad losing streak from getting knocked out of it.

[Just Regular]

1989 was also high school years here.   It was the Ballard-Milacki year...Ballard had the shiny W-L but he wilted as the summer went along, and the Club did CC Sabathia-in-Milwaukee things with Milacki.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.fcgi?id=milacbo01&t=p&year=1989

Led league with 36 starts, 11 on 3-days rest.    By 1989, 5-man rotations had overtaken the '79 Flanagan 4-man rotation practices enough it was clear as it was happening he was pitching heroically.     As Cito's Jays erased the magic, I remember most of the summer a big majority of the non-Milacki/Ballard starts were automatic losses.    Until a little bit late they got to the Might As Well Try Dave Johnson level of need.

Game 1 on 3-days rest wasn't until July 9 after July 5, I believe right before the All-Star break.    In the second half it didn't happen until August 19 after August 15, though he did throw 149 pitches on August 5th.    And starting there he pitched 8/15, 8/19, 8/23, 8/27, 9/1, 9/5, 9/9, 9/15, 9/19, 9/23, 9/27 and 10/1.

1989 Milacki compiled more than half of his career WAR that season.   His career was below replacement level after age-26.    Milacki is someone I think of a lot watching Clubs try to maximize their Prior's, Strasburg's, Grayson's, etc.

[WarehouseChatter]

‘89 was my favorite Orioles season ever.  When I became a fan (1979) the Orioles were regular winners.  After the WS win in ‘83, we started a decline and for the first time since the mid-60’s faced significant hardship.  For many fans the rejuvenation of ‘89 was the first time they saw several years of poor baseball (in some cases horrific) turn into something special.  In ‘89, we also put many of our chips in on our minor league talent.  Opening day featured rookies Brady Anderson, Steve Finley and Craig Worthingtom.  By year’s end, we would also see rookies Mike Devereaux, Pete Harnisch, and Curt Schilling.  Note that our rotation included several second year players including Bob Milacki and 18 game winner Jeff Ballard.  I feel we put more of our young talent on the major league field than we have this season (which is exciting). 
 

And then, after ‘89, …..Glenn Davis.

[jabba72]

Ripken had a 3 run HR off Clemens on opening day so the 1989 season felt special from the 1st day and early on. I believe they were in 1st Place for long stretches that year. BBref says from May 23rd to August 31th they were in 1st. I only went to one game in person that year. It was the fog game in June against the Yankees where you couldnt see the OF but they kept playing the game. Bill Ripken said afterward that he couldnt see the OF from his position at 2B. Yankees won it 2-1 on a fly ball that dropped in. Who knows if it was routine or not. I couldnt see it.  

[Pushmonkey]

But. But. But. 1989 had Cal. If Angelos had the team in 89 he would have traded him. This actually makes me think what type of return could have Cal got to bring the team out of the dark ages.  Take away the emotional impact of the streak. 

[Can_of_corn]

7 minutes ago, Pushmonkey said:

But. But. But. 1989 had Cal. If Angelos had the team in 89 he would have traded him. This actually makes me think what type of return could have Cal got to bring the team out of the dark ages.  Take away the emotional impact of the streak. 

Cal was making under 2.5M I don't think Angelos would have traded his one remaining draw.

[Pushmonkey]

2.5M was a lot back then. 

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, Pushmonkey said:

2.5M was a lot back then. 

Kinda.

It was around 6M in 2022 dollars.

 

[JR Oriole]

I really hated the Blue Jays after that season.  In 1990 we were out of it but the Jays had to come to Baltimore to close the season and were 1 game behind Boston with 3 to play.  In the last game of the season, Brunansky made a game saving catch in right field in Fenway and that officially eliminated the Jays.  Literally 5 minutes after the Jays saw the highlight on the Jumbotron at Memorial Stadium, Tettleton hit a game winning homer in the 9th off the Terminator.  Was one of those absolute no-doubters that Proctor on TV and Miller on the radio called gone immediately.  We took 2 of 3 from Toronto that weekend and that was a hell of a way to end the season.  Was almost as good as 2011 and wrecking Boston, only to have Longoria put the nail in the coffin 3 minutes later.  

[dtk9119]

I was sophomore in college in 89. The thing I remember about that season was the final TOR series. We were 1 GB heading into it. Didn't our starter for game 1 have a freak injury right before the series started? I remember watching the first game and we lost. Then watching on Sat knowing we had to win 2 just to tie them. Disappointing ending but a great season with a lot of no names besides Cal.

I think the 2022 team compares much closer to the 2012 team. 

[Pushmonkey]

10 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Kinda.

It was around 6M in 2022 dollars.

 

I mean for contract terms.  If my memory is correct there were not a ton of 10 million dollar contract types.