Just tremendous to see these guys. Cal Ripken Jr. We had some enthusiasm that came from hope and winning that started opening day. It was a fun season. But we found ourselves at the end of the season right where we wanted to be, with a chance to win in Toronto.
And we had them beat those first two games and they came back with their experience and won it late. Snatched our going-from-worst-to-first season away from us. But none of us in the room after the last game thought it was a failure. We thought it was an extremely successful season and we were all proud of what we were able to do. I was part of and we lost games. But if you turn it around a bit and take an optimistic view, people are getting some chances to play that might otherwise not.
So there is an abundance of opportunity. When you have an opportunity as a young person and you are playing, almost with a little free will and no expectations, and you find out you can do it, I think a lot of people enjoy watching that path. I would think the young Orioles would not grade themselves so much by the wins and losses, but how they are improving and how in the future they can win.
That might be next year or, more likely, four or five years from now. And it will be a great feeling for them when they make that transition. They have a choice to make, just like we had a choice to make 30 years ago. We can either believe what we read or go out and play and let the chips fall where they may. We got off to a slow start. Baseball is games with ebbs and flows. But you have a chance to show up and win every night.
Team Fielding--Totals League Register. More Orioles Pages. Full Site Menu Return to Top. Louis Cardinals. We're Social Some high school data is courtesy David McWater. Mickey Tettleton. Randy Milligan. Billy Ripken. Cal Ripken Jr. Craig Worthington. Phil Bradley. Mike Devereaux. Bob Melvin. Rene Gonzales. Stan Jefferson. Keith Moreland. Tim Hulett. Chris Hoiles. Butch Davis. Juan Bell. That feeling became even more prevalent in the second half, when another wave of previously unknown characters emerged to keep the Orioles afloat down the stretch.
Kurkjian: "Another snapshot of that season is Stanley Jefferson scoring a run on a play that defied logic. He came home, and he should have been out by like 50 feet, and somehow he zigzags the catcher, jumps over the catcher, does a summersault and helps them win the game.
I remember thinking: 'Who is Stanley Jefferson? And what is he doing scoring a run on a play like that? Something is going on here now! Jeff Ballard was close to winning 20 games. Pete Harnisch had a really good year. Dave Johnson came up from the Minor Leagues and contributed in a big way.
Unexpected performances. It was about testing your limits, finding out who you were. He threw about 84 mph. He won some enormous games for the Orioles without very good stuff at all.
But it worked. The year-old rookie threw complete-game victories in three of his first five starts, including two consecutive against Minnesota and Boston with the Orioles clinging to the division lead. Johnson: "I always wanted to play for the Orioles. I grew up here watching Brooks and Frank and Boog and Palmer. I played for Essex Community College and quit. Went to work for UPS. Who cares? Right under our nose. Every time we won, Toronto won. Every time we lost, Toronto lost.
His heart is as real and Baltimore and Oriole as they come. It played out certainly, famously, on that final weekend. A special pregame for the Orioles as they celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Why Not team.
Fast-forward to Sept. Baltimore enters play one game back with three to play. It all comes down to this: one final series to determine the AL East. The upstart Orioles have already shocked the world. There was some talk about maybe trading for Mark Langston from the Expos. In the end, I think it ended up being a little too bold for Montreal.
They lost both of those games Friday and Saturday. Not good: great. He threw a wild pitch and ended up helping them lose that game [ in 11 innings].
I lived on it in my career. I just threw a bad one that Jamie Quirk had no chance of stopping. I have to stop that ball. It was a foot curve that exploded when it hit the ground. But that kind of explained to me who the Orioles were. A veteran took one for the team to protect the rookie closer in what ended up being the biggest loss of the season.
Harnisch steps on a nail the night before walking back to the hotel. Things happen for a reason. Then I look in my locker and there are two baseballs in my shoes.
I take them out. I run around and find [pitching coach] Al Jackson and tell him Elrod keeps putting these balls in my locker. If people remember me, they remember me as, 'God, how did he do that? I was a truck driver from Middle River, pitching against the Blue Jays, trying to win the pennant for the Orioles! The music stopped that Saturday afternoon, when Johnson took a lead into the seventh before the Blue Jays rallied for three runs in the eighth to clinch the division with a win.
But even though they came up short, the Orioles won 33 more games than the year before. The team that had lost 21 in a row to start the previous year, that had been a bottom-dweller for more than two years, nearly won the AL East. That was a game we had to win against all odds, and boy did he step up to the task. Could I honestly sit here and tell you I would have done a better job than he did?
The Blue Jays were a great team.
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