From 1969-74, the AL East had dominated by Baltimore, as they won five division titles in that six-year period. The Orioles slipped back to second place in 1975 & 1976, winning 90 & 88 games respectively, and losing out to the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees in successive years. The 1977 Baltimore Orioles […]
The Baltimore Orioles and the Philadelphia Phillies were both nearing the end of the line when they met in the 1983 World Series. Both teams were filled with veterans. In the case of the Phillies, they were looking for one more ring. In the case of the Orioles, they were looking for a long-sought ring.
The two best teams in baseball met in the 1983 ALCS, as the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox squared off. The Orioles had 98 wins and the White Sox had 99. The series was competitive throughout, the finale was outstanding and Baltimore prevailed to bring home a pennant.
The Baltimore Orioles were the AL East’s dominant team, starting with the expansion of 1969 and each league’s split into two divisions. The Orioles won five of the first six AL East titles. The Birds then finished out of the money from 1975-78, though the team remained competitive each year. But “competitive” wasn’t good enough for manager Earl Weaver, and the 1979 Baltimore Orioles put the team back on top of the division and back in the World Series.
In 1971, the Pirates beat the Orioles in seven games. There was a rematch in the 1979 World Series, and one that followed a familiar script—the Pirates fell behind early in the Series and rallied to win a Game 7 on Baltimore’s home field.
The Baltimore Orioles had been the reigning dynasty of the American League’s Eastern Division since the MLB expansion of 1969 and the accompanying split of each league into two divisions. The Orioles won five of the first six AL East crowns, three American League pennants and the World Series in 1970. The 1975 Baltimore Orioles team were another strong team, but it was also the year the dynasty ended.
The 1983 Baltimore Orioles were a franchise that was as consistently in the hunt as anyone in baseball, but for the past thirteen years had not been able to win a championship.
In 1979, Baltimore led the Pittsburgh Pirates three games to one in the World Series, before losing three straight, the last two at home. One year later the Orioles won 100 games…but the Yankees won 103. In 1982, the final season for legendary manager Earl Weaver they’d nearly staged one of the great late-season rallies in baseball history before losing a winner-take-all regular season finale to the Milwaukee Brewers
Throwing out the first pitch on Opening Day is a special moment for every team on its home opener, but rarely—if ever—has a team done something as creative and touching as the Baltimore Orioles did for their Friday home opener. After keeping the identity of the person chosen secret throughout the offseason, when gametime arrived, the Orioles announced there would be no one. Instead, a ball was placed on the mound and a moment of silence called for the recently deceased Earl Weaver, with the crowd told that Earl would throw out the first pitch. For today’s MLB coverage, rather than read too many conclusions into one week of play, TheSportsNotebook will follow suit and give a salute to the Earl of Baltimore.