70 Years of Orioles Magic Moments...10 Years at a Time: 1984-1993
Two days after the St. Louis Browns finished the 1953 season in last place, American League owners approved the sale and transfer of the franchise to Baltimore, putting the city back in the big leagues for the first time since 1902.
The newly renamed Baltimore Orioles moved into Memorial Stadium, thus beginning a 70-year love affair with Charm City. Good times were lean in the early years; it would take seven years for the team to post its first winning season.
The Orioles eventually would produce three World Series titles, numerous memorable players including a manager and five players whose Hall of Fame careers led to their numbers being retired, and countless magic and improbable moments, including the 2023 AL East Division title.
Now, with a new 30-year lease for Oriole Park at Camden Yards that will take the club through its 100th season in Baltimore, the Orioles are poised to create even more memories in the years ahead.
But first, let’s take a look at the highlights of the first 70 years – memorable moments from seven decades of Orioles Baseball. We’ll look at the players and events that shaped “Orioles Magic” 10 years at a time.
We’ll also include some moments we didn’t know were going to be so memorable at the time.
In recent weeks, we’ve looked at the first three decades. This time, it’s the middle decade:
1984-1993
5/6/1984: Cal Ripken becomes the second Oriole to hit for the cycle, completing the feat with a 9th inning home run in a 6-1 win at Texas’s Arlington Stadium. After a first-inning flyout, Ripken triples in the 3rd, singles in the 5th and doubles in the 7th before going deep against the Rangers’ Dave Tobik in his final at-bat to join Brooks Robinson as an Orioles cycler.
5/11/1985: For the second straight night, Fred Lynn hits a 9th-inning homer to beat the Minnesota Twins. After leading off the 9th on 5/10 with a homer off Ron Davis for a 6-5 win, Lynn comes to bat the next night with two on in the 9th and the O’s trailing 2-1. Twins manager Billy Gardner lifts Davis and brings in Curt Wardle, but Lynn greets him with a game-winning three-run homer before 49,094 at Memorial Stadium.
6/14/1985: Earl Weaver returns as Orioles manager, less than three years after having retired, taking over for his successor, Joe Altobelli. The Orioles win their first 3 games under Weaver and go 53-51 with Earl in charge.
6/16/1985: The first “Orioles Floppy Hat” giveaway is held, with all men 21 and over getting a free bucket hat on Father’s Day. The popular promotion continues to this day for all fans 21 and over. The Orioles hit five home runs and Mike Boddicker throws a complete game to beat Milwaukee, 9-1, in front of 31,324 fans at Memorial Stadium.
4/10/1987: Playing in front of 64,540 fans at Cleveland Stadium, the largest regular season crowd ever to watch the Orioles, Ray Knight doubles home Fred Lynn in the 10th inning and the Birds ruin Cleveland’s home opener, winning 12-11.
5/28/1987: Mike Young homers in the 10th and 12th innings, the second one a two-run shot, becoming just the fifth player ever to hit two extra-inning home runs in an 8-7 win over California. The Orioles hit a Memorial Stadium club-record 6 home runs in the game (Larry Sheets also hits two, and Cal Ripken and Rick Burleson add one each) and the Angels hit two for another Stadium record.
7/11/1987: Bill Ripken is called up from the minors, joining his brother Cal Jr. and his father Cal Sr. on the Orioles. It is the first time in major league history that two brothers are managed by their father. Bill starts at second base and Cal at shortstop, but the two combine to go 0-for-7 as the Orioles lose to Minnesota, 2-1.
9/14/1987: Oriole pitchers allow a major league-record 10 home runs in an 18-3 loss at Toronto, prompting Manager Cal Ripken Sr. to remove Cal Ripken Jr. from the game in the 8th inning and end his consecutive innings streak at a record 8,243. He is replaced at shortstop in the bottom of the 8th inning by Ron Washington.
4/29/1988: After losing their first 21 games, the worst start to a season in Major League history, the Orioles beat the White Sox, 9-0, at Comiskey Park. Mark Williamson goes six innings for the win, Dave Schmidt pitches the final three innings for a save, and Cal Ripken goes 4-for-5 including a home run.
5/2/1988: Returning home with a 1-23 record, the Orioles are greeted by 50,402 faithful on Fantastic Fans Night at Memorial Stadium. Prior to the game, Orioles owner Edward Bennett Williams and Maryland Gov. William Donald Schaefer announce that they have reached agreement to build a new ballpark for the Orioles, giving birth to Camden Yards. The Orioles go on to a 9-4 win over the Texas Rangers in what will be Williams’ last appearance at a game. He died from cancer in August.
12/4/1988: The Orioles trade future Hall of Fame first baseman Eddie Murray to the Dodgers for three players – pitchers Ken Howell and Brian Holton and infielder Juan Bell. Howell is traded 4 days later to the Phillies for outfielder Phil Bradley, Holton goes 7-10 in 2 seasons with the Orioles, and Bell bats .167 in 113 games over 3 seasons with the Birds.
4/3/1989: The Orioles open the season with a 5-4 win over Boston at Memorial Stadium. Cal Ripken’s three-run homer off Red Sox ace Roger Clemens gives the O’s a 6th-inning lead, but it is Craig Worthington’s single in the 11th that provides the game-winner.
4/23/1989: Bob Milacki allows five baserunners but faces the minimum 27 batters in a 3-0 shutout of Minnesota at Memorial Stadium. Milacki gives up three hits and two walks, but the O’s turn four double plays and one runner is caught stealing. He becomes the third Orioles pitcher to face the minimum 27 batters, after Jim Palmer in 1967 and Mike Flanagan in l982. John Means will become the 4th in 2021 with a no-hitter.
5/20/1989: Jeff Ballard improves his record to 7-1 with a 5-1 win over Cleveland as the Orioles tie the Indians and move within ½ game of first-place Boston. Ballard works into the 8th inning and Gregg Olson goes the final 1 1/3 as the upstart Birds begin to wonder, “Why not?”
6/27/1989: In the first regular season game ever featuring Black managers for both teams, Frank Robinson’s Orioles pound Cito Gaston’s Toronto Blue Jays, 16-6, at Memorial Stadium. Randy Milligan goes 4-for-5 with two doubles, a homer and four RBI and the Orioles tie the club record, drawing 15 walks. Before the game, Robinson said, “It won’t be me managing against Cito, it’s Baltimore versus Toronto.” Gaston had replaced Jimy Williams a month earlier.
6/28/1989: Construction on Oriole Park begins with the razing of the structures on the 85-acre lot at Camden Yards. The ballpark will take 33 months to complete. That night, the Orioles beat Toronto, 2-1, before a crowd of 35,757 including a walk-up over 12,800.
7/15/1989: After Larry Sheets tied the game with a two-run single in the bottom of the 9th, Mike Devereaux follows with a blast down the left field line at Memorial Stadium for a two-run walk-off homer to beat the Angels, 11-9. The Angels storm the field protesting that the ball was foul, but the call stands.
9/30/1989: The “Why Not?” chase for the AL East title ends on the penultimate day of the season in Toronto as the Blue Jays come back from a 3-1 deficit in the 8th inning to beat the Orioles, 4-3. Dave Johnson – starting in place of Pete Harnisch who had stepped on a nail while walking back to the hotel the night before – allows only 5 baserunners before departing in the 8th inning, but relievers Kevin Hickey and Mark Williamson can’t hold the lead as the Orioles fall 2 games behind the Jays with one game to play.
5/18/1990: The Orioles tie an American League record with eight consecutive singles off Texas’ Bobby Witt in a seven-run first inning and go on to beat the Rangers, 13-1. The consecutive singles equal the mark shared by the 1951 Senators and 1981 A’s.
7/13/1991: Four Oriole pitchers combine to no-hit the A’s at Oakland Coliseum. Bob Milacki goes six innings and Mike Flanagan, Mark Williamson and Gregg Olson each throw a hitless inning as the O’s win, 2-0.
10/6/1991: The Orioles close out 39 years of play at Memorial Stadium, losing to the Tigers 7-1 in the season finale. Mike Flanagan fulfills a wish to be the last Oriole pitcher at their longtime home, striking out the last two Tiger hitters in the 9th inning. Cal Ripken grounds into a double play to end the game, and the crowd of 50,700 stays long afterward as more than 100 current and former Orioles take their position one at a time for a last hurrah. Rick Dempsey leads one last “O-R-I-O-L-E-S” cheer, and home plate is dug up and transported to the Orioles new home, Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
4/6/1992: Oriole Park at Camden Yards opens to rave reviews, changing the face of baseball parks forever. Rick Sutcliffe tosses a five-hit shutout as the Orioles down the Cleveland Indians, 2-0, in a nifty two hours and two minutes. Chris Hoiles doubles home one run and Bill Ripken squeezes home the other run in front of 44,568 fans. The Orioles become the first team since the San Francisco Giants in 1958 to christen a new ballpark with a shutout.
4/20/1992: After the Tigers hit three consecutive homers in a span of seven pitches off Ben McDonald in the 4th inning, the Orioles come back with five runs in their half of the inning and add seven more in the 7th to beat Detroit, 12-4, at Camden Yards. Ex-Oriole Mickey Tettleton becomes the first player to homer onto Eutaw Street, and Baltimore’s Sam Horn hits the first homer into the centerfield bleachers.
5/30/1992: Gregg Olson pitches the final two innings of a 7-6 Orioles win at Oakland to pass Tippy Martinez as the Orioles all-time saves leader with 106. “Otter” will finish his Orioles career with a club-record 160 saves.
6/5/1992: The Orioles beat Toronto, 1-0, thanks largely to Mike Devereaux’s leaping grab over the wall in left center to rob Joe Carter of a three-run homer in the 6th inning. Cal Ripken drives in the game’s only run with an 8th inning single, but it is Devereaux’s catch that has the crowd of 45,803 at Camden Yards buzzing.
6/6/1993: In the 7th inning of a game at Camden Yards, Seattle catcher Bill Haselman charges the mound after getting hit by a Mike Mussina pitch. In the ensuing melee, Cal Ripken strains his right knee, saying later it was the closest he ever came to ending his consecutive game streak. It was game 1790 of the streak. Eight players eventually are suspended. The Orioles win, 5-2.
7/13/1993: In its second season, Oriole Park at Camden Yards hosts the MLB All-Star Game. Cal Ripken starts at shortstop, but with Mike Mussina warming in the bullpen in the 9th inning, AL manager Cito Gaston of Toronto is booed when he does not bring Mussina into the game in the AL’s 9-3 win.
10/4/1993: American League owners unanimously approve the sale of the Orioles to a group headed by Baltimorean Peter G. Angelos for $173 million. The Angelos group, which includes other local owners including novelist Tom Clancy, sportscaster Jim McKay and tennis star Pam Shriver, takes over the team from Eli Jacobs, who was forced to sell the club at auction.