Happy 25th

It was on 10/16/83 when the O's beat the Phils 5-0 behind a Scott McGreggor shutout to win the Series 4-1. For "domestically violating" Philly pitching at a .385 clip and handling a pitching staff that held Philly hitting to .195, Rick Dempsey was named Series MVP. And Cal Ripken was the AL season MVP.

The final standings will show a convincing 6 game regular season margin of victory, but that doesn't tell the whole story. It was a legitimate 5-way race well into August with the Os only pulling away in the last 6 weeks or so.

In Detroit, Sparky Anderson had all the pieces in place of a team that would win 104 games the next year.

Billy Martin was brought back to the Yankees after a horrid '82 season to prove that the core of the '77-'78 championship team was still strong.

The talented but inexperienced Blue Jays were led to the 1st winning season in team history by Bobby Cox.

And Harvey [Keunn]'s Wallbangers of Milwaukee, last year's pennant winners, still had a beefy lineup, even if the pitching had dropped off some.

With competition like that, no wonder there were questions if rookie manager Joe Altobelli, taking over from Earl himself, could run with the larger canines of the division! Only the Red Sox & Indians were out of it from the beginning.

But whatever it is that separates the winners from everyone else down the stretch, the Os found it. A perfect example of this was a Sep. game against Toronto when Tippy Martinez walked - and then picked off - 3 baby Jays in succession.

Then it was on to Chicago to play the White Sox, winners of the west by 20 games. A formidable lineup led by Kittle, Baines & Luzinski combined with the pitching of Hoyt, Dotson & Burns all pointed to Tony LaRussa's 1st pennant in his 1st full season. Eh, not so much. O's 3 - Sox 1.

And finally the Series, against the badly geezing Phillies, fresh off their own upset of LA in the NL playoffs, was rather anticlimactic.

If you were there it's worth remembering. If not, it's worth finding out about.

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Nicely done

I loved the fact the WS was really not in doubt after Game 2.

And that was a REALLY good White Sox team that the O’s beat that year.

"I wasn't here for the losing years. But it feels a little like the days with Earl in charge and John Lowenstein smashing birthday cakes in the middle of the clubhouse with a bat." - John "T-Bone" Shelby

by duck on Oct 16, 2008 4:17 PM EDT reply actions

Cool

I’ve seen some of the games on MASN Classics, both WS and ALCS. Those were some impressive uniforms the White Sox were sporting. Alas I was only 4 so I have no memories of this.

[Guthrie's] president of my heart. ~PhilR8

by Stacey on Oct 16, 2008 4:22 PM EDT reply actions

no memories? sorry

I was just a couple years older and I remember Cal catching the liner for the final out essentially dooming me to be an Oriole fan for life. The Colts would move a five months later, so baseball was the only game in town. And that’s why I’m now left to wonder who the Orioles can get in the upcoming Rule 5 draft.

Librarians are hiding something

by dfa on Oct 17, 2008 2:21 PM EDT up reply actions

Geezing? I like that

I also love that we denied Joe Morgan a World Series win in his penultimate season. Jackass.

by Brotz13 on Oct 17, 2008 10:17 AM EDT reply actions

The Phillies were called "The Wheez Kids"

I think because they had been the “Whiz Kids” several years earlier, and now they were ancient. I mean, for real. Pete Rose?

Also, IIRC, Len Sakata was catching TIppy because all the regular catchers were out of the game. I thought it was so odd that the Jays were taking longer leads against an inexperienced catcher. You’d think they wouldn’t feel a need to press so much.

by zknower on Oct 17, 2008 2:11 PM EDT reply actions

I was at the series.

I still remember the day the tickets showed up in the mail.

I also remember having to walk into the stadium on crutches, as I had just torn up my knee playing basketball – underwent ACL replacment a few weeks later. It was worth it to watch the O’s in the Series.

hakkaa päälle !

by timg56 on Oct 17, 2008 7:05 PM EDT reply actions