Recently, a longtime Orioles blogger wrote a piece for his site, blasting the team and its owner Peter Angelos. As a longtime Orioles fan, I’ve decided to provide some historical context, and in Part 2, offer some of my thoughts on how the team can improve.
Right now, the Baltimore Orioles are the bad joke of an industry. They only have 31 wins in 98 games, are playing home games in front of acres of empty seats. There are high levels of fan anger and worse, apathy. It wasn’t always like this.
I’ve been addicted to the Orioles my entire life. My dad was an Orioles fan, and so was his, even though they were the International League Orioles then. I came of age at the tail end of the glory years. After all, they had the best record in the Major Leagues from 1965 to 1984. Hall of Famers like Brooks Robinson, Jim Palmer, Eddie Murray, and Cal Ripken came up through the farm system, learning to play the game ‘The Oriole Way.’ Smart GM’s supplemented the developed players by making trades for superstars (Frank Robinson, Reggie Jackson), or finding gems in the scrap heap of the Major Leagues (John Lowenstein, Steve Stone)and watching them develop into important role players. Superfan Wild Bill Hagy and the rest of the crazies of went to run down Memorial Stadium were a common sight to national TV audiences. In the dugout, orchestrating it all, the combative Earl Weaver was not only attacking umpires and his own players(Very NSFW), but was also the game’s most brilliant strategist. The Orioles were a factor in almost every pennant race from 1966 to 1983, winning it all 3 times.
A brilliant lawyer bought the team. He caught the tail end of the glory years, and wanted the good times to continue. The owner took his profits and signed a series of high priced free agents, skimping on player development. The team quickly fell apart as it aged rapidly. This time, the prospects weren’t there to fill in the gaps. He ran off a popular broadcaster, further inflaming the fan base. The team became a laughingstock, the butt of jokes from the comedians on late night television.
You mean the 2000’s Orioles?
No, I’m talking about the Orioles of 1985 to 1988. I’m talking about Edward Bennett Williams.He set the team back years, leaving them mired in almost permanent mediocrity. Sure they had moments, like the 1989 “Why Not?”Orioles. But mainly, they were only known for Cal Ripken’s chase of Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games streak. Most people outside of Baltimore would have struggled to name any other player on the team.
What changed?
Williams leveraged the shame and fear the state of Maryland felt after seeing the Baltimore Colts leave for Indianapolis into a state built stadium. After his death, Larry Lucchino protected his legacy with the new ownership, rejecting the proposals for a typical modern stadium look demanding a park they looked old fashioned. This turned out to be a stroke of genius, and Oriole Park at Camden Yards was an immediate hit. Suddenly 48,000 people were going into Downtown Baltimore night after night, and suddenly the team responded to the energy, winning games and playing hard. New stars like Brady Anderson and Mike Mussina were developed, and the team was even able to survive the disastrous Glenn Davis trade. The Orioles were a team on the rise. And people also noticed the ATM that was Camden Yards.
Then what?
Fate Intervened.The owner, Eli Jacobs, went bankrupt. He tried to sell the team to a man named William DeWitt(he now owns the Cardinals), but before it could get approved, the courts seized his assets, including the team, and forced it all into a bankruptcy auction. The winner, who outbid an art dealer named Jeffrey Loria, paid a then record 173 million dollars for the Orioles.Who was it?Another brilliant lawyer. His name? Peter Angelos. And history repeated itself.Oh, it was tremendous fun to be an Orioles fan for the first few years of Angelos’ reign. The Orioles were constant contenders and signed big stars like Rafael Palmeiro, Roberto Alomar, Randy Myers, and Eric Davis. He hired respected baseball men like Pat Gillick and Davey Johnson. They went wire to wire to win the AL East in 1997, highlighted by sweeping Maddux, Smoltz, and Glavine in Atlanta, in their first ever interleague series. They were even name dropped on Seinfeld (Elaine was a huge Orioles fan). But, they came up short in the ALCS in both 1996 (thanks Jeffrey Maier and Richie Garcia) and 1997 (thanks Armando Benitez), but it still seemed that it was just a matter of time before Camden Yards hosted a World Series Champion.
We're still waiting for that World Series. Because the team was already falling apart. Just like a decade before, the owner decided that his courtroom brilliance equaled baseball savvy. First, he chose to let baseball’s best broadcaster, Jon Miller, leave the Orioles. Then Davey Johnson was forced to ‘resign’ on the day he was named manager of the year, for daring to ask for a contract extension. Several trades were worked out by Gillick were vetoed by Angelos. When they worked out in the Orioles favor Angelos decided that he knew more about baseball than Gillick, and ran him out of town. Compare Gillick’s teams record this past decade to Angelos' Orioles. Who knows more about building championship teams? A parade of stooges, incompetents, and lackeys followed Gillick and the result was inevitable. Camden Yards is now a ghost town most nights, and as the Ravens have become perennial championship contenders, it seems like the team is further away than ever from recapturing the heart of the Baltimore sports fan. And on the field? They usually engage in a comedy of errors seemingly better suited to Benny Hill than Major League Baseball.
The team has a championship legacy, one not currently backed up on the field. In Part 2, I'll explore ways in which the team can become a contender again.
Ouch! Glen Davis for Schilling and Steve Finley.
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