The modern history of the Orioles can be traced back to the original Milwaukee Brewers of the Western League. The Brewers were there when the Western League renamed itself the American League. In 1902, the team moved to St. Louis and became the “Browns”. In their first season in St. Louis the Browns finished in second place. The Browns became more popular than their rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, beating them in attendance.
In 1951, Bill Veeck, the former owner of the Cleveland Indians, purchased the Browns. Veeck attempted to move the Browns back to Milwaukee ("Baseball-Statistics"), but was blocked by other American League owners, seemingly for reasons that were more personal than business related. After Veeck was forced to sell Sportsman Park to the Cardinals, he sold the Browns to a Baltimore-based group led by attorney Clarence Miles. With Veeck gone, the American League owners quickly approved the relocation of the team to Baltimore for the 1954 season.
The Browns were renamed after their move to Baltimore. The Browns name was associated with losing, so the new team name would be changed to the Orioles. The name has a rich history in Baltimore having been used by the Baltimore baseball teams of the late 1890s. In 1901, the American League announced that the Baltimore Orioles would move their franchise to New York, becoming the New York Yankees. After the move, the Orioles competed in what is now called AAA level from 1903-1953. Babe Ruth pitched for the AAA Orioles before being sold to the Boston Red Sox. ("Baseball Page")
On April 15, 1954, thousands of Baltimore fans packed the streets as the new Orioles paraded from downtown to their new park at Memorial Stadium. During the 90-minute ceremony, the Birds signed autographs and threw Styrofoam balls into the crowd. That day, more than 46,000 fans watched the Orioles beat the Chicago White Sox, 3-1. The Orioles finished the season 54-100 and 57 1/2 games out of first place.
The Baltimore Orioles have played many games in their history and from becoming a Major League team in the American League East, but even through all of the wins and losses the Orioles still have had the best all-time win-loss record at one point for an significant amount time.
The Orioles took a few years before being competitive. By the early 1960s, stars such as Brooks Robinson, John ”Boog” Powell, and Dave McNally were being developed by a strong farm system.
In 1966, the Orioles were involved in one of the most lopsided trades in history when they traded Milt Pappas to Cincinnati for Frank Robinson. That same year, Robinson won the AL MVP, the first time a player won the award in both leagues. Robinson also won the Triple Crown Award that year. The O’s depended on a deep but average pitching corps, the sterling infield defense of Brooks Robinson and Luis Aparicio. The O’s offense was led by Frank Robinson (.316 average, 49 home runs, 112 RBI’s), Brooks Robinson (.269 average, 23 home runs, 100 RBI’s), and Boog Powell (.287 average, 34 home runs, 109 RBI’s).
The Orioles won 97 games in 1966 behind manager Hank Bauer, winning the AL pennant for the first time since the move to Baltimore ("baseball-reference"). The Orioles faced off against the Los Angeles Dodgers. At age 20, pitching ace Jim Palmer became the youngest pitcher in history to hurl a World Series shutout in game two. The O’s swept the Dodgers in four straight games to bring Baltimore its first World Series championship.
In 1969, the O’s won 109 games, the most in franchise history behind manager Earl Weaver, and pitcher Mike Cuellar won the Cy Young Award. The Orioles won the National League pennant, and faced the Mets in the World Series. New York won the series in five games, in the process, completed one of the greatest upsets in sports history.
The Orioles won 108 games in 1970. Led by Al MVP Boog Powell (.297 average, 35 home runs, and 114 RBI) and the dynamic pitching of Jim Palmer, who won 20 games, tying for third place in the American League in win percentage (.667). In the ALCS, the O’s swept the Minnesota Twins 3 games to none. In the World Series, the Orioles faced off against the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds were favored in the Series against Baltimore. The O’s however, slugged ten home runs en route to a 4-1 Series win and the O’s second World Series title. Brooks Robinson was the Series MVP with a .429 BA and a host of brilliant fielding plays.
In 1971, the O’s won 101 games on the stellar pitching of a record-tying four 20 game winners: Dave McNally (21-5), Mike Cueller (20-9), Pat Dobson (20-8), and Jim Palmer (20-9). The Orioles also led the AL in runs scored for a convincing 12-game lead over the second place Detroit. The O’s once again swept their opponents in the ALCS, this time against the Oakland A’s. The Orioles reached the World Series for the third straight season. This time, the O’s would meet up in the World Series against the Pittsburgh Pirates, led by Roberto Clemente. Clemente hit .414 and was the catalyst for the Pirates World Series victory in seven games.
In 1973, the O’s returned to form going 97-65. Al Bumbry was the AL Rookie of the Year. Cy Young Award-winner Jim Palmer (22-9, 2.40 ERA), Mike Cuellar (18-13), and Dave McNally (17-7) carried the O’s to an 8 game edge over Boston. The Orioles faced the powerhouse Oakland A’s in the ALCS. In the decisive final game, it was Catfish Hunter who closed the door on the O’s season. Earl Weaver was voted Manager of the Year for the first time.
In 1979, the O’s ended the Yankees three-year divisional reign, winning 102 games. Cy Young winner Mike Flanagan (23-9) paced the pitching staff while Ken Singleton (111 RBI) spearheaded the offense. They beat the Brewers by 8 games and the Red Sox by 11 1/2 games. The O’s faced off against the Pirates in the World Series where history would repeat itself as the “We Are Family” Bucs overcame a 3-1 series deficit to win the World Series.
In 1980, the O’s won 100 games behind the brilliant pitching of Scott McGregor (20-8) and Steve Stone (25-7), who went on to win the Cy Young Award, but finished 3 games behind the Yankees in the division.
In 1982, rookie Cal Ripken Jr. made his presence known early on, going 3-5 with a home run on Opening Day. Eddie Murray made a bid for the MVP Award hitting .316 with 32 home runs and 110 RBI. Earl Weaver announced that this would be his final season as the O’s manager. The Orioles had an up and down season but made a heroic final charge down the stretch that put them in a tie with the Milwaukee Brewers on the final day of the season. Unfortunately, league MVP Robin Yount and the rest of the “Wallbangers” proved to be too much for the O’s, as they finished one game back at 94-68.
In 1983, the O’s won 98 games behind manager Joe Altobelli, who replaced the legendary manager Earl Weaver. With solid performances of AL MVP Cal Rip ken (.318 average, 27 home runs, 102 RBI) and near-MVP Eddie Murray (.306 average, 33 home runs, 111 RBI), the O’s beat the Chicago White Sox in the ALCS and headed to the World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies. The O’s took care of the Phillies in five games, giving the Orioles their third World Series pennant. Oriole catcher Rick Dempsey, who batted .385, was named Series MVP.
After the O’s World Series triumph, the Orioles suffered let downs in the seasons to come. In 1988, the O’s lost their first 21 games in a row to set a Major League record for most consecutive losses at the beginning of the season. The season was lost as the Birds went 54-107. In 1989, the Orioles new uniforms and new attitude were on display as the team improved by 32 1/2 games in the standings and spent nearly three months of the season in first place. ’89 became known as the “Why Not?” season and Frank Robinson won the American League Manager of the Year Award. The O’s finished the season 87-75 missing the postseason.
The final season for Orioles baseball Memorial Stadium saw Cal Ripken have a career year. He hit .323 with 210 hits including 34 home runs, 144 RBI, 368 total bases and only 46 strikeouts. He won the American League MVP, All-Star MVP, Major League Player of the Year, and even won the All-Star Home Run contest, hitting 12 home runs on 22 swings. After the final out at Memorial Stadium, a magical ceremony that included over 100 Oriole greats bid farewell to the stadium and transplanted home plate from the stadium to the new location at Camden Yards.
The dawn of a new era of Orioles baseball began as Camden Yards was introduced to the world. At the end of the ’92 season, Cal Ripken Jr.’s consecutive games streak had reached 1,735 and Lou Gehrig’s record was in sight.
In 1993, Peter Angelos bought the team, and the All-Star game returned to Baltimore, played at the new Camden Yards. The Birds finished the season 85-77.
On September 5th and 6th at Oriole Park at Camden Yards against the California Angels, Cal Ripken Jr. became baseball’s all-time “Iron Man”, tying and breaking Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games played record of 2,130. Cal’s streak began on May 30, 1982. Ceremonies were held after Ripken tied the record, but the best celebration was to come during the record breaking game. After the game was in the books as an official game, play was halted for over 20 minutes and Cal made a victory lap as the fans showed their appreciation for baseball’s new Iron Man.
In 1996, Angelos hired Pat Gillick as the GM for the Orioles. Gillick went on to bring in several premium players like B.J. Surhoff, Randy Myers, and Roberto Alomar. The O’s made it to the postseason with an 88-74 record. The O’s won the wild card spot and defeated the Cleveland Indians behind the heroics of Roberto Alomar. The Orioles moved on to face the New York Yankees in the ALCS, were they lost the series 4-1.
In 1997, the O’s featured a potent attract led by Rafael Palmerio, Roberto Alomar, and B.J. Surhoff, and double digit wins from five Orioles pitchers propelled the Birds to season long reign, winning their division with a 98-64 record. Their dominance brought them back to an ALDS rematch with the Indians. This time around it was Cleveland who prevailed in the series in six games.
Under new manager Ray Miller, the O’s finished just 79-93 in 1998, in what was a transition year. Joe Carter was traded to the Giants and rookies such as Jerry Hairston and Sidney Ponson made their debut. It was a great season for Palmerio, as he hit .296 with 43 home runs and 121 RBI to earn an All-Star berth while Eric Davis put up a vintage season with a team leading .327 average and 28 home runs.
In 1999, the transition continued as Rafael Palmerio, Roberto Alomar and Eric Davis left via free agency and welcomed slugger Albert Belle. Belle led the O’s in home runs and RBI’s while Surhoff hit .308 for the 78-84 Orioles and Ray Miller, who would be fired at the end of the season. Mike Mussina led the pitching staff with 18 wins and made the All-Star team. The O’s would finish in in fourth place in the AL East for the second consecutive season. In a rare even on March 28, 1999, the O’s staged an exhibition game against the Cuba National team in Havana. The Orioles won the game 3-2 in 11 innings. This was a part of a two game series, which the Cuban team visited Baltimore in May of 1999. Cuba won the second game 10-6.
2001 was a landmark season for the Orioles, as Cal Ripken announced this would be his last season in the major leagues. Ripken received numerous gifts and accolades as he stopped by visiting Major League parks for the final time. Ripken played his final game on October 6, 2001. He finished the year hitting .239 with 14 home runs and 68 RBI. He capped off his career by hitting a home run in the All-Star Game and winning the MVP award.
In 2002, a young Oriole team took the field and was one of the league’s surprises through the first 126 games, winning 63 and seemingly en route to a winning season. A 4-32 finish put a damper on the year. There were some bright spots as Rodrigo Lopez was named team MVP and Sporting News American League Pitcher of the Year while Jay Gibbons hit 28 home runs. It would be the fifth consecutive fourth place finish for the Orioles, who finished the season on a 12 game losing streak.
In 2004, the O’s introduced first-year manager Lee Mazelike and free agents Miguel Tejada and Javy Lopez. The Orioles set several offensive team records and finished 78-84.
The 2005 season saw the Birds leap into first place in the division early in the season. The Boston Red Sox caught the Birds after a slide in June that cost them the division. In March of 2005, Rafael Palmerio testified in front of the United States Congress and clearly denied any allegations that he used steroids. On July 15, he collected his 3,000 hit in Seattle and became only the 4th person in Major League baseball to have hit 500 home runs and collect 3,000 hits. But 15 days later he was suspended for violation of MLB’s drug policy, after testing positive for anabolic steroids.
In 2007, the O’s withstood several ailments and injuries en route to their 10 straight losing season. Baltimore poured more than $40 million into the bullpen last winter, but still wound up with the highest relief ERA in the clubs history. The Orioles finished the season with a 69-93 record finishing in fourth place in the AL East. With each year that the Orioles played more wins and more loses came, but they held the highest winning percentage in all sports for a quarter century. From the 1960’s and the 1980’s they won six American league pennants and three World Series.