PopTop
06-14-2006, 04:53 PM
I did a couple of these for Jacqui in the Red Sox Forum the past couple of days and thought I might spread this around a bit. Plus, I dig diggin' through history, especially baseball :cool: Since this is Flag Day, couldn't think of a better team to check out a 'remember when' game for than the Bawlmer Orioles.
So, where were you 33 Flag Days ago? :smokin:
June 14, 1973
Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium
It was a very nice day in Baltimore with light winds, low humidity and temps reaching into the mid-80s before cooling back into the 70s for the game that night at venerable old Memorial Stadium. The Kansas City Royals were in town to face the O’s and both teams were looking to make up ground in their respective divisions.
The Orioles were an even .500, 26-26, as play started on Flag Day 33 years ago. The AL East was a tightly packed bunch with the Yankees leading the Tigers and Brewers by just a half-game. Boston and Baltimore were tied for fourth just two games back.
Kansas City was in third in the AL West with a 32-29 record, 3½ games behind the White Sox with the Twins between them in second. Jack McKeon was at the Royals’ helm in his first job as a big league manager.
Earl Weaver was on the top dugout step for the O’s and in his sixth year as the team’s field boss.
Dick Drago had tossed a 2-0 shutout for KC the night before to drop Baltimore to .500 on the season, with both Royals runs scoring on a Lou Piniella 8th-inning double. McKeon was sending young Mark Littell to the hill for his Royals for the June 14th game, with Littell making his major league debut.
Weaver was countering with another young right-hander named Doyle Alexander acquired from the Dodgers before the 1972 season in a trade that sent Frank Robinson to Los Angeles.
Both pitchers retired the opposition in order in the first inning before both surrendered leadoff homers in their second inning of work. John Mayberry got KC on the board with his 15th blast of the season in the top of the second frame while Orioles DH Tommy Davis countered with his third homer leading off the bottom of the inning.
Littell then started posting zeroes on the bottom half of the scoreboard while KC tacked on another couple of runs against Alexander along the way. Littell worked around a Brooks Robinson single in the fifth that was complicated by shortstop Frank White’s error. Littell also got past singles by Davis and Earl Williams in the Orioles’ half of the sixth.
Piniella gave KC a 2-1 lead with an RBI double in the fourth, but the lead didn’t appear safe when Baltimore loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh to finally chase Littell from the mound in his debut. Gene Garber came in from the pen and got Littell and the Royals out of the jam by coaxing a doubleplay grounder from pinch-hitter Terry Crowley.
Kansas City stretch their lead to 3-1 in the top of the eighth when White bunted his way on with two outs, stole second and came plateward on an Amos Otis double. Otis would be the last batter Alexander would see as Weaver called on Grant Jackson from the pen to get Baltimore out of that inning.
There were fewer than 6100 fans at the game and I’m guessing that most of them saw defeat for their O’s at this point. But those who stayed were treated to just the opposite.
Bobby Grich led off the bottom of the eighth for Baltimore and laced a triple. Davis’ sac fly brought him home before Williams singled. Enos Cabell came in to run for Williams, and promptly was pushed to third by a Don Baylor single to center. With one out and the tying run now 90’ away, McKeon went to his pen and brought on Bruce Dal Canton.
Baylor stole second and Brooks Robinson was then walked intentionally to load ‘em up. An unintentional walk to Elrod Hendricks forced Cabell home to tie it 3-3, and Mark Belanger followed with a single to give Baltimore a 4-3 lead. McKeon summoned his fifth pitcher of the game, calling on Doug Bird who immediately was greeted by a Paul Blair triple to clear the drunken sacks. Crowley brought Blair home with a double to make it 8-3 before Grich, who started the inning, walked and Bird coaxed an around the horn doubleplay off the bat of Crowley to end the 7-run outburst.
Jackson retired the Royals in order in the ninth, striking out Kurt Bevacqua to end the game and give Baltimore the 8-3 comeback win.
The victory pushed the O’s a game above .500 and they would never look back from that point in the season on their way to the AL East title with a 97-65 record.
SIDEBAR: The home plate umpire in this game was John Francis ‘Red’ Flaherty who was in the final year of his 21-year umpiring career. Flaherty worked in over 3200 MLB games, 814 of them behind the plate. He worked in four World Series (1955, 1958, 1965 and 1970) and three All-Star Games (1956, 1961 and 1969). A native of Massachusetts, Flaherty was involved in a big brouhaha at Fenway Park in a game between the Tigers and Red Sox LINK to story at BaseballLibrary.com (http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/F/Flaherty_Red.stm). He died on April 1, 1999, in Falmouth, MA, and is buried at Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne which leads me to believe he was very likely a veteran of WWII though I couldn’t find anything on-line to back that notion up.
So, where were you 33 Flag Days ago? :smokin:
June 14, 1973
Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium
It was a very nice day in Baltimore with light winds, low humidity and temps reaching into the mid-80s before cooling back into the 70s for the game that night at venerable old Memorial Stadium. The Kansas City Royals were in town to face the O’s and both teams were looking to make up ground in their respective divisions.
The Orioles were an even .500, 26-26, as play started on Flag Day 33 years ago. The AL East was a tightly packed bunch with the Yankees leading the Tigers and Brewers by just a half-game. Boston and Baltimore were tied for fourth just two games back.
Kansas City was in third in the AL West with a 32-29 record, 3½ games behind the White Sox with the Twins between them in second. Jack McKeon was at the Royals’ helm in his first job as a big league manager.
Earl Weaver was on the top dugout step for the O’s and in his sixth year as the team’s field boss.
Dick Drago had tossed a 2-0 shutout for KC the night before to drop Baltimore to .500 on the season, with both Royals runs scoring on a Lou Piniella 8th-inning double. McKeon was sending young Mark Littell to the hill for his Royals for the June 14th game, with Littell making his major league debut.
Weaver was countering with another young right-hander named Doyle Alexander acquired from the Dodgers before the 1972 season in a trade that sent Frank Robinson to Los Angeles.
Both pitchers retired the opposition in order in the first inning before both surrendered leadoff homers in their second inning of work. John Mayberry got KC on the board with his 15th blast of the season in the top of the second frame while Orioles DH Tommy Davis countered with his third homer leading off the bottom of the inning.
Littell then started posting zeroes on the bottom half of the scoreboard while KC tacked on another couple of runs against Alexander along the way. Littell worked around a Brooks Robinson single in the fifth that was complicated by shortstop Frank White’s error. Littell also got past singles by Davis and Earl Williams in the Orioles’ half of the sixth.
Piniella gave KC a 2-1 lead with an RBI double in the fourth, but the lead didn’t appear safe when Baltimore loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh to finally chase Littell from the mound in his debut. Gene Garber came in from the pen and got Littell and the Royals out of the jam by coaxing a doubleplay grounder from pinch-hitter Terry Crowley.
Kansas City stretch their lead to 3-1 in the top of the eighth when White bunted his way on with two outs, stole second and came plateward on an Amos Otis double. Otis would be the last batter Alexander would see as Weaver called on Grant Jackson from the pen to get Baltimore out of that inning.
There were fewer than 6100 fans at the game and I’m guessing that most of them saw defeat for their O’s at this point. But those who stayed were treated to just the opposite.
Bobby Grich led off the bottom of the eighth for Baltimore and laced a triple. Davis’ sac fly brought him home before Williams singled. Enos Cabell came in to run for Williams, and promptly was pushed to third by a Don Baylor single to center. With one out and the tying run now 90’ away, McKeon went to his pen and brought on Bruce Dal Canton.
Baylor stole second and Brooks Robinson was then walked intentionally to load ‘em up. An unintentional walk to Elrod Hendricks forced Cabell home to tie it 3-3, and Mark Belanger followed with a single to give Baltimore a 4-3 lead. McKeon summoned his fifth pitcher of the game, calling on Doug Bird who immediately was greeted by a Paul Blair triple to clear the drunken sacks. Crowley brought Blair home with a double to make it 8-3 before Grich, who started the inning, walked and Bird coaxed an around the horn doubleplay off the bat of Crowley to end the 7-run outburst.
Jackson retired the Royals in order in the ninth, striking out Kurt Bevacqua to end the game and give Baltimore the 8-3 comeback win.
The victory pushed the O’s a game above .500 and they would never look back from that point in the season on their way to the AL East title with a 97-65 record.
SIDEBAR: The home plate umpire in this game was John Francis ‘Red’ Flaherty who was in the final year of his 21-year umpiring career. Flaherty worked in over 3200 MLB games, 814 of them behind the plate. He worked in four World Series (1955, 1958, 1965 and 1970) and three All-Star Games (1956, 1961 and 1969). A native of Massachusetts, Flaherty was involved in a big brouhaha at Fenway Park in a game between the Tigers and Red Sox LINK to story at BaseballLibrary.com (http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/F/Flaherty_Red.stm). He died on April 1, 1999, in Falmouth, MA, and is buried at Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne which leads me to believe he was very likely a veteran of WWII though I couldn’t find anything on-line to back that notion up.