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1989 Baltimore Orioles season

The 1989 Baltimore Orioles season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Orioles finishing second in the American League East with a record of 87 wins and 75 losses. The team was known as the Comeback Kids as they rebounded from the 54 wins and 107 losses of the 1988 season. The season also took on the "Why Not?!" promotional slogan as the team's pursuit of the pennant went down to the final series of the regular season. The Orioles went into the three-game season finale against the first place Toronto Blue Jays down by one game in the AL East standings and needing either a sweep to win the AL East championship, or two wins to force a one-game playoff. The Blue Jays won the first two games of the series, clinching first place on the penultimate game of the season.

1989 Baltimore Orioles
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionEast
BallparkMemorial Stadium
CityBaltimore, Maryland
Record87–75 (.537)
Divisional place2nd
OwnersEli Jacobs
General managersRoland Hemond
ManagersFrank Robinson
TelevisionWMAR-TV
(Jim Palmer, Brooks Robinson)
Home Team Sports
(Rex Barney, Mel Proctor, John Lowenstein)
RadioWBAL (AM)
(Jon Miller, Joe Angel, Charlie Slowes)
← 1988 Seasons 1990 →

The Orioles wore new uniforms which were unveiled on December 14, 1988. More conservative in appearance, the ensemble featured black belts replacing elastic waist bands on the pants and black numbers and letters with orange outline on the away version. The most noticeable change was the caps and helmets which went from being tricolored with a smiling cartoon bird head to monochromatic black with an ornithologically correct oriole.[1] The smiling cartoon bird head returned to the ballclub's caps and helmets 23 years later in 2012.[2]

Offseason

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Regular season

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  • Bill Ripken's 1989 Fleer Baseball Card (#616) made national news when it included a hidden obscenity (the words "fuck face"). The obscenity was printed in black marker on the knob of his bat.[10] Once the discovery was made public, subsequent printings of the card were issued with the words obscured. The first obscuring involved a blob of white out, another was scribbled with a black pen while the last was covered with a black square.
  • In the finale of the 1989 season, Ben McDonald tossed one scoreless inning of relief, logging his first career win.[11] Of note, he would become the sixth player to make the majors in the same season that he was selected as the number one overall pick in the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft.[12]

Opening Day starters

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Season standings

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AL East
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Toronto Blue Jays 89 73 .549 — 46‍–‍35 43‍–‍38
Baltimore Orioles 87 75 .537 2 47‍–‍34 40‍–‍41
Boston Red Sox 83 79 .512 6 46‍–‍35 37‍–‍44
Milwaukee Brewers 81 81 .500 8 45‍–‍36 36‍–‍45
New York Yankees 74 87 .460 14½ 41‍–‍40 33‍–‍47
Cleveland Indians 73 89 .451 16 41‍–‍40 32‍–‍49
Detroit Tigers 59 103 .364 30 38‍–‍43 21‍–‍60

Record vs. opponents

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1989 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore — 6–7 6–6 6–6 7–6 10–3 6–6 7–6 4–8 8–5 5–7 6–6 9–3 7–6
Boston 7–6 — 4–8 7–5 8–5 11–2 4–8 6–7 6–6 7–6 7–5 5–7 6–6 5–8
California 6–6 8–4 — 8–5 5–7 11–1 4–9 7–5 11–2 6–6 5–8 7–6 6–7 7–5
Chicago 6–6 5–7 5–8 — 7–5 4–8 6–7 10–2 5–8 5–6 5–8 7–6 3–10 1–11
Cleveland 6–7 5–8 7–5 5–7 — 5–8 8–4 3–10 5–7 9–4 2–10 6–6 7–5 5–8
Detroit 3–10 2–11 1–11 8–4 8–5 — 6–6 6–7 5–7 6–7 4–8 4–8 4–8 2–11
Kansas City 6–6 8–4 9–4 7–6 4–8 6–6 — 8–4 7–6 6–6 7–6 9–4 8–5 7–5
Milwaukee 6–7 7–6 5–7 2–10 10–3 7–6 4–8 — 9–3 8–5 5–7 7–5 5–7 6–7
Minnesota 8–4 6–6 2–11 8–5 7–5 7–5 6–7 3–9 — 6–6 6–7 7–6 5–8 9–3
New York 5–8 6–7 6–6 6–5 4–9 7–6 6–6 5–8 6–6 — 3–9 8–4 5–7 7–6
Oakland 7–5 5–7 8–5 8–5 10–2 8–4 6–7 7–5 7–6 9–3 — 9–4 8–5 7–5
Seattle 6–6 7–5 6–7 6–7 6–6 8–4 4–9 5–7 6–7 4–8 4–9 — 6–7 5–7
Texas 3–9 6–6 7–6 10–3 5–7 8–4 5–8 7–5 8–5 7–5 5–8 7–6 — 5–7
Toronto 6–7 8–5 5–7 11–1 8–5 11–2 5–7 7–6 3–9 6–7 5–7 7–5 7–5 —


Notable transactions

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Roster

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1989 Baltimore Orioles
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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= Indicates team leader

Batting

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Starters by position

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Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Mickey Tettleton 117 411 106 .258 26 65
1B Randy Milligan 124 365 98 .268 12 45
2B Billy Ripken 115 318 76 .239 2 26
3B Craig Worthington 145 497 123 .247 15 70
SS Cal Ripken Jr. 162 646 166 .257 21 93
LF Phil Bradley 144 545 151 .277 11 55
CF Mike Devereaux 122 391 104 .266 8 46
RF Joe Orsulak 123 390 111 .285 7 55
DH Larry Sheets 102 304 74 .243 7 33

Other batters

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Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Bob Melvin 85 278 67 .241 1 32
Brady Anderson 94 266 55 .207 4 16
Jim Traber 86 234 49 .209 4 26
Steve Finley 82 217 54 .249 2 25
Rene Gonzales 71 166 36 .217 1 11
Stan Jefferson 35 127 33 .260 4 20
Keith Moreland 33 107 23 .215 1 10
Tim Hulett 33 97 27 .278 3 18
Jamie Quirk 25 51 11 .216 0 9
Francisco Meléndez 9 11 3 .273 0 3
Chris Hoiles 6 9 1 .111 0 1
Butch Davis 5 6 1 .167 0 0
Juan Bell 8 4 0 .000 0 0
Rick Schu 1 0 0 ---- 0 0

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Bob Milacki 37 243.0 14 12 3.74 113
Jeff Ballard 35 215.1 18 8 3.43 62
Pete Harnisch 18 103.1 5 9 4.62 70
José Bautista 15 78.0 3 4 5.31 30
Dave Johnson 14 89.1 4 7 4.23 26
Jay Tibbs 10 54.1 5 0 2.82 30

Other pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Dave Schmidt 38 156.2 10 13 5.69 46
Brian Holton 39 116.1 5 7 4.02 51
Curt Schilling 5 8.2 0 1 6.23 6

Relief pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L SV ERA SO
Gregg Olson 64 85.0 5 2 27 1.69 90
Mark Williamson 65 107.1 10 5 9 2.93 55
Kevin Hickey 51 49.1 2 3 2 2.92 28
Mark Thurmond 49 90.0 2 4 4 3.90 34
Mike Smith 13 20.0 2 0 0 7.65 12
Mark Huismann 8 11.1 0 0 1 6.35 13
Mickey Weston 7 13.0 1 0 1 5.54 7
Ben McDonald 6 7.0 1 0 0 8.59 3

Awards and honors

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  • Frank Robinson, Associated Press Manager of the Year
  • Frank Robinson, American League Manager of the Year
  • Gregg Olson, American League Rookie of the Year

MLB All-Star Game

Farm system

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See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Rochester Red Wings International League Greg Biagini
AA Hagerstown Suns Eastern League Jimmie Schaffer
A Frederick Keys Carolina League Jerry Narron
A-Short Season Erie Orioles New York–Penn League Bobby Tolan
Rookie Bluefield Orioles Appalachian League Mike Young

[21]

References

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  1. ^ "Orioles Step Out in New Uniforms," The Washington Post, Thursday, December 15, 1988. Retrieved May 16, 2023.
  2. ^ Steinberg, Dan. "New Orioles uniforms, old Orioles bird logo," The Washington Post, Tuesday, November 15, 2011. Retrieved May 16, 2023.
  3. ^ Don Aase page at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Randy Milligan page at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Dickie Noles page at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ Juan Bell page at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ Gordon Dillard page at Baseball Reference
  8. ^ Mark Huismann page at Baseball Reference
  9. ^ Carl Nichols page at Baseball Reference
  10. ^ snopes.com: Bill Ripken 1989 Baseball Card
  11. ^ 100 Things Orioles Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die, Dan Connolly, Triumph Books, Chicago, 2015, ISBN 978-1-62937-041-5, p.207
  12. ^ 100 Things Orioles Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die, Dan Connolly, Triumph Books, Chicago, 2015, ISBN 978-1-62937-041-5, p.208
  13. ^ Rick Schu page at Baseball Reference
  14. ^ Shane Turner page at Baseball Reference
  15. ^ Ben McDonald page at Baseball Reference
  16. ^ Mike Oquist page at Baseball Reference
  17. ^ Gregg Zaun page at Baseball Reference
  18. ^ Stan Jefferson page at Baseball Reference
  19. ^ Keith Moreland page at Baseball Reference
  20. ^ Jamie Quirk page at Baseball Reference
  21. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
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