1989 Baltimore Orioles season

The 1989 Baltimore Orioles season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Orioles finishing 2nd 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
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record87–75 (.537)
Divisional place2nd
Other information
Owner(s)Eli Jacobs
General manager(s)Roland Hemond
Manager(s)Frank Robinson
Local televisionWMAR-TV
(Jim Palmer, Brooks Robinson)
Home Team Sports
(Rex Barney, Mel Proctor, John Lowenstein)
Local radioWBAL (AM)
(Jon Miller, Joe Angel, Charlie Slowes)
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Offseason

Regular season

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.[8] 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.

Opening Day starters

Season standings
AL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
Toronto Blue Jays 8973 0.549 — 46–35 43–38
Baltimore Orioles 8775 0.537 2 47–34 40–41
Boston Red Sox 8379 0.512 6 46–35 37–44
Milwaukee Brewers 8181 0.500 8 45–36 36–45
New York Yankees 7487 0.460 14½ 41–40 33–47
Cleveland Indians 7389 0.451 16 41–40 32–49
Detroit Tigers 59103 0.364 30 38–43 21–60

Record vs. opponents
1989 American League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore —6–76–66–67–610–36–67–64–88–55–76–69–37–6
Boston 7–6—4–87–58–511–24–86–76–67–67–55–76–65–8
California 6–68–4—8–55–711–14–97–511–26–65–87–66–77–5
Chicago 6–65–75–8—7–54–86–710–25–85–65–87–63–101–11
Cleveland 6–75–87–55–7—5–88–43–105–79–42–106–67–55–8
Detroit 3–102–111–118–48–5—6–66–75–76–74–84–84–82–11
Kansas City 6–68–49–47–64–86–6—8–47–66–67–69–48–57–5
Milwaukee 6–77–65–72–1010–37–64–8—9–38–55–77–55–76–7
Minnesota 8–46–62–118–57–57–56–73–9—6–66–77–65–89–3
New York 5–86–76–66–54–97–66–65–86–6—3–98–45–77–6
Oakland 7–55–78–58–510–28–46–77–57–69–3—9–48–57–5
Seattle 6–67–56–76–76–68–44–95–76–74–84–9—6–75–7
Texas 3–96–67–610–35–78–45–87–58–57–55–87–6—5–7
Toronto 6–78–55–711–18–511–25–77–63–96–75–77–57–5—

Notable transactions

Roster
1989 Baltimore Orioles
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 Manager

Coaches

Player stats
= Indicates team leader

Starters by position

Note: 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
CMickey Tettleton117411106.2582665
1BRandy Milligan12436598.2681245
2BBilly Ripken11531876.239226
3BCraig Worthington145497123.2471570
SSCal Ripken, Jr.162646166.2572193
LFPhil Bradley144545151.2771155
CFMike Devereaux122391104.266846
RFJoe Orsulak123390111.285755
DHLarry Sheets10230474.243733

Other batters
Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Bob Melvin8527867.241132
Brady Anderson9426655.207416
Jim Traber8623449.209426
Steve Finley8221754.249225
Rene Gonzales7116636.217111
Stan Jefferson3512733.260420
Keith Moreland3310723.215110
Tim Hulett339727.278318
Jamie Quirk255111.21609
Francisco Meléndez9113.27303
Chris Hoiles691.11101
Butch Davis561.16700
Juan Bell840.00000
Rick Schu100.---00

Starting pitchers
Player G IP W L ERA SO
Bob Milacki3724314123.74113
Jeff Ballard35215.11883.4362
Pete Harnisch18103.1594.6270
José Bautista1578345.3130
Dave Johnson1489.1474.2326
Jay Tibbs1054.1502.8230

Other pitchers
Player G IP W L ERA SO
Dave Schmidt38156.210135.6946
Brian Holton39116.1574.0251
Curt Schilling58.2016.236

Relief pitchers
Player G IP W L SV ERA SO
Gregg Olson648552271.6990
Mark Williamson65107.110592.9355
Kevin Hickey5149.12322.9228
Mark Thurmond49902443.9034
Mike Smith13202007.6512
Mark Huismann811.10016.3513
Mickey Weston7131015.547
Ben McDonald671008.593

Awards and honors
  • 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
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

[17]

References
  1. Don Aase page at Baseball Reference
  2. Randy Milligan page at Baseball Reference
  3. Dickie Noles page at Baseball Reference
  4. Juan Bell page at Baseball Reference
  5. Gordon Dillard page at Baseball Reference
  6. Mark Huismann page at Baseball Reference
  7. Carl Nichols page at Baseball Reference
  8. snopes.com: Bill Ripken 1989 Baseball Card
  9. Rick Schu page at Baseball Reference
  10. Shane Turner page at Baseball Reference
  11. Ben McDonald page at Baseball Reference
  12. Mike Oquist page at Baseball Reference
  13. Gregg Zaun page at Baseball Reference
  14. Stan Jefferson page at Baseball Reference
  15. Keith Moreland page at Baseball Reference
  16. Jamie Quirk page at Baseball Reference
  17. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
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