This coming season marks the 40th anniversary of one of the finest teams in baseball history, the 1970 Baltimore Orioles.
A dominating team, whose central cast of players were responsible for six first-place finishes in a nine-year period, the 1970 version of the Birds saw everything going right.
The pennant race in 1970 was never a close thing in the AL East. The Orioles, grouped with the Yankees, Tigers, Red Sox, Indians, and Senators, took off running, with a five game winning streak, and never looked back.
They were in first place when May began, and by the end of May they were 33-15, well ahead of the second place Yankees, who were 26-23, eight games back.
On July 19, the Yankees closed to within three games, but from that point to the end of the season, the Orioles were 52-18, leaving the Yankees, and everybody else far behind, finishing with a 108-54 record, 15 games in front.
The team was led offensively that year by the huge and powerful first baseman, Boog Powell. Powell followed up on a terrific year in 1969 with another great season in 1970. The 28-year old slugger knocked 35 home runs and had 114 RBIs, while hitting .297 and drawing 104 walks.
Frank Robinson hit 25 home runs while hitting .306, and Paul Blair, despite being hit in the face with a pitch and missing three weeks, hit 18 home runs and played tremendous defense.
Don Buford showed his trademark combination of speed, patience, and power, stealing 16 bases, drawing 109 walks, and hitting 18 home runs.
The team’s secret weapon, though, was its fourth outfielder, Merv Rettenmund, who hit .322 with 18 home runs in a part-time role. Davey Johnson played Gold Glove defense and hit .281 with 10 home runs, while Brooks Robinson shone in the field at at the plate, winning his 11th straight Gold Glove and hitting .276 with 18 home runs.
These offensive numbers may not look as impressive today, but they left the rest of the American League plenty impressed in 1970, as the Orioles led the league in scoring, with 792 runs, while ranking first in walks and on base percentage, and third in home runs.
Despite the offensive fireworks, the real strength of the team was pitching and defense. In the field, Paul Blair joined Johnson and Brooks Robinson on the AL Gold Glove team, and the Orioles had the second fewest errors in the American League.
The pitching staff easily led the American League in ERA, posting a 3.15 mark. The staff was led by two 24-game winners, Dave McNally and Mike Cuellar, who were joined by first-time 20-game winner Jim Palmer.
The fourth spot in the rotation was split between Jim Hardin and Tom Phoebus. Pete Richert led the Orioles deep bullpen, with a 1.98 ERA and 13 saves, with 66 strikeouts in 54.2 innings, and Dick Hall, at 40 the oldest player in baseball, showed his incredible control, hurling 61.2 innings and walking only 6 batters, while picking up a 10-5 record.
Also back in the bullpen was one of the heroes of the 1966 World Series, Moe Drabowsky. The famous prankster was acquired in the second half of the season, and he acquitted himself admirably, picking up four wins for the team.
In the American League Playoffs, it was a rematch of 1969, as the Twins, who had been swept the previous year, came back looking for revenge. It was not to be.
Mike Cuellar started the first game against Jim Perry, who would win the 1970 Cy Young Award. Entering the fourth inning, it was a 2-2 tie, when the Orioles exploded for 7 runs.
With the game in the bag, manager Earl Weaver took out Cuellar, and let Dick Hall pitch the rest of the game, and get the win in the 10-6 final. Don Buford, Boog Powell, and Mike Cuellar homered for the Orioles, and Harmon Killebrew knocked one out for the Twins.
The next day, Dave McNally took the hill for the O’s, while Tom Hall started for the Twins. The game was close, with the Orioles leading 4-3 going into the ninth, led by a Frank Robinson 2-run homer, while solo shots by Tony Oliva and Killebrew off McNally kept the game in sight for Minnesota.
In the ninth, closer Ron Perranoski, who had set Baltimore down in order in the eighth, got into trouble quickly. He gave up a leadoff double to McNally, and a single to light-hitting Mark Belanger put runners on first and third.
He struck out Blair, but then walked Frank Robinson to load the bases. Powell cleared the bases with a double, and it was all over.
By the time the inning ended, seven runs had scored, and McNally set the Twins down quietly in the ninth, for the Orioles fifth straight playoff victory against Minnesota.
Game Three moved to Baltimore, and Jim Palmer took the mound against Jim Kaat, long-time stalwart of the Minnesota staff, and a member of the team since they were the Washington Senators in 1959.
Kaat gave up one in the first, and an unearned run in the second, and started the third by giving up a double to Brooks Robinson and a single to Davey Johnson, to put runners on first and third. He was relieved by 19-year-old Bert Blyleven, who watched helplessly as catcher Paul Ratliff dropped the ball on a fielder’s choice hit by O’s catcher Andy Etchebarren, and Brooks Robinson scored. Blyleven got Mark Belanger to ground out for the second out of the inning, but then pitcher Jim Palmer lined a double, driving in two runs. Palmer, though, already had all the runs he needed, as he threw a complete game for a 6-1 victory, and the O’s were American League champions for the second straight year.
Their opponents in the World Series were the National League champion Cincinnati Reds, the first version of the Big Red Machine that was to dominate its division, winning six titles in the decade, and making four trips to the World Series. Johnny Bench was earning his reputation as one of the greatest catchers in history, playing unbelievable defense, hitting .293 and knocking out 45 home runs. Tony Perez was a 40-homerun man, and was joined by Lee May and his 34 homeruns, Bernie Carbo, who hit .310 with 21 home runs, Bobby Tolan, who hit .316 with 16 home runs, and Pete Rose who hit .316 with 15 home runs. The team led the National League in batting average and home runs and was second in on base percentage. The pitching staff, was led by 26-year-old Jim Merritt, who went 20-12, 22-year-old Gary Nolan, who was 18-7, and 21-year-old Wayne Simpson, who was 14-3. The team was only 9th in complete games, as manager Sparky Anderson relied heavily upon his superstar bullpen combination of Wayne Granger, whose 35 saves set a major league record that year, and Clay Carroll, who joined in with 16 saves himself. 19-year-old Don Gullett also contributed to the bullpen, going 5-2 in 44 games with a 2.43 ERA. The team was second in the National League in ERA, with a 3.71 mark. In short, the matchup for Baltimore looked tough, especially coming off the previous year’s humbling defeat at the hands of the Mets. This was to be the last World Series in which all games were played in the afternoon.
In the first game of the World Series, in Cincinnati, Jim Palmer started against Gary Nolan. Nolan set the O’s down in order in the first, but Palmer couldn’t do the same to the Reds, as three hits led to a run, and the Orioles were behind. Nolan again set the O’s down in order in the second and third, and the Reds continued to show they could hit Palmer, picking up two runs in the third on a shot by Lee May. In the 4th , Paul Blair singled for the Orioles’ first hit, and Powell followed with a two-run homer that brought the game close, at 3-2. A Hendricks homerun in the fifth tied the game at three, and it stayed there until the seventh, when Brooks Robinson put the Orioles in the lead with a home run of his on. Robinson in this game made a tremendous diving backhanded stab of a line drive off the bat of Lee May, the first of many plays in this series that would leave the country and the Reds awestruck.
In the second game, Jim McGlothlin started for Cincinnati, and Mike Cuellar took the mound for Baltimore. The O’s had a walk and a single in the first inning, but they had a double play also, and came up empty. In the Reds’ half, Pete Rose started things off by reaching on an error made by the usually sure-handed Mark Belanger. With one out, Tony Perez singled, and with two outs, Lee May launched a double, knocking in two runs. May reached third on an error by Blair, and Hal McRae dropped a surprise squeeze to bring in a third run. The O’s fell further behind in the top of the third, when Bobby Tolan led off with a homerun, making it 4-0. Tom Phoebus came in to relieve Cuellar. In the top of the 4th , Boog Powell got the Orioles on the board, leading off with a homerun. That was all they could do that inning, though. In the fifth, McGlothlin started off smoothly, getting Belanger to pop out. Chico Salmon pinch hit for Phoebus, and came up with a single, followed by singles to Buford and Blain, the final one bringing in the Orioles second run. Milt Wilcox came in to relieve, and gave up a single to Boog Powell, and the Orioles were within one. Frank Robinson was retired on a fly out to deep right, and Brooks Robinson came to the plate. He singled, bringing in the tying run. Ellie Hendricks then doubled, plating Brooks Robinson and Boog Powell, and giving the Orioles a 6-4 lead. That was it for Wilcox, but it was too late for Cincinnati. A 6th inning solo shot by Johnny Bench made it 6-5, but that was as close as the Reds got. And the series moved to Baltimore for game 3, with the Orioles ahead two games to none.
In Game Three, Sparky Anderson sent the veteran Tony Cloninger to the mound. Cloninger was only 29, but he had been in the majors since 1961, and he had won 24 games in 1965 for the Braves. 1969 had been a terrible year for Cloninger, as he went 11-17, but he had come back to go 9-7 in 1970, with a 3.20 era as a starter. He was facing Dave McNally. Rose and Tolan started things off for the Reds in the first with singles, and then Tony Perez came up. He launched a shot down the left-field line that had double written all over it, but Brooks Robinson stopped it and started a double play, and McNally then retired Bench to end the inning. Don Buford walked to start things for Baltimore, and then, with two out and Buford still on first, Frank Robinson singled and Paul Blair walked to load the bases, bringing up Brooks Robinson. He double to left-center, bringing in the first two runs of the game. Cincinnati was far from through, though. They came right back in the second, with a one out single by Hal McRae. Tommy Helms came up and tapped a slow roller to third. Brooks Robinson charged, grabbed it, and threw to first for the out, another incredible play. Davey Concepcion, playing in his first season, then knocked Helms in for the Reds’ first run of the game. That was as close as they would get. In the third, Frank Robinson hit a solo shot, and in the fifth, Buford followed with one of his own, giving the Orioles a 4-1 lead. In the top of the sixth inning, with two outs, Johnny Bench came to the plate. He lined a shot to left, but it never got there, because it stuck in Brooks Robinson’s glove. A dejected Bench stared in disbelief. In the bottom of the inning, Blair singled with one out, and Wayne Granger came in to pitch. Brooks Robinson promptly doubled, putting runners on second and third. Davey Johnson was intentionally walked to load the bases. Etchebarren struck out, bringing McNally to the plate. He hit the first World Series grand slam ever by a pitcher, giving the Orioles an 8-1 lead. The Reds fought back with two in the top of the next inning, but it was too little, too late. The Orioles won, 9-3, as Dave McNally pitched a complete game victory, and the Orioles had a dominating 3-0 edge.
Baltimore was looking for a sweep in game 4, and they sent Jim Palmer out to the mound to try and secure it. Opposing him was Gary Nolan. The Reds took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, when Lee May walked, and, after Bernie Carbo and Tommy Helms struck out, Dave Concepcion came up and smacked a triple to deep right field, bringing in May. Brooks Robinson, though, continued to show that he could be just as dangerous at the plate as in the field, leading off the bottom of the inning with a game-tying homerun. Cincinnati, though, wasn’t ready to roll over as easy as that. A walk to Tolan, a single by Rose, and another single by Lee May gave the Reds a 2-1 lead in the top of the third. Jim Palmer led off the bottom of the third with a single, and after Buford and Blair were retired, Powell drew a walk, and the Orioles came back with three singles in a row to bring in three runs, as Frank Robinson, Brooks Robinson, and Ellie Hendricks came through, giving the Orioles a 4-2 edge. In the top of the fifth, Pete Rose launched a home run, cutting the lead to 4-3. The Orioles made it 5-3 in the sixth, when Brooks Robinson again had a base hit, and Ellie Hendricks followed with a single, and Pete Rose’s error allowed Robinson to score. In the top of the 8th , with the score still 5-3, Palmer gave up a leadoff walk to Perez, and then a single to Johnny Bench. Weaver went to the bullpen, and brought in Eddie Watt to pitch to Lee May. May slammed a homerun to left, giving the Reds a 6-5 lead, and a stunning turnaround. And that was how it ended. In the loss, Brooks Robinson went four for four.
Game five began with the Reds looking like they had plenty of life left in them, despite being down three games to one. Pete Rose, Lee May, and Hal McRae doubled, and Johnny Bench singled in the first inning to pick up three runs off Mike Cuellar. The Orioles weren’t ready to go back to Cincinnati for game six, though, and in the bottom of the frame, Frank Robinson hit a two-run homer off Jim Merritt to make it a 3-2 game. Cuellar settled down in the second inning, retiring the side in order. In the O’s half of the second, Mike Granger came in to pitch to Belanger with two on and two out, and Belanger came through with a single to tie it up, and Paul Blair followed with a single to give the Orioles the lead. Cuellar cruised along the rest of the game, and the Reds used six pitchers to try to hold back Baltimore, as the Orioles captured the World Series Championship, 4 games to 1. Brooks Robinson who hit .429 in the series with two homeruns and two doubles, was named the World Series Most Valuable Player, and was awarded a car. Johnny Bench, commenting afterward, said that if Robinson had wanted a new car so badly, the Reds would have chipped in and bought him one. Other standouts in the series for Baltimore were Paul Blair, who hit .474, Ellie Hendricks who hit .364, and Frank Robinson and Boog Powell, who hit two homeruns each. After the series, Powell was voted the American League Most Valuable Player.
So now, with winter around us and the 2010 season still months away, let’s think back on the days when an Orioles pitching staff could have three 20-game winners, when the American League All-Star team featured seven Orioles, and when the World Series was played in the daytime.
