OPINION:
There are bad starts in a baseball season, and there are historically bad starts, unprecedented starts, nightmarish starts — starts that are so bad they are celebrated.
So let’s celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Baltimore Orioles’ 0-21 start in 1988, the longest winless streak ever to open a season in baseball history.
It was so bad it made the cover of Sports Illustrated. After the first seven losses to open the season, it claimed a franchise legend — Cal Ripken, Sr. — fired as manager of a team that included his two sons, Cal Jr., and Billy.
And not even another franchise legend, Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, could change history after he took over as manager.
After firing Ripken, they would go on to lose 14 more games. Finally, on April 29 in Chicago, the Orioles beat the White Sox 9-0. Then they were 1-21. They would go on to lose two more games to the White Sox before coming home to Baltimore with a 1-23 record.
And they packed Memorial Stadium to welcome their historic losers home — a crowd of 50,402 on a Monday night, May 2. The Orioles responded by giving their fans a win, 9-4 over the Texas Rangers.
AUDIO: All Star Center Fielder Andy Van Slyke with Thom Loverro
At some point the city and Orioles fans embraced the streak and turned it into a badge of honor — at least for the start of the season. By the end, with a 54-107 record, it wasn’t as much fun.
The MLB Network aired a video called “The Other Streak” Sunday night about the Orioles’ 0-21 season. And a big part of the story was the welcome home fans gave the team on May 2. But what is forgotten is the losing streak gave birth to the deal that resulted in Camden Yards.
Orioles owner Edward Bennett Williams and Maryland Gov. William Donald Schaefer had been negotiating behind the scenes for a 30-year lease in a new ballpark to keep the Orioles in Baltimore. They wanted to finish the agreement and announce it at Memorial Stadium on Fantastic Fans night.
Herb Belgrad, chairman of the Maryland Stadium Authority, in an interview for my book, “Home of the Game: The Story of Camden Yards,” spoke about how it came down to the wire, and the uncertainty of being able to hammer out an agreement in time for the festivities that night.
Williams, who was suffering from cancer, appeared weak for that final Monday meeting in his Washington office with Belgrad and others, but he took control anyway. “I want to know where we are apart and what we are going to do,” Williams said. Five hours later, Williams said he was leaving for Memorial Stadium. “Assuming we are going to reach an agreement, I want to be there for the announcement,” he said.
His friend and team president, Larry Lucchino, stayed back to hammer out a final lease agreement. But they were running late, and if they didn’t catch the 6 p.m. train to Baltimore, the plans for a grand announcement were in jeopardy. As they barely made the Metroliner, there was still no lease.
“Finally, we finish the language on the back of a menu,” Belgrad said. Lucchino called Williams to get him to sign off on the lease agreement, which is on the back of an Amtrak menu when they arrive in Baltimore. But before Williams steps on the field for the announcement, Schaefer stops everyone and says, “I want this in writing, signed, before I go out there and make an announcement.” So they wrote up a final signed document with Schaefer’s and Williams’ names on it and then told the crowd there to celebrate their 0-21 Orioles, now that a new lease was in place to keep the team in Baltimore.
Three months later Williams passed away and Eli Jacobs purchased the team from the Williams estate in December 1988. Six months later, the demolition on the site for Camden Yards began — while the Orioles were in the midst of a very different 1989 season. The “Why Not” Orioles surprised everyone with 89 wins and competing for the American League East division title against Toronto in the final weekend of the season.
Camden Yards would open in 1992 and change the game of baseball, setting off a wave of ballpark construction modeled after the Baltimore ballpark’s traditional style. The document that set all that in motion came out of that 1988 celebration of an 0-21 team — a historic night for both losers and winners.
⦁ Thom Loverro’s “Cigars & Curveballs” podcast is available Wednesdays on iTunes, Google Play and the reVolver podcast network.
• Thom Loverro can be reached at tloverro@washingtontimes.com.
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