1989 Baltimore Orioles season

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1989 Baltimore Orioles
Major League affiliations
Location
  • Memorial Stadium (since 1954)
  • Baltimore, Maryland (since 1954)
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)
< Previous season     Next 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.

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.
  • In the finale of the 1989 season, Ben McDonald tossed one scoreless inning of relief, logging his first career win. [9] 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. [10]

Opening Day starters[]

Season standings[]

  • v
  • t
AL East 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Toronto Blue Jays 89 73 0.549 — 46–35 43–38
Baltimore Orioles 87 75 0.537 2 47–34 40–41
Boston Red Sox 83 79 0.512 6 46–35 37–44
Milwaukee Brewers 81 81 0.500 8 45–36 36–45
New York Yankees 74 87 0.460 14½ 41–40 33–47
Cleveland Indians 73 89 0.451 16 41–40 32–49
Detroit Tigers 59 103 0.364 30 38–43 21–60

Record vs. opponents[]

1989 American League Records
  • v
  • t

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[]

  • May 19, 1989: Rick Schu was purchased from the Orioles by the Detroit Tigers.[11]
  • June 1, 1989: John Posey (minors) was traded by the Orioles to the Philadelphia Phillies for Shane Turner.[12]
  • June 5, 1989: 1989 Major League Baseball Draft
    • Ben McDonald was drafted by the Orioles in the 1st round (1st pick). Player signed August 19, 1989.[13]
    • Mike Oquist was drafted by the Orioles in the 13th round. Player signed June 14, 1989.[14]
    • Gregg Zaun was drafted by the Orioles in the 17th round. Player signed August 25, 1989.[15]
  • July 20, 1989: John Habyan was traded by the Orioles to the New York Yankees for Stan Jefferson.[16]
  • July 28, 1989: Brian Dubois was traded by the Orioles to the Detroit Tigers for Keith Moreland.[17]
  • August 5, 1989: Jamie Quirk was signed as a free agent by the Orioles.[18]

Roster[]

1989 Baltimore Orioles
Roster
Pitchers Catchers
  • 11,17 Chris Hoiles
  • 2,36 Bob Melvin
  • 15 Jamie Quirk
  • 14 Mickey Tettleton

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager
  • 20 Frank Robinson

Coaches

Player stats[]

= Indicates team leader

Batting[]

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
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[]

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[]

Starting pitchers[]

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Bob Milacki 37 243 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 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[]

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[]

Player G IP W L SV ERA SO
Gregg Olson 64 85 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 2 4 4 3.90 34
Mike Smith 13 20 2 0 0 7.65 12
Mark Huismann 8 11.1 0 0 1 6.35 13
Mickey Weston 7 13 1 0 1 5.54 7
Ben McDonald 6 7 1 0 0 8.59 3

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

  • Cal Ripken, Jr.

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

[19]

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. ^ 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
  10. ^ 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
  11. ^ Rick Schu page at Baseball Reference
  12. ^ Shane Turner page at Baseball Reference
  13. ^ Ben McDonald page at Baseball Reference
  14. ^ Mike Oquist page at Baseball Reference
  15. ^ Gregg Zaun page at Baseball Reference
  16. ^ Stan Jefferson page at Baseball Reference
  17. ^ Keith Moreland page at Baseball Reference
  18. ^ Jamie Quirk page at Baseball Reference
  19. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
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