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)
Seasons

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.

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

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.[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

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 record

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

Batting

Starters by position

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
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

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 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

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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 Milacki37243.014123.74113
Jeff Ballard35215.11883.4362
Pete Harnisch18103.1594.6270
José Bautista1578.0345.3130
Dave Johnson1489.1474.2326
Jay Tibbs1054.1502.8230

Other pitchers

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 Schmidt38156.210135.6946
Brian Holton39116.1574.0251
Curt Schilling58.2016.236

Relief pitchers

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 Olson6485.052271.6990
Mark Williamson65107.110592.9355
Kevin Hickey5149.12322.9228
Mark Thurmond4990.02443.9034
Mike Smith1320.02007.6512
Mark Huismann811.10016.3513
Mickey Weston713.01015.547
Ben McDonald67.01008.593

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

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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