Victim of a Miracle
1969 Baltimore OriolesHome Field: Memorial Stadium
AL ChampionsHit: #2 R; #2 BA
W - 109 L - 53  (.673)  19GAPitch: #1 RA, ERA
Manager: Earl WeaverDef: #1 FA

Speak to any member of the 1969 Orioles and to a man they will tell you that they were a much better team than the Mets, who defeated them in 5 games for the 1969 World Championship.  Almost 40 years later and they still can't believe it, nor can they accept it.  This team was purely dominant in every area.  They were built for the long haul of a 162 game season and not the tempest of a short post season series where pitching and manufacturing runs are important.  The Orioles blew threw the AL and won the AL East by 19 games.  In the first ever ALCS they crushed the Western Division champion Minnesota Twins in 3 straight games.  In the World Series they faced the Miracle Mets, a team that never finished higher than 8th place in their first 7 years in baseball.  The Orioles jumped out and won the first game, and immediately fell into a comfort zone that would come to bite them in the butt.  Earl Weaver was a fantastic regular season manager.  His lifetime record and division titles is more than just impressive.  His post season record on the other hand is shaky at best.  Weaver had a veteran team with great pitching, but no ability to manufacture runs.  The Mets had a young and hungry team that the Orioles allowed to hang around.  They never delivered the key "knockout blow" and the Mets found a way to pull a rabbit out of their hat in the remaining 4 games of the series.  The Orioles pitching staff was fantastic Dave McNally and Mike Cuellar both won over 20 and ace Jim Palmer would have done the same if he didn't get injured.  Boog Powell and Frank Robinson both hit over .300, both had over 30 HR's and both had over 100 RBI's.  Third baseman Brooks Robinson once again proved he was the best fielding player at his position in the game, but slumped at the plate with a .234 average.  Light hitting shortstop Mark Belanger picked up the slack and hit .278.  Paul Blair was the best defensive centerfielder in baseball, even though he was overshadowed by Tommy Agee in the fall classic..


1969 BALTIMORE ORIOLES TEAM ROSTER
Pitchers
No. Name Pos Bats Throws Height Weight Born
-- Adamson, Mike P R R 6'2" 185 9/13/1947
-- Beene, Fred P B R 5'9" 155 11/24/1942
-- Bertaina, Frank P L L 5'11" 177 4/14/1944
-- Cuellar, Mike P L L 6'0" 165 5/8/1937
-- Hall, Dick P R R 6'6" 200 9/27/1930
-- Hardin, Jim P R R 6'0" 175 8/6/1943
-- Leonhard, Dave P R R 5'11" 165 1/22/1941
-- Lopez, Marcelino P R L 6'3" 195 9/23/1943
-- McNally, Dave P R L 5'11" 185 10/31/1942
-- Palmer, Jim P R R 6'3" 190 10/15/1945
-- Phoebus, Tom P R R 5'8" 185 4/7/1942
-- Richert, Pete P L L 5'11" 165 10/29/1939
-- Severinsen, Al P R R 6'3" 220 11/9/1944
-- Watt, Eddie P R R 5'10" 183 4/4/1941
Catchers
No. Name Pos Bats Throws Height Weight Born
-- Dalrymple, Clay C L R 6'0" 190 12/3/1936
-- Etchebarren, Andy C R R 6'1" 190 6/20/1943
-- Hendricks, Ellie C L R 6'1" 175 12/22/1940
Infielders
No. Name Pos Bats Throws Height Weight Born
-- Belanger, Mark SS R R 6'1" 170 6/8/1944
-- Crowley, Terry 1B L L 6'0" 180 2/16/1947
-- Floyd, Bobby 2B R R 6'1" 180 10/20/1943
-- Johnson, Dave 2B R R 6'1" 170 1/30/1943
-- Powell, Boog 1B L R 6'4" 230 8/17/1941
-- Robinson, Brooks 3B R R 6'1" 180 5/18/1937
-- Salmon, Chico 1B R R 5'10" 160 12/3/1940
Outfielders
No. Name Pos Bats Throws Height Weight Born
-- Blair, Paul -- R R 6'0" 168 2/1/1944
-- Buford, Don -- B R 5'7" 160 2/2/1937
-- May, Dave -- L R 5'10" 186 12/23/1943
-- Motton, Curt -- R R 5'8" 164 9/24/1940
-- Rettenmund, Merv -- R R 5'10" 190 6/6/1943
-- Robinson, Frank -- R R 6'1" 183 8/31/1935

 

1969 BALTIMORE ORIOLES TEAM BATTING STATS
Player AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K HBP SB CS GDP OBP SLG OPS
Bertaina, Frank 1.000 3 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2
Crowley, Terry 0.333 7 18 2 6 0 0 0 3 1 4 0 0 0 0 0.35 0.333 0.683
Severinsen, Al 0.333 12 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.333 0.333 0.667
Robinson, Frank 0.308 148 539 111 166 19 5 32 100 88 62 13 9 3 12 0.415 0.54 0.955
Powell, Boog 0.304 152 533 83 162 25 0 37 121 72 76 1 1 1 18 0.383 0.559 0.942
Motton, Curt 0.303 56 89 15 27 6 0 6 21 13 10 1 3 1 0 0.398 0.573 0.971
Salmon, Chico 0.297 52 91 18 27 5 0 3 12 10 22 2 0 0 1 0.375 0.451 0.826
Buford, Don 0.291 144 554 99 161 31 3 11 64 96 62 5 19 18 5 0.397 0.417 0.814
Belanger, Mark 0.287 150 530 76 152 17 4 2 50 53 54 2 14 6 13 0.351 0.345 0.696
Hall, Dick 0.286 39 7 1 2 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 1 0 0 0.375 0.286 0.661
Blair, Paul 0.285 150 625 102 178 32 5 26 76 40 72 2 20 6 11 0.327 0.477 0.804
Johnson, Dave 0.280 142 511 52 143 34 1 7 57 57 52 3 3 4 16 0.351 0.391 0.743
Etchebarren, Andy 0.249 73 217 29 54 9 2 3 26 28 42 7 1 2 11 0.35 0.35 0.701
Rettenmund, Merv 0.247 95 190 27 47 10 3 4 25 28 28 0 6 1 6 0.338 0.395 0.733
Hendricks, Ellie 0.244 105 295 36 72 5 0 12 38 39 44 2 0 1 3 0.333 0.383 0.716
May, Dave 0.242 78 120 8 29 6 0 3 10 9 23 2 2 1 5 0.305 0.367 0.672
Dalrymple, Clay 0.238 37 80 8 19 1 1 3 6 13 8 0 0 0 6 0.34 0.388 0.728
Robinson, Brooks 0.234 156 598 73 140 21 3 23 84 56 55 3 2 1 19 0.298 0.395 0.693
Lopez, Marcelino 0.214 27 14 2 3 0 0 0 0 3 5 0 0 0 0 0.353 0.214 0.567
Palmer, Jim 0.203 27 64 5 13 3 0 0 6 3 30 0 0 0 1 0.235 0.25 0.485
Floyd, Bobby 0.202 39 84 7 17 4 0 0 1 6 17 0 0 0 4 0.253 0.25 0.503
Phoebus, Tom 0.200 35 75 8 15 2 0 0 4 3 26 0 0 0 4 0.231 0.227 0.457
Hardin, Jim 0.156 30 45 5 7 0 0 2 6 2 15 0 0 0 0 0.191 0.289 0.48
Richert, Pete 0.125 44 8 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 1 0 0 0.125 0.125 0.25

 

1969 BALTIMORE ORIOLES TEAM PITCHING STATS
Player ERA W L SV G GS CG ShO  IP H R ER HR BB K RATIO BAVG
Beene, Fred 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2.2 2 0 0 0 1 0 1.36 0.2
Bertaina, Frank 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 6 1 0 0 0 3 5 0.67 0.06
Watt, Eddie 1.65 5 2 16 56 0 0 0 71 49 18 13 3 26 46 1.06 0.19
Hall, Dick 1.92 5 2 6 39 0 0 0 65.2 49 14 14 3 9 31 0.89 0.21
Richert, Pete 2.2 7 4 12 44 0 0 0 57.1 42 17 14 7 14 54 0.98 0.2
Severinsen, Al 2.29 1 1 0 12 0 0 0 19.2 14 6 5 2 10 13 1.25 0.21
Palmer, Jim 2.34 16 4 0 26 23 11 6 181 131 48 47 11 64 123 1.08 0.2
Cuellar, Mike 2.38 23 11 0 39 39 18 5 290 213 94 77 18 79 182 1.01 0.2
Leonhard, Dave 2.49 7 4 1 37 3 1 1 94 78 28 26 8 38 37 1.23 0.23
McNally, Dave 3.22 20 7 0 41 40 11 4 268 232 103 96 21 84 166 1.18 0.23
Phoebus, Tom 3.52 14 7 0 35 33 6 2 202 180 89 79 23 87 117 1.32 0.24
Hardin, Jim 3.6 6 7 1 30 20 3 1 137 128 62 55 18 43 64 1.25 0.25
Lopez, Marcelino 4.41 5 3 0 27 4 0 0 69.1 65 34 34 3 34 57 1.43 0.25
Adamson, Mike 4.5 0 1 0 6 0 0 0 8 10 4 4 0 6 2 2 0.36