Baseball, The Birds on 33rd

One of the things that has changed over the years is the way you regard the other teams individually. The heroes in the villains sort of change. In the 1950s, certainly, Baltimore recognized a single outstanding enemy. And that was the Yankees. Every time a set of ballplayers came out there on the grass and their short front said, New York, you could hear the booze start. In 1954 itself, there was one glorious high spot. The Yankees came to town, Casey Stangle was their manager. It was Casey's birthday. Don Larson went out and pitched and beat him, tendin' nothing. Oh, it was wonderful.

Ironically, of course, what happened was that the Yankees went away and traded for Don Larson. Here was White Wilhelm against Whitey Ford, a guy who had his own version of fancy pitching. Along in there, as White Wilhelm stood him up and sat him down, ending after inning. Along in there, Gus came up and clobbered one right over the outfield fence. And by the time the afternoon was over in this fairly fast game, the Yankees still hadn't got a hit. And we had no hit, no run, victory over New York. Oh, it was the pitcher's ballpark back in the 60s and 70s, mainly because of the pitching stash we had. It was a ballpark where, if you let him hit it down the lines, it wasn't too hard to hit a home runs. But if you had a pitching coach like George Bamberger, who's theory was, if you could establish the outside quarter of the plate, you were at chance to be very successful. He was back from the disable list and it was the second game after coming off the disable list in 1969.

And he was a little erratic. I think he may have walked eight or nine guys. I remember even in the ninth inning, even though I knew he had to know he had to base his loaded one out. And all I could think about is don't walk another guy. I wasn't even concerned about him getting to base hit. I just don't walk another guy because you're walking a run. To myself, I'm standing back there and I'm just saying sit in the middle of the plate. Throw your fastball because that pitcher's working very well for him that afternoon. And I just said to myself, don't. And then he got to three and one. And I remember just getting the smallest I could be hard to play to try to get him down in the strike zone because he was wild mostly up that day. And with three and one on the green, I think it was in the green swing of what would have been ball 40 popped it up in that end of the ball game. You know, it wasn't an artistic success. I'd just come off the disable list with my second start afterwards. And, you know, no hitters are kind of spontaneous. I think when I look back at the things that happened here in Memorial Stadium, I like to draw more on the team concept. Well, I think everybody knows Linsukati was my catcher and had John Lones time playing second and Gary Rennieki playing third base.

So it was kind of not a rule familiar infield or even, you know, as far as catching wise. Those are the first time. That's the first time. Those are the first runners that I saw picky to be picked off. So it was funny. The first time I laughed. And in second time it was even funnier. And I remember someone in the bullpen saying, can he do it three times? And I'm trying to think it was started who said, well, you know they're going to try to run in Saccada. So if you throw over it again, there's a good chance you might get him to third time and show it off. He went over it in third time. The guy was living the wrong way and he picked him off. It was just one kind of freaky thing that happened because everybody was trying to run on Lenny. And I didn't want to throw the ball to Lenny because I wasn't sure if he was going to catch it. He was so far back, I couldn't see him. And he wanted me to throw him the ball so he can throw some people out. And I didn't want to lose. So it was kind of one of those things that somebody got on base and I was going to throw the first base all night long if it took all night.

And just caught him at the right time. I always felt that we had a home field advantage here. I felt we knew the corners. We worked hard in this ballpark. And the mound always felt exceptionally comfortable for me. And I think that had a lot to do with it. You know the ovation opening day I'll never forget. And it had a pretty good year. And I figured the last game of the season, no matter who Johnny calls it, I'm going to come in. Okay, Mike. Thanks, Mike. Thank Robinson also. I mean when I first started covering baseball, Robinson was the leader of the Orioles. And actually it was a game in Fenway Park, but it was still the Orioles. When they were tied in the 10th inning. And in the bottom of the 9th, Red Sox had the bases loaded. Frank had cracked a rib, diving against the wall and making a game saving catch.

And in the top of the 10th inning, he beat out a bump with a run around third and two outs because he couldn't swing the bat and they didn't know it. He just found a way to win. Brooke said something like when before Frank Robinson came here, we had a really good ball club. It took Frank to make us a winner. I'll tell you, Frank, it really made us believe that we can win. And even after we won the American League and we're going to go out to LA, we opened in LA and co-facts and dry-style and Padres and hosting. And they had Williams and Sherry. And I mean, they had a lot of good pitchers out there. And we were going out there with Wally Bunker, David Hallie and some very young and Jimmy Palmer, some very young pitchers that had some problems during the year with their arms and stuff. But Frank Robinson really made us believe that we could win. And then when we got out there and then when Frank and Brooks, he hit the home runs in the first inning, he gets and gave us a 3-0 up and lead in Los Angeles. That's when I really believe all the club really thought that we had a good week. We had a chance to win. I mentioned of Brooks Robinson opens up a storehouse of memories. I remember that there was an umpire in the American League by the name of Ed Hurley. It was a very hard-bitten kind of an individual. And I said to Hurley, early in Brooks's career, what do you think of Brooks Robinson?

Well, naturally, all the umpires like Brooks Robinson because of the way handling self he never argued excessively with him. The worst they could expect from he maybe would be a dirty look. And that was the extent of Brooks offering a protest because he's not given to confrontation. That's just not his manner. He has all the graces that you expect of a southern gentleman which he certainly exemplifies. But Hurley, on that occasion, I said to him again, what do you think of Brooks Robinson? He said, well, he placed third base like he came down from a higher leg. Frank Robinson was a leader by example, and what he could do on the field. The day that they made the trade by trading, I believe it was Jack Bouchin and Simpson. And he said, if we don't win the pennant, if we don't win the pennant with Frank Robinson, then all of it should be fired. And of course, that wasn't necessary because the Orioles came on to win the pennant and one with a comfortable margin at the end of the year and then went in and blew the Dodgers away, a great Dodger team.

That is a few more questions. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. You know, it would seem that a baseball team is only as good as a pitching is going to take it. I believe it was Connie Mack, the venerable one who said that baseball was dependent upon in any evaluation or breakdown, 75% of the importance of winning a game depended upon the pitching.

And there hasn't been anyone to come along in the last century to refute that. The Orioles in the late 1950s and early 1960s were fortunate enough to gather together probably as good an assemblage of young arms as there were in America at that time and none of them were over 22 or 23. I'm thinking of Mil Papas, Steve Barber, Jerry Walker, Shaka Strata, Jack Fisher, Wally Bunker, and the list went on and on. And all of them came on to take their place for the Orioles and equip themselves in major league style. If you think the... We were underdogs in that series. Everybody thought this big red machine was just going to rob us out.

But thanks to Brooksie and others, it was perhaps the greatest experience in the club's history. Better even than beating the Dodgers in four straight. I'm not quite sure why I say that except that we really played better than the Dodgers had. So I think we accomplished more. But you know, Brooks wasn't the leading hitter in that club. He was a dominant player. But Ali Hendrix played a big role. Pauli Blair played a big role. And so did Booger and the pitchers. We used to call, I recall, saved a key game in Cincinnati. So it was just a wonderful experience. None of us were too familiar with artificial surfaces at that time. But Brooks just showed everybody, didn't make any difference when he was playing on glass or in tar. It couldn't make any difference. We just had an incredible world series.

It's great to see that kind of series happen to somebody who has contributed so much to the game baseball. I think fans everywhere rejoiced in the back of Brooks just to make one incredible play on top of the other. Very well. It was kind of a thing that I'm sure every professional athlete maybe in his dreams would hold the boy. The ball clubs we put on the field here at Memorial Stadium in 6970-71, probably where some of the best teams in the history will never be judges happy because our lack of success in the world series. At the time they played the Pirates in the World Series, one I'll never forget was out of that. Everything had happened in that World Series was Clemente's throw from right field to the plate, which still burns a hole in my memory as being one of the great throws I've seen in baseball. A number of World Series here that I covered in network television also. And Quay I was pitching to Roberto Clemente. Look like the Warriors were going to win that series in the Clemente and a little chopper back to the mound.

They caught it in turn and Clemente with that hustle of desire and drive and speed beat it out just barely. May have turned the World Series around and later on the World Series Clemente had a bullet in the right field seats here. So that'd be a pretty good Orioles team. So a lot of fond memories here. Some not so fond. White role on the starting occasion where he pitched a no-hitter. Fortunately, Casey didn't play me that game so I could part of it, but he had that knuckleball dancing like you couldn't. I rude have to say that Frank taught the Orioles how it went. He was a very, very competitive player, but he did it by design. He also was not afraid to express an opinion as opposed to Brooks, who was just as great a competitive player. But Brooks wasn't the kind of a front of the globe and saying, hey, but Frank would do that. Frank Robinson was a leader by example and what he could do on the field. The day that they made the trade by trading, I believe it was Jack Bouchin and Simpson.

And Mil Pat is for Frank Robinson. It was a multiple player, but Pat was involved along with another player. Jane Woodling, who was a Orioles first base coach, said, if we don't win the pennant. And he said it for publication on the record, if we don't win the pennant with Frank Robinson and all of it should be fired. Brooks said something like, when before Frank Robinson came here, we had a really good ball club, but it took Frank to make us a winner. And in the six years at Frank played here, we won four pennants, so I think that speaks for itself. Well, I first started covering baseball. Robinson was the leader of the Orioles, and actually it was a game in Fenway Park, but it was still the Orioles. When they were tied in the 10th inning, and in the bottom of the 9th, the Red Sox had the bases loaded. Frank had cracked a rib, diving against the wall and making a game-saving catch. And in the top of the 10th inning, he beat out a bump with a run around third and two hours, because he couldn't swing the bat, and they didn't know it.

He just found a way to win. You missed a cuddle, man. You heard about it for Frank. If you missed a sign, you heard about it. And later years, he was a fellow who was a judge of the kangaroo court. It was one of the great experiences of a reporter to have to be a part of that. It was a game, and an hour after the game, ground ball after ground ball, and working on his hitting, turned out to be one of the greatest players of all time, to put Robinson. Well, I don't think I'll ever see another third baseman play any better. Now, there may be somebody come along as played as well, but I kind of doubt that, because Brooks was special from the word goal. And he was a kind of a man that he never had to think about what to do in any situation in any game. He knew instantaneously, he knew how to make the right move. The day that Brooks retired, and I was a master of ceremonies, the second base, I introduced the player representative, dug the sensei,

and he was to come out and speak in behalf of the ball club for Brooks. And I introduced him, he got a great round of applause that came out of the dugout, and on the way he stopped at third base, and reached down, and pulled the bag up out of the ground, and ran out there to second base, and handed it to Brooks, suffice to say he did not have to make a speech. And I talked to Doug about that later, and he said, Charlie, I don't know. He said, I never thought about it, it was not planned. He said, I just, I started out there and here's this bag, and I thought, hey, this is Brooks's place, and I just pulled it out of the ground and gave it to him. That was an afternoon you wouldn't forget either. I remember that there was an umpire in the American League by the name of Ed Hurley. It was a very hard bit and kind of an individual. And I said to Hurley, early in Brooks's career, what do you think of Brooks Robinson? Well, naturally, all the umpires like Brooks Robinson, because of the way handling self, he never argued excessively with him.

The worst they could expect from him maybe would be a dirty look. And that was the extent of Brooks offering a protest, because he's not given to confrontation. That's just not his manner. He has all the graces that you expect of a southern gentleman, which he certainly exemplifies. But Hurley, on that occasion, I said to him again, what do you think of Brooks Robinson? He said, well, he placed third base, like he came down from a higher leg, and it has never been said more eloquently than that. He played third base like it was never played before.