Baseball, The Birds on 33rd

Well, it was a Mardi Gras, it was New Year's Eve, and it was the 4th of July all wrapped into one. I never remember in my lifetime in Baltimore a more joyous occasion. I remember the lead I used on it, can you imagine that? 1954, I said, last in hitting, last in feeling, last in the American League, standing first in the hearts of the Baltimore baseball fan. It was a great thrill in 1954, the Orioles played a couple of games into Detroit, they split two, their first two games in their modern history, and then they got on the train and they came to Baltimore, and we had a big parade. They got off the train in their uniforms, got in automobiles, and they went through downtown streets of Baltimore and paraded to the stadium. And I can remember coming in Memorial Stadium, and the workman was still working on the stadium, and it was a threatening day, it looked like it might rain, rain out the home opener. We had a jam-packed crowd, and the Orioles won that game, if I remember.

I think it was 3-1 over the Chicago White Sox, Clint Courtney, and I think a very steepens hit home runs, and it was a gala day for Baltimore in the beginning of the modern era of the Orioles. The emotional intensity was terrific. We've never seen Baltimore on such a high, not in this century. To see Baltimore able to free itself, from the shackles of the minor leagues, 51 years Baltimore was confined to the minor leagues, and for the day of redemption to arrive, and for the Orioles to again be back in their rightful location, the American League. The St. Louis American League franchise was particularly shaky, and thank goodness there were men in Baltimore at that time who had the foresight and the daring to go out and get that franchise. And they did. Two principal figures, of course, were the mayor, Tommy Dallas-Andro, Jr., and Clarence Miles, who was a corporation lawyer.

And they managed to get enough capital to buy the franchise. And then, I'm sorry to say, it was not easy to raise the proper amount of money. Boston fans always tell you about how long suffering they are. You know, the shocks of not one world series since 1918 have been breaking my heart. Ever since I was a youngster, and the Orioles in 1982, the previous year, had lost the last game of the season after a stirring come back. But they didn't win. Now in Boston, it struck me that all winter long, the people would be ruining the fact that Palmer, that bum, you know, couldn't win the big ball game and so on and so forth. But when I got here, it was just the opposite. The fans reacted as though the Orioles had won everything the year before. And acceptance and approval is very, very important, probably the most important consideration

through all of this. Well, I was always doing something kind of goofy, you know, to keep them involved, and I know in games that I didn't even play, and at times I'd be sitting in the dugout watching the game. If we were down two or three runs or something like that, I could communicate with any section in this ballpark by waving a towel and they would start getting rowdy and loud and everything. And when all the fans got behind us, we were unbeatable. I remember Wild Bill up in, you know, section up there leading the stadium. I remember the 1979, I really remember the fans and how they really became one with the team. I think the crowds here, there's more of an atmosphere of being a booster of the ball club, more of the kind of a relationship maybe that you'd find for a college football team in a college town. Back when baseball was new in the modern sense at the stadium, the departure of the pitcher

for the opposing team would draw a vigorous response in the stands, everybody would pull out their hangies and wave it to them. And then feeling spread that this was sort of push and without anybody passing a law, without any hollering by any policemen or any even the ushers, the customer died away. But I also remember the Baltimore farewell, which has been discarded, but when we first came here, there was a tradition in Baltimore that when an opposing pitcher was lifted and headed to the bench or the dugout or wherever, that the fans would stand up and wave their handkerchiefs and give him a taste of the Baltimore farewell. And I saw the light that it wasn't the most sanitary thing in the world, but it was colorful and it was characteristic of Baltimore. And I was sad when they discontinued that custom.

I've been set behind at home plate and listened to the deafening roar of this crowd so many times that my hearing has gone bad. And any time I need a reminder of what it sounded like, I remember it through my deafness because it used to hurt my ears, it gets so loud in this stadium. And that's, you know, it's a nice bad thing to happen to you. Great. Thanks very much. Appreciate it. Very good. I was struggling, I said tonight might be the night, I said I might come out of it tonight. Jerry Walker was the pitcher the first time and I batted in the first inning and I walked and I went out into the field and the Orioles had a little outfield by the name of Albie Pearson and he had a line shot down the right field line and I came over and I made kind of a running catch and as I courted I was right on the wall and as I did that some fan leaned over and poured a cup of beer right in my face, you know, and I was of

course, livid and I challenged him for after the game and you know, he said I'll be there and you know, I said you better be. So then I came up the next time up and Walker was the pitcher again and I hit a fastball and I knew that the ball was a home run and the following time I came up and Arnold pulled a Carrero was relieving. He hit the outside corner with a slider and I really, I hit it really good and it went, it went over the 390 marker and left center. So that made it number two. Now I go out into the field and this guy, I'm getting kind of an ovation from the right field stance, you know, even though I'm a visiting player, but I had always been treated good and Baltimore, Baltimore was a great place for me. I had some good nights there and the fans were always excellent. I always enjoyed going there. I came up a third time and all the third official time and Arnie stole the pitcher and believe it or not, I hit almost the same pitch. Now I have three and I go out there and

I'm getting a standing ovation, including this guy through the beer because I kept my eye on him. So I come up the fourth time and Ernie Johnson, he was their top reliever at the time, the Baltimore top reliever. He had not given up a home run to this point, a first pitch Ernie Johnson throws me, he's up in here. So I just raised my head and went right under my chin. It was a purpose pitch, you know, he was brushing me back. The next pitch was about in here and I just got the bat out in front and I probably hit that one. I got out in front of it and I probably hit that as hard or it's probably the hardest of the four. You would think I was a hometown player. That's the kind of ovation. I mean standing ovation from the stands also and when I ran out to my position, again, it was such a heartwarming thing and I don't know. I don't know if that endeared me to the Baltimore fans or what, but I always was treated very well. I hit my 300th home run there. You know, that's kind of a landmark in a player's career and I also hit the four in one game and I had other nights that would go, oh, I had other nights that weren't good either. You know, I mean,

nobody's perfect and I've had plenty of those. But I don't know. The Baltimore was, I saw the ball well there. I thought the background was that the only time the background was there was like in a daytime, there was a white house back in there. And maybe now it's all growing up. I don't know. You don't see it anymore. But maybe they have something black there. I don't know. I think they did improve that. I think as I remember as a coach they put some big black screen. But at that time, that would bother you a little in the daytime. But other than that, it was an excellent background and I like that. It was a big park, but I felt if I hit the ball well, I could hit it out of the ballpark. In that place, you know, if you're not an authentic power hitter, you think it may be a bullet? You know, Earl Weaver, I'll never forget Earl Weaver telling Paul better one time. It says, Paul, you playing too shallow. And Paul better played one of the shallow center fields that I've ever seen. And I remember Paul better telling Earl Weaver to say Earl, when you see a ball go over my head and it doesn't leave the ballpark and I don't catch it, then you can tell me to back up. Well, Paul was played probably the shortest

center field of anybody ever saw because he could go back so well. I mean, you never saw Paul go over his head because he'd get back there. But he was also cutting off of his line prize singles and stuff. And yeah, he was just a great center fielder. Frank always kids now, of course it wasn't true. He said anything, it went up because he held Paul, you know, and Paul would wind up to catch it. Well, you know, that was my forte. That's what I really thrived on trying to do is take any kind of ball that was hit to the outfield. I felt I could catch any one of them. People don't realize, but I used to practice trying to do that. And you know, because I figured I had to use every edge that I could in the outfield and we had to chain it and you could just run a sticky foot in the defense and hang on and use the fist to prop yourself up. And it worked for that time. Well, Palmer never, when he was pitching, never had a press conference when he didn't mention Paul his name. Thanks Paul, because he could, Jim threw a lot of high-fly balls

and more than a few of them were very deep. And, but Paul, he had a way of getting back and catching those things before they did any damage to anybody. He made a great difference. And there just haven't been that many. It was the best offensive year of any oil ever. I mean, including Frank's triple crown, when you think about it, I mean, Jim hit 46. I think it was home runs, 141 runs batted in and hit 302. Jim Teal was a flamboyant fielder swung the bat with tremendous authority. He was a free swimmer to such an extent that frequently on his follow-through it hitting himself in the back. And they were afraid that with the constant wear and tear and the bruising into his shoulders that it might create a situation that could possibly lead to cancer. So

they created a leather pad or rather a sponge pad that they put inside his baseball shirt and sweatshirt, so to cushion the blow from his own bat. I've never seen another hitter backlashing himself with a bat, but Jim did. Among the other things, Jim Teal was a good fielder. He stopped hell onto a lot of bum throws, baseballs, fans can become insatiable. Once a guy has had a terrific year like that, nothing will do, but he has to have a terrific year all the time. And the following year was a letdown, and so they turned against Jim Teal, and you could go out there and hear people booing. Well, I pitched pretty good at Baltimore. You know, runs were sort of hard to come by, Baltimore. And of course, it always pitched good against the Yankees

and of course, Casey Stingle was a manager, and he picked the pitches, you know, and that may have had a little something to do with it too. Well, I don't remember if it was a rotation set up or not, but I remember early when it was going to pitch the middle innings, and we were just going to go from there. And of course, he had a 4-3 lead and had to have a pitcher to pitch the seventh eighth and ninth. And the telephone rang in the bullpen. I sure it was going to be a bit of a period. So, right now our last year was there, a great reliever for Cleveland for so many years. I think Paul Fortac was on that ball club, and I made sure it was one of those, but when the call came, it was for me. And of course, it was really exciting to be there before the home time ball club and hometown fans and everything. And I was able to retire all nine men, I faced. Yeah, I remember a musical course. I don't think anybody would ever forget Stan Mitchell the first time you face him. And I remember him and Mayes. There's a guy I played out for, I believe, walls. Dale Crandall, he was a catcher at Milwaukee. And Bill

Mesorowski. And Ernie Banks was just routine it. Nobody hit the ball real hard. People at Baltimore were always good to me. I came here as a bonus player and had no mindly experience. And they were real patient with men. It seemed like whether I did a good job or not, they were always really encouraging to me. And I always considered Baltimore is my baseball home time. The thing went over very well. And the stadium was full and everybody had a good time. Beyond that, the game itself, you remember, was all singles. They didn't have anybody clearing the basis with a Homeric blast. And so it came and went. It was only a little while afterward that we realized, maybe we should have made more fuss. The truth of it all is, we didn't appreciate the All-Star game then as much as we would now. Who would have thought that in 1958 that we would have to wait

many times five years before seeing it again. I think in some of the intervening years the situation was that the Orioles didn't necessarily want the All-Star game. It's an awful lot of trouble. And it makes for a certain amount of hard feeling because of course there are only so many tickets. And in 1958, the thing went over very well. And I was there and had a... One thing I'll never forget was 1988. The Ball Club had lost 21 consecutive games. It was the worst beginning to a season by far in the entire 100-plus-year history of baseball had never happened. It probably never will happen again. And the Orioles won a ball game and

promptly lost the next two before they came home. So they came home, a Monday night with Texas, which was not a big draw. The record was one and 23. And 50,000 people were here at the Ball Park. And the first batter of the game for Texas, you know, took a strike or whatever. And the crowd went... You know, and then ultimately he popped out. And I knew in the Bronx it's the most exciting broadcast I ever worked. And he pops it up and cows under it. And he makes the catch. And it was like the World Series had started. And certainly buoyed by that incredible home crowd which came out and created this amazing atmosphere, this incredible group of misfits that was just a very bad ball club. They were not won the ball game nine to four. They were at nine to one of the ninth inning. And I certainly think that the crowd had something to do with that. So I think...