Back in 2011, I posted an article centered on Polaroid
pictures my father took of Baltimore Orioles players prior to a 1987 game at
Memorial Stadium. The promotion that
night allowed fans to take pictures of Orioles players on the field before the
start of the game. At the time I was a
young elementary school-aged fan who attended O’s games several times a year,
so my recollection of the actual game is very limited. In the comments section of my article, I
requested the exact date of the promotion so I could know the details and
outcome of the game. Fortunately, a few
months back a reader commented that they were also at the game and through a
1987 pocket schedule found online, they were able to provide me with the name
of the promotion – On Field Photo Night—as well as the date of the game—August
28, 1987. So, now knowing the exact date
the pictures were taken, I decided to re-post the photos.
Cal Ripken Jr.
Baltimore shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. was only a few days
removed from his twenty-seventh birthday in these pictures. Just six years into his career, Ripken had
quickly established himself as a superstar—picking up the AL Rookie of the Year
and MVP in his first two seasons. Though
a young man, Ripken already seemed aware of the responsibilities of being one
of the faces of the franchise and was just as courteous and polite as you would
expect, making sure everyone got photos of him before moving on to the next designated
picture-taking area. Ripken was beloved
by the fans and that admiration continued throughout his career.
Unfortunately for Ripken, the Orioles were in the midst of a
three-season stretch from 1986 to 1988 in which the team finished last or
next-to-last in the AL East Division. Several
players, such as Ripken, remained from Baltimore’s 1983 World Championship
club, yet the franchise had struggled to contend in the AL East in the seasons
following their World Series triumph. Going
into their August 28 game, the O’s sat in 6th place in the seven-team AL East
with a record of 58-69 – a full 18 games back of the Division lead. Facing Baltimore that night were the
California Angels who were only ten months removed from their heart-breaking
defeat at the hands of the Boston Red Sox in the previous year’s ALCS. After easily winning the AL West with 92 wins
in 1986, the 1987 incarnation of the Angels struggled to win and ranked 4th in
the division with a 63-65 record. Yet,
with no team running away with the West, the Halos sat just 3.5 games back of
first place.
Cal Ripken Jr. had a bit of an off-year in 1987, batting
just .252—at that point a career low for the young slugger. Nevertheless, Ripken was still able to
showcase the rare power he possessed as a shortstop, finishing the year with 27
home runs and 98 RBI while earning his fifth career All-Star selection. For that evening’s contest, Ripken took his
customary spot at short and hit third in the O’s batting order. Even then, Ripken’s presence in Baltimore’s
line up was a given, seeing as the slugger had not missed a game since May 29,
1982—a stretch of nearly 900 consecutive games and one that would continue on
for eleven more years, over 1,700 more games, and come to define the future
Hall of Famer’s career. Ripken got the
scoring started early that night for Baltimore, driving in leadoff hitter Jim
Dwyer with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 1st to put his team up
1-0. Aside from the sac fly, Ripken went
1 for 3 in the game.
Hitting behind Ripken in the order was first baseman Eddie Murray. After a decade with the team,
Murray and Baltimore were ready to go their separate ways. The combination of a public squabble with
Orioles owner Edward Bennett Williams, an injury-plagued 1986, and a slow start
to his 1987 campaign had turned the fans against Murray. One of my memories of seeing Murray play is
hearing the chorus of boos that rained down on the future Hall of Famer that
season. My sister and I were among the
most vocal supporters of Murray, chanting “Eddie! Eddie!” in our futile attempt
to counteract the jeers. Murray had
visited my first grade class a year or two before in his full O’s white and
orange home uniform—which looked cool on the field, but out of place among a group
of teachers and students. I was lucky
enough to have Murray call on me during a question and answer session with my
class. My question to him was, “Do teams
ever fight each other?” Murray’s answer
was a quick, “No.” I’ll forgive him for
fibbing to a group of young impressionable kids and not waxing poetic about the
bench brawls he witnessed or participated in.
While Ripken did his best to make sure all the fans got pictures of him,
I do not recall Murray even coming out on the field for the On Field Photo
Night promotion.
This picture has always been amusing to me. A lady stepped in front of my father while he
was snapping a photo of Ripken. Dad got
the picture but the future Hall of Famer was partially obscured by the illuminated
back of the lady’s head! Polaroid photos
were not cheap by 1987 standards – they cost a dollar per picture so my father
was none too pleased with wasting one on the lady’s head. I do remember him showing the lady the
picture and kidding with her about it. It’s
unfortunate that we had such a limited number of pictures, as aside from
Ripken’s professionalism and the lady accidentally photo-bombing this picture,
I have two other main memories from that night.
One is pitcher Eric Bell quickly walking across the front row of fans
taking pictures and clapping hands as he went by. Bell’s gesture seemed spontaneous and it’s
likely as a young hurler in his first full season, he probably wasn’t the most
comfortable being the center of attention.
Nevertheless, I was fortunate enough to be one of those fans whose hands
Bell clapped. Prior to learning the
actual date the game took place, I always thought Bell was the night’s starting
picture. My other main memory was O’s
legend Frank Robinson going through the front row of fans shaking hands. Robinson, who was serving as the team’s bench
coach at the time, had been voted into the Hall of Fame five years earlier
after a distinguished career in which he played significant roles in
Baltimore’s championship runs of 1966 and 1970.
As with Bell, I was lucky enough to be in the front row and receive
Robinson’s warm greeting. Thus far my
brief encounter with Robinson is the only time I have had the chance to shake
hands with a Hall of Famer. Unfortunately,
due to the limited number of Polaroid pictures in a cartridge, we were most
likely out of shots by the time Robinson came out so my handshake with the
legend was not photographed.
Billy Ripken
The most notable thing about the 1987 Orioles season is that
it marked the only time in major league history that a father simultaneously
managed two sons on the same team. After
three decades with the Orioles franchise in several different roles such as
player, coach, scout, and minor league manager, Cal Ripken Sr. finally got the
opportunity to manage the big league club in 1987. Ripken Sr. took over the team from Earl
Weaver who retired after a difficult 1986 season which saw the club keep tabs
with the division-leaders through early August before going 14-42 over its
final 56 games to finish last in the AL East with a 73-89 record. The team’s late season collapse sent the
future Hall of Fame manager Weaver into retirement. Unfortunately for Ripken Sr., the 1987 O’s
proved to be an uncompetitive team. After
a promising 26-20 start to the season, the 1987 O’s went on a disastrous 5-30
run which left them well behind the AL East leaders. By July 11, when Ripken Sr.’s son, Billy,
made his major league debut, the club sat in sixth place with a 34-52 record.
Billy Ripken proved to be one of the team’s few bright spots
during the season, providing strong defense at second base to form an
impressive double play combination with brother Cal. Billy also contributed in the batter’s box,
putting up solid offensive numbers while hitting out of the number two spot in
front of his older sibling. In fact,
Billy came into the August 28 game batting an excellent .310 with just one error
over his first 198 chances. The .310
average was a huge surprise since the rookie second baseman had hit .247 in
1,694 minor league at bats prior to his major league call up. The younger Ripken continued his solid
hitting on August 28, going 3 for 4 against the Angels and scoring on Ray
Knight’s two-run double in the bottom of the 3rd. Billy finished his rookie campaign with a
.308 average but his excellent hitting proved to be an aberration as he slumped
to .207 and .230 the following two seasons.
Billy rebounded in 1990, batting .291 to put together the best full
season of his career but was released after seeing his average drop back to .216
in 1991 and .230 in 1992. Ripken Sr.’s
managerial career proved to be short lived as he was fired after starting the
1988 season with six straight losses. However,
the club was apt to keep the loyal Ripken Sr., who had served the franchise in
a variety of roles and positively impacted so many within the
organization. Ripken Sr. returned to the
field for the 1989 season as the O’s third base coach, a position he held
through the 1992 season.
Jim Dwyer
Leading off for the Orioles on August 28 was designated
hitter Jim Dwyer. Already a 15-year
veteran in his seventh season with Baltimore, the 37 year-old Dwyer had carved
out a fine career as a platoon-hitting specialist against right-handed
pitchers. With righty pitcher Mike Witt
taking the hill for California, the left-handed hitting Dwyer drew the start at
DH and led off the bottom of the 1st with a single and reached second base on a
rare error from Angels’ center fielder Devon White. After advancing to third on Billy Ripken’s
single, Dwyer scored on Cal Ripken Jr.’s sacrifice fly. Dwyer struck out in his second at bat of the
day and initially remained in the game when lefty Chuck Finley was brought in
to relieve Witt. Dwyer grounded out
against Finley in the 4th and was replaced in the 7th by Alan Wiggins rather
than face the lefty a second time.
Over his seven seasons with Baltimore, Dwyer had proven to
be a valuable role player for the club. Aside
from filling in at DH, Dwyer was also an accomplished pinch hitter who could
play either one of the corner outfield positions. Used primarily against right-handed pitchers,
Dwyer was a difficult out and regularly posted strong on base percentage marks
in addition to possessing moderate power.
As a 37 year-old with limited speed, Dwyer was an unlikely choice to hit
leadoff but saw the majority of his plate appearances that year come out of the
top two spots in the batting order. The
1987 season was the year of the ‘rabbit ball’ in which batters hit home runs at
a record rate. Dwyer took full advantage
of the lively ball and finished the season with a career high 15 home runs in
just 281 plate appearances. In addition
to his power surge, Dwyer also hit .274 with a .371 OBP while scoring 54
times. Clean-shaven during most of his
career, the mustached-Dwyer is hard to recognize in this picture.
Larry Sheets and
Scott McGregor
Though standing side-by-side in this picture, during the
1987 season, the careers of outfielder Larry Sheets (on the left) and
left-handed pitcher Scott McGregor (to the right) were going in opposite
directions. In his third full season,
Sheets was in the midst of a breakout year which saw the slugger smack a
team-high 31 home runs while also leading the club with a .316 batting average
and 94 RBI. Sheets had shown potential
prior to 1987, hitting 36 longballs with a .271 average over 742 plate
appearances. Mostly used as DH in his
first two seasons, Sheets split time between left and right field in 1987. For the August 28 game, Baltimore started
Sheets in right and batted him fifth behind the team’s other main power-threats
Cal Ripken Jr. and Eddie Murray. Sheets
went 1 for 4 that day with a single in the bottom of the 3rd, scoring along
with Billy Ripken on Ray Knight’s two-run double to give Baltimore a 5-0 lead
over California.
By contrast, McGregor was having anything but a career-year
in 1987. Battling injuries and
ineffectiveness, McGregor finished the season with an ugly 6.64 ERA and 2-7
record. At the time of the August 28
game, McGregor was on the disabled list with shoulder inflammation. Whereas the normally clean-shaven Jim Dwyer
sported a mustache in his picture, we see McGregor—who spent the majority of
his career with hair above his lip—whisker free. The lack of facial hair certainly makes
McGregor look more youthful but at this point the 2,000-plus innings and a
decade of major-league pitching had taken their toll on the lefty. Aside from veteran hurler Mike Flanagan,
McGregor was the franchise’s most senior player—having towed the rubber for
Baltimore since 1976. McGregor was most
remembered for the World Series-clinching five-hit shutout he spun against the
Philadelphia Phillies in Game 5 of the 1983 Fall Classic. At the time of this picture, McGregor had won
138 career games—all in an O’s uniform. Sadly,
McGregor would not be able to add to that win total as he was released after
four ineffective starts the following season, bringing an end to the veteran
lefty’s career.
Unfortunately, Sheets would not be able to replicate his
excellent 1987 campaign, hitting just 17 home runs with a pedestrian .235
average in 842 plate appearances over the next two seasons. Baltimore traded Sheets prior to the 1990
season and the outfielder played his final campaign in 1993, never having hit
more than 10 longballs in a year after stroking 31 in 1987. My own lasting memory of Sheets will always
be a scorching line drive foul ball the slugger hit into the stands directly
into a seat in the row in front of me. My
family (and I) had seats near first base and Sheets’ foul liner acted as a
guided missile. I vividly remember my
mother and I only had enough time to duck and cover before we heard the ball
smash into one of the metal seats in front of us, leaving a dent. Fortunately, no one was sitting in the seat
when Sheets’ drive careened into it as the man who occupied the chair that day
was getting refreshments at the time. When
the man returned to his seat, his wife told him about Sheets’ line drive and
showed him the dent in the chair. The
man tried his best to play it off but you could tell from his reaction—a
relieved ‘huh huh’—that he knew he was lucky to be out of his seat or Sheets’
drive may have dented his face.
Mike Boddicker
At the time of this picture, right-handed pitcher Mike Boddicker was in his fifth full season and just a few days removed from his
thirtieth birthday. With veteran hurlers
Mike Flanagan and Scott McGregor declining, Boddicker became the pitching
staff’s ace, earning his first Opening Day starting assignment in 1987. Boddicker did not get credit for the Opening
Day win but pitched well, lasting into the 8th inning while allowing just one
run in the team’s 2-1 victory over the Texas Rangers. Boddicker finished 1987 with a 10-12 record
and 4.18 ERA. Although 1987 was not one
of Boddicker’s better years, the righty led the beleaguered O’s starting
rotation in virtually every important category including games started, innings
pitched, strike outs, wins, and ERA. Moreover,
Boddicker’s 226 innings pitched were 61 frames more than any other Baltimore
hurler.
Boddicker was not the O’s starting pitcher for the On Field
Photo Night, as his turn in the rotation came up the following day. Taking the hill for Baltimore on August 28
was rookie John Hayban, who moved from the bullpen into the starting rotation
to replace the injured Dave Schmidt. Opposing
the rookie Hayban that night was California’s staff ace Mike Witt who had
brought the Halos to within one out of the AL Pennant during the previous
year’s ALCS. However, through his first
four innings Hayban looked more like a staff ace than a rookie—holding the
Angels hitless while allowing just one walk.
By contrast, the veteran Witt struggled against Baltimore, giving up a
sac fly to Cal Ripken Jr., surrendering a two-home run to rookie Mike Hart, and
a two-run double to Ray Knight before being lifted after three innings for
reliever Chuck Finley with California trailing 5-0.
Terry Crowley
Hitting coach Terry Crowley, pictured here shaking hands
with the aforementioned Mike Boddicker, spent the bulk of his 15-year major-league
playing career with the Orioles. After
retiring as a player following the 1983 season, Crowley returned to the majors
as Baltimore’s hitting coach in 1985. During
his playing career, Crowley filled a role similar to that of Jim Dwyer and was
often used as a left-handed hitting specialist brought in to face righty
hurlers. The Baltimore offense struggled
during the 1987 season, ranking 13th out of 14 AL teams in runs scored, despite
having the third highest number of home runs in the league. Crowley served as the O’s hitting coach until
he and most of the coaching staff were relieved of their duties following the
team’s disastrous 107-loss 1988 season. Crowley
returned to the Orioles for a second go-around as the club’s hitting coach from
1999 to 2010 before stepping down to take another job within the
organization. Coincidentally, Crowley’s
two tours of duty as Baltimore’s hitting coach each came during very difficult
periods of O’s baseball when the franchise struggled to field competitive teams. However, Crowley was Minnesota’s hitting
coach when the Twins won the World Series in 1991.
Alan Wiggins
Prior to knowing the actual date of On Field Photo Night,
the presence of Billy Ripken and Alan Wiggins in these pictures helped me
narrow down the time frame to between July 11 and August 31—with the former
date being the day Ripken was called up from AAA Rochester and made his major
league debut, and the latter being the night of the O’s final game before
Wiggins was suspended for the remainder of the 1987 season.
At his best, Wiggins could be an excellent leadoff hitter
and base-stealing threat. In fact,
Wiggins was a key contributor to the 1984 NL Pennant-winning San Diego Padres,
scoring 106 runs and swiping 70 bags. However,
at his worst, Wiggins, who battled drug problems throughout his professional
career, could be unreliable and a disruptive presence on a team. The Padres were patient with Wiggins’ drug
problems and even signed the speedster to a four-year contract extension prior
to the 1985 season. Unfortunately, just
a few months after signing the contract, Wiggins went AWOL and resurfaced in a
drug rehabilitation center. Despite
having just signed Wiggins to a new contract, after his latest drug-related
issues, the Padres refused to allow the speedster to rejoin the team and traded
him to the Orioles for two minor league players.
In Wiggins, Baltimore saw a long term replacement for both
Rich Dauer at second base and Al Bumbry at leadoff. Wiggins hit well in his first season with the
O’s, batting .285 with 30 stolen bases but struggled mightily on defense. Wiggins was briefly demoted to AAA Rochester
the following season and finished the year with just 21 stolen bases and a .251
average. To start the 1987 season,
Wiggins platooned with Rick Burleson at second base and shared DH duties with
Mike Young and Jim Dwyer. However, when
Baltimore released Burleson and promoted Billy Ripken from AAA Rochester on
July 11, Wiggins no longer saw time at second--being relegated to pinch hitting
and pinch running roles.
Wiggins entered the August 28 game in the bottom of the 7th
as a pinch hitter, replacing Jim Dwyer. By
this point in the game, the Orioles had blown a 5-0 lead. Baltimore starter John Hayban gave up RBI
singles to Jack Fimple and Brian Downing in the top of the 5th before exiting
the game after allowing a leadoff home run to Wally Joyner to start the
6th. O’s reliever Mike Griffin then
surrendered a two-run home run to Dick Schofield to tie the score, 5-5. In his only at bat of the game, Wiggins flew
out to second base against Chuck Finley. Wiggins finished the 1987 season with
a career low .232 average but led the O’s—who had very few base stealing
threats—for the third straight year in swiped bags with 20. However, Wiggins’ off-the-field issues reared
their ugly head as the season drew to a close.
A few weeks before On Field Photo Night, Wiggins was suspended by the
club for three days after being involved in altercations with Jim Dwyer and Cal
Ripken Sr. On August 31, MLB
commissioner Peter Ueberroth suspended Wiggins indefinitely for failing a drug
test. Finally, on September 29,
Baltimore cut ties with Wiggins, releasing the troubled speedster. After his release, Wiggins never again played
professional baseball.
As 1987 was Wiggins’ last professional season, I knew this
picture was taken within days or weeks of his final game. When I found out the exact date of On Field
Photo Night was August 28, I immediately brought up Wiggins’ Baseball Reference
page and confirmed that this was in fact the final game of his career. Tragically, Wiggins passed away from
AIDS-related complications at age 32 on January 6, 1991. On a more heartwarming note, Wiggins’ three
children followed in their father’s athletic footsteps, each playing college
basketball. His youngest child, Candice,
spent eight season playing in the WNBA.
Terry Kennedy and
Mark Williamson
Catcher Terry Kennedy and right-handed relief pitcher Mark Williamson are fittingly pictured together since the two came to Baltimore in
the trade that sent hurler Storm Davis to San Diego. Kennedy brought a fine resume to the Orioles,
having already earned three All-Star selections as a member of the Padres. My sister and I found Kennedy hard to warm up
to as the team’s catcher since he replaced our favorite O’s player Rick Dempsey
who had won the 1983 World Series MVP and whose entertaining antics were often
included in video montages played between innings. Nevertheless, Kennedy hit .264 with 13 home
runs before the All-Star break and made his fourth trip to the Mid-Summer
Classic, joining Cal Ripken Jr. as the team’s only two representatives. Kennedy slumped in the season’s second half
to finish 1987 with 18 home runs and a .250 batting average. Kennedy played catcher and batted seventh
against the Angels, going hitless in four plate appearances that night.
While Kennedy was one of the Padres’ most recognizable
players at the time of the trade, righty reliever Williamson never pitched at
the major league level for San Diego. Williamson
put together a decent rookie season for Baltimore, going 8-9 with a 4.03 ERA in
125 innings. The rookie hurler pitched
almost exclusively out of the bullpen for Baltimore, with all but two of his 61
appearances coming in relief. Williamson
entered the August 28 game in the top of the 9th with two outs to face veteran
slugger Ruppert Jones. Williamson was
Baltimore’s fourth pitcher of the game, relieving lefty Jack O’Connor who had
pitched two perfect innings to keep the score even at 5-5. Williamson got Jones to fly out to left to
preserve the tie and send the game to the bottom of the 9th.
Kennedy’s second half hitting struggles followed him into
the 1988 season and the veteran catcher found himself platooned with Mickey
Tettleton. Following his difficult 1988
campaign, Baltimore traded Kennedy to the San Francisco Giants for Bob Melvin
in a swap of catchers. Conversely, Williamson became a mainstay in the O’s
bullpen, spending his entire eight-year major league career with the team. Williamson played a key role in Baltimore’s
surprising second place finish in 1989, picking up 9 saves with a 10-5 record
and 2.93 ERA in 107.1 innings.
Fred Lynn
After the Orioles followed up their 1983 World Series
triumph with a disappointing 5th place finish in 1984, the Baltimore front
office wasted little time making moves that they felt would upgrade the team’s
on-the-field performance and spur the club back to another AL East title. Within the space of a week in December, the
franchise signed relief pitcher Don Aase and outfielders Lee Lacy and Fred Lynn
to free agent contracts. The biggest
move of the three was the signing of Lynn, a former Rookie of the Year and MVP
winner, to a 5-year 6.8 million dollar contract.
Lynn played center field and generally batted fifth in the
line up behind Ripken and Murray to give the O’s a solid heart of the
order. If Lynn had any ‘buyer beware’
tag on him, it was his reputation for getting injured and not doing everything
he could to stay in the line-up. Unfortunately
for the Orioles, Lynn lived up to his ‘oft-injured’ reputation and missed ample
time in each of his first two seasons with the team, only playing in 124 and
112 games in 1985 and 1986, respectively.
Lynn’s inability to stay in the line-up made him something of an
anti-Cal Ripken Jr., with the 1987 season no different as the center fielder
had already missed thirty-plus games heading into late August. Somewhat fittingly, Lynn did not start the
August 28 game against the Angels. In
Lynn’s place, rookie Mike Hart started in center field and hit a two-run homer
off Witt in the 2nd inning to put Baltimore up 3-0. With one out and the score tied 5-5 in the
bottom of the 9th, Lynn entered the game as a pinch hitter for Hart. Lynn stepped in to face Angels pitcher Chuck
Finley who had held the O’s scoreless for five full frames since relieving Witt
in the 4th. Lynn took Finley deep for a
pinch-hit, game winning walk off home run.
For his one-third of an inning of work in the top of the 9th, Mark
Williamson was credited with the win. Coincidentally,
the batter on deck when Lynn’s longball ended the game was Alan Wiggins. Lynn finished the 1987 season with 23 home
runs and 60 RBI but hit just .253. The
injury-plagued outfielder continued to miss time over the season’s last month
and ended the year with just 111 games played. Interestingly enough, 1987
was the fourth consecutive season Lynn finished with exactly 23 round-trippers.
Following the August 28 game, the Orioles and Angels
struggled mightily—putting together the two worst records over the remainder of
the 1987 season with respective marks of 8-26 and 12-21. Baltimore’s late season slide gave them a final
record of 67-95 and slotted them 6th in the AL East, a full 31 games behind the
division-winning Detroit Tigers. Things
would get worse before they would get better for the Orioles as they opened the
1988 season with six straight losses, costing manager Cal Ripken Sr. his
job. Baltimore replaced Ripken Sr. with
O’s icon Frank Robinson but the losing continued and the club set an AL record
with 21 consecutive defeats as well as the major league record for most losses
to start a season. With the team a
distant last in the AL East, the club decided to trade some of their veterans
for younger players, dealing away Mike Boddicker at the end of July and Jim
Dwyer and Fred Lynn at the end of August.
Baltimore finished 1988 in the AL East cellar with an abysmal 54-107
record. Following the season, the youth
movement continued with more veterans, including Terry Kennedy, either traded
away or not re-signed. Finally in
December, the franchise made its boldest move, dealing away their disgruntled
superstar, Eddie Murray to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Despite the trade of many of the team’s veteran players, the
1989 season wound up being a surprising success for the Orioles. Baltimore spent most of the summer atop the
AL East before surrendering the division lead to the Toronto Blue Jays, who
outpaced them by two games. The club’s
stunning turnaround from a horrid 54-107 to a solid 87-75 earned Frank Robinson
the AL Manager of the Year Award. However,
by the time O’s tasted the unlikely success of 1989, many of the players from
the 1987 squad had moved on. In fact, of
the eleven team members pictured from the On Field Photo Night only Larry
Sheets, Mark Williamson, and the two Ripken brothers remained. The August 28 game was also one of the last
games I saw at Memorial Stadium as my family moved out of state the following
spring. Fortunately, I held onto these
pictures which captured the prime of the legendary Cal Ripken Jr., the
beginnings of rookies Billy Ripken and Mark Williamson, and the final days Scott
McGregor’s and Alan Wiggins’ careers.
----by John Tuberty
Follow me on the Twitter @BloggerTubbs
Polaroids taken by Jack Tuberty
Other Photo credit: 1988 Topps Eddie Murray, 1988
Topps Eric Bell, 1972 Topps Frank Robinson, 1988 Donruss Ripken Family, 1988
Score Mike Witt, 1988 Score John Hayban
Sources: Baseball Reference, Baseball Reference Play Index, Baseball Prospectus, SABR, Google News Archive, The Spartanburg Herald-Journal, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Baltimore Sun, The Washington Post, The Trading Card Database, John Eisenburg-From 33rd Street to Camden Yards: An Oral History of the Baltimore Orioles (McGraw-Hill)
Other articles by Tubbs Baseball Blog:
