1984 Baltimore Orioles season

1984 Baltimore Orioles
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionEast
BallparkMemorial Stadium
CityBaltimore, Maryland
Record85–78 (.525)
Divisional place5th
OwnersEdward Bennett Williams
General managersHank Peters
ManagersJoe Altobelli
TelevisionWMAR-TV
(Rex Barney, Brooks Robinson, Mel Proctor)
Home Team Sports
(Rex Barney, Mel Proctor)
RadioWFBR
(Jon Miller, Tom Marr)
← 1983 Seasons 1985 →

The 1984 Baltimore Orioles season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Orioles finishing fifth in the American League East with a record of 85 wins and 77 losses.

Offseason

  • February 7, 1984: Tom Underwood was signed as a free agent with the Baltimore Orioles.[1]

Regular season

  • May 6, 1984: Cal Ripken Jr. hit for the cycle in a game against the Texas Rangers.
  • Cal Ripken Jr. set an American League record for most assists by a shortstop with 583.
  • During the season, Mike Boddicker became the last pitcher to win at least 20 games in one season for the Orioles in the 20th century.[2]

Season standings

AL East
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Detroit Tigers 104 58 .642 — 53‍–‍29 51‍–‍29
Toronto Blue Jays 89 73 .549 15 49‍–‍32 40‍–‍41
New York Yankees 87 75 .537 17 51‍–‍30 36‍–‍45
Boston Red Sox 86 76 .531 18 41‍–‍40 45‍–‍36
Baltimore Orioles 85 77 .525 19 44‍–‍37 41‍–‍40
Cleveland Indians 75 87 .463 29 41‍–‍39 34‍–‍48
Milwaukee Brewers 67 94 .416 36½ 38‍–‍43 29‍–‍51

Record vs. opponents

1984 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

[10] [11] [12] [13] [14]

Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore — 6–7 8–4 7–5 7–6 7–6 5–7 7–6 5–7 5–8 6–6 9–3 9–3 4–9
Boston 7–6 — 9–3 7–5 10–3 7–6 3–9 9–4 6–6 7–6 7–5 4–8 5–7 5–8
California 4–8 3–9 — 8–5 8–4 4–8 6–7 8–4 4–9 8–4 7–6 9–4 5–8 7–5
Chicago 5–7 5–7 5–8 — 8–4 4–8 5–8 7–5 8–5 7–5 6–7 5–8 5–8 4–8
Cleveland 6–7 3–10 4–8 4–8 — 4–9 6–6 9–4 7–5 2–11 7–5 8–4 9–3 6–7–1
Detroit 6–7 6–7 8–4 8–4 9–4 — 7–5 11–2 9–3 7–6 9–3 6–6 10–2 8–5
Kansas City 7–5 9–3 7–6 8–5 6–6 5–7 — 6–6 6–7 5–7 5–8 9–4 6–7 5–7
Milwaukee 6–7 4–9 4–8 5–7 4–9 2–11 6–6 — 5–7 6–7 4–8 6–6 5–6 10–3
Minnesota 7–5 6–6 9–4 5–8 5–7 3–9 7–6 7–5 — 8–4 8–5 7–6 8–5 1–11
New York 8–5 6–7 4–8 5–7 11–2 6–7 7–5 7–6 4–8 — 8–4 7–5 6–6 8–5
Oakland 6–6 5–7 6–7 7–6 5–7 3–9 8–5 8–4 5–8 4–8 — 8–5 8–5 4–8
Seattle 3–9 8–4 4–9 8–5 4–8 6–6 4–9 6–6 6–7 5–7 5–8 — 10–3 5–7
Texas 3–9 7–5 8–5 8–5 3–9 2–10 7–6 6–5 5–8 6–6 5–8 3–10 — 6–6
Toronto 9–4 8–5 5–7 8–4 7–6–1 5–8 7–5 3–10 11–1 5–8 8–4 7–5 6–6 —


Opening Day starters

Notable transactions

  • August 14, 1984: Ron Jackson was signed as a free agent by the Orioles.[4]

Roster

1984 Baltimore Orioles roster
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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 R H Avg. HR
C Rick Dempsey 109 330 76 .230 11 34
1B Eddie Murray 162 588 180 .306 29 110
2B Rich Dauer 127 397 101 .254 2 24
SS Cal Ripken Jr. 162 641 195 .304 27 86
3B Wayne Gross 127 342 74 .216 22 64
LF Gary Roenicke 121 326 73 .224 10 44
CF John Shelby 128 383 80 .209 6 30
RF Mike Young 123 401 101 .252 17 52
DH Ken Singleton 111 363 78 .215 6 36

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
Al Bumbry 119 344 93 .270 3 24
John Lowenstein 105 270 64 .237 8 28
Floyd Rayford 86 250 64 .256 4 27
Jim Dwyer 76 161 41 .255 2 21
Lenn Sakata 81 157 30 .191 3 11
Todd Cruz 95 142 31 .218 3 9
Benny Ayala 60 118 25 .212 4 24
Dan Ford 25 91 21 .231 1 5
Joe Nolan 35 62 18 .290 1 9
Ron Jackson 12 28 8 .286 0 2
Jim Traber 10 21 5 .238 0 2
Vic Rodriguez 11 17 7 .412 0 2
Larry Sheets 8 16 7 .438 1 2
Orlando Sánchez 4 8 2 .250 0 1

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 BB
Mike Boddicker 34 261.1 20 11 2.79 128
Mike Flanagan 34 226.2 13 13 3.53 115
Storm Davis 35 225.0 14 9 3.12 105
Scott McGregor 30 196.1 15 12 3.94 67
Ken Dixon 2 13.0 0 1 4.15 8

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
Dennis Martínez 34 141.2 6 9 5.02 77
Bill Swaggerty 23 57.0 3 2 5.21 18
Jim Palmer 5 17.2 0 3 9.17 4
John Pacella 6 14.2 0 1 6.75 8

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Tippy Martinez 55 4 9 17 3.91 72
Sammy Stewart 60 7 4 13 3.29 56
Tom Underwood 37 1 0 1 3.52 39
Mark Brown 9 1 2 0 3.91 10
Nate Snell 5 1 1 0 2.35 7
Todd Cruz 1 0 0 0 0.00 0

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Rochester Red Wings International League Frank Verdi
AA Charlotte O's Southern League Grady Little and John Hart
A Hagerstown Suns Carolina League John Hart, Grady Little and Len Johnston
A-Short Season Newark Orioles New York–Penn League Jim Hutto
Rookie Bluefield Orioles Appalachian League Greg Biagini

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Charlotte

Japan tour

The Orioles made its second Yomiuri Shimbun-sponsored tour of Japan since 1971. The newspaper received approval from MLB on December 29, 1982 to invite the winner of the 1983 World Series to play 15 games against Nippon Professional Baseball competition, primarily the 1984 Japan Series champion. Yomiuri owner Tōru Shōriki originally wanted to invite the 1984 World Series winner, but eventually agreed to MLB Commissioner Bowie Kuhn's suggestion of the previous year's World Series champion. The exhibition matches were intended to be part of the golden jubilee celebration for the Yomiuri Giants which was owned by the tour's sponsor and another attempt by Shōriki for his team to make a legitimate claim at being world champions of the sport.[5]

The Orioles accepted the invitation on January 2, 1984,[6] 2+1⁄2 months after winning the 1983 World Series.[7] The Yomiuri was eventually left disappointed when both the Orioles and its Giants failed to qualify for the postseason with fifth- and third-place finishes respectively. Instead of the Giants for which the event's organizers had hoped, the opponent in the first five matches was the 1984 Japan Series champion Hiroshima Toyo Carp.[8]

Eight of the games featured both players who surpassed Lou Gehrig's consecutive games played streak. Cal Ripken Jr. and Sachio Kinugasa batted .219 and .143 respectively.[9]

The fifteenth and final exhibition contest originally scheduled for November 15 in Baltimore's sister city Kawasaki was cancelled due to rain.[10][11] Upon the Orioles' arrival in Tokyo on October 25, manager Joe Altobelli said he wanted his team to win at least 10 games.[12] The Orioles finished the tour with an 8–5–1 record,[11] including 4–1 each in head-to-head competition against the Giants and Carp.

Game Month Date Day Place Opponent W/L/D Score Orioles Pitcher of Record Notes
1 OCT 27 SA Tokyo Hiroshima Toyo Carp L 0–1 Mike Boddicker Winning pitcher Kazuhisa Kawaguchi singles in the game's only run in the second.[13]
2 OCT 28 SU Tokyo Hiroshima Toyo Carp W 5–3 Nate Snell
3 OCT 30 TU Tokorozawa Hiroshima Toyo Carp W 5–3 Bill Swaggerty
4 OCT 31 W Yokohama Hiroshima Toyo Carp W 7–5 Nate Snell Four-run rally erases 5–3 deficit with two outs in the ninth.[14]
5 NOV 1 TH Osaka Hiroshima Toyo Carp W 5–2 Mike Flanagan
6 NOV 3 SA Tokyo Yomiuri Giants W 7–4 Storm Davis
7 NOV 4 SU Nishinomiya Japan All-Stars L 4–5 Mike Boddicker
8 NOV 6 TU Okayama Japan All-Stars L 7–8 Sammy Stewart 5–2 lead disappears after giving up six runs in the eighth.[15]
9 NOV 7 W Hiroshima Yomiuri Giants/Hiroshima Toyo Carp D 5–5 –
10 NOV 9 F Kumamoto Yomiuri Giants W 11–6 Nate Snell
11 NOV 10 SA Kitakyushu Yomiuri Giants W 9–8 Tom Underwood
12 NOV 11 SU Fukuoka Yomiuri Giants W 13–9 Nate Snell
13 NOV 13 TU Nagoya Yomiuri Giants/Chunichi Dragons L 4–8 Dennis Martínez All four runs score on homers by John Lowenstein, Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken Jr.[16]
14 NOV 14 W Shizuoka Yomiuri Giants L 5–10 Mike Flanagan

Source: Baltimore Orioles 1985 Media Guide (scroll down to pages 43 through 46).

References

  1. ^ "Tom Underwood Stats".
  2. ^ Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.99, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  3. ^ "1984 Baltimore Orioles Roster by Baseball Almanac".
  4. ^ Ron Jackson page at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ "Toru Shoriki, owner of the Yomiuri Giants, the best...," United Press International (UPI), Wednesday, December 29, 1982. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  6. ^ "The world champion Baltimore Orioles are scheduled to tour...," United Press International (UPI), Monday, January 2, 1984. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  7. ^ Durso, Joseph. "Orioles Defeat Phillies, 5–0, and Win Series," The New York Times, Monday, October 17, 1983. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  8. ^ Haberman, Clyde. "'World Series' Loses Luster in Japan," The New York Times, Wednesday, October 31, 1984. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  9. ^ Holway, John B. "Japanese Baseball's Iron Outcast," The Washington Post, Sunday, September 17, 1995. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  10. ^ "The Baltimore Orioles, last year's World Series champions, will...," United Press International (UPI), Friday, September 28, 1984. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  11. ^ a b Burgess, John. "Baseball in Land of the Rising Sun," The Washington Post, Saturday, November 17, 1984. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  12. ^ "Orioles Look Anemic, Losing 1st to Carp, 1–0," The Washington Post, Sunday, October 28, 1984. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  13. ^ "Sports People: Japanese Stops Orioles," The New York Times, Sunday, October 28, 1984. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  14. ^ "The Baltimore Orioles scored four runs in the ninth...," United Press International (UPI), Wednesday, October 31, 1984. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  15. ^ "A collection of Japanese all-stars rallied for six runs...," United Press International (UPI), Tuesday, November 6, 1984. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  16. ^ "The Baltimore Orioles suffered their fourth defeat in their...," United Press International (UPI), Tuesday, November 13, 1984. Retrieved March 27, 2023.

Bibliography

  • Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.