Ronald Snyder - A Season to Forget: The Story of the 1988 Baltimore Orioles

Copyright 2019 by Ron Snyder

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Qualcom

Cover photo courtesy of the Baltimore Orioles

Print ISBN: 978-1-68358-262-5

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-68358-263-2

Printed in the United States of America

To my wife, Lori, and my children, William, Marissa, and Megan. Thank you for always being there for me, supporting me and motivating me to be a better husband, father, and person each day.

To my parents, brother, in-laws, and my entire extended family, thank you for having faith in me, being there for my family and offering me words of encouragement when needed.

CONTENTS

AUTHORS NOTE

Press boxes across the countryfrom the smallest community colleges to the largest NFL, NBA, and MLB stadium, and arenasare filled with talented sports journalists filing stories and relaying news of the teams they are covering.

There is an unwritten rule that there is no cheering in the press box. Reporters, justly so, are supposed to be objective observers who show no biases in the teams and games they cover. Such an approach leads to quality game recaps, feature stories, notebooks, and social media posts so that those who follow the teams can be informed on how they performed both on and off the field.

The unspoken mantra in the press box is while the newspaper reporters, columnists, sportscasters, talk show hosts, podcasters, and bloggers remain professional on the job, they likely got into this profession because they were, first and foremost, fans of the game. They likely dreamt of the day they would be paid to be front and center getting to watch and report on the favorite teams of their childhood in the Super Bowl, World Series, Stanley Cup, etc.

I was no different from any of those aspiring journalists. When I realized I was never going to be the next Larry Bird, playing small forward for the Boston Celtics, I thought the next best thing would be to cover the team for the Boston Globe .

While many children my age ran downstairs on Sunday mornings to catch the latest highlights from the previous nights games on SportsCenter , I was more interested in waiting for the Sports Reporters to come on TV. I envisioned myself one day sitting next to the likes of Bob Ryan, Mike Lupica, Mitch Albom, Dick Schaap, and Michael Wilbon, opining on the latest sports news and controversies of the day. I never quite made it to the Globe or ESPN, but I have been blessed to cover my hometown teams in Maryland and experience more than most who set out in this profession.

From reporting on the Army-Navy football game to watching the Ravens advance to the AFC Championship to covering Johns Hopkins mens lacrosse on its run toward an NCAA title, to following the rise of the University of Maryland womens basketball team under coach Brenda Frese, I have had the chance to be front and center for some of the biggest sports stories in Maryland over the past twenty years.

But to me, none of that was more exciting than getting to be in the press box covering the Baltimore Orioles when they advanced to the American League Championship Series against the Kansas City Royals in 2014. The Orioles were the American League East champions, having posted a record of 9666, which was 12 games better than the second-place (and dreaded) New York Yankees.

The divisional title would be the Orioles first since 1997 and came two years after the team snapped a streak of fourteen straight losing seasons. The Orioles fan base turned out in force to support a franchise which has a history and tradition as strong as just about any team in professional sports.

Even though the Orioles were swept by the Royals in that series, it was great to be covering a relevant baseball team again. That season reminded me of why I wanted to be a sports reporter in the first place. Unfortunately, as good as the Orioles were from 1966 to 1983, when they appeared in six World Series (winning three), they have been largely inconsistent in my lifetime.

This was especially the case during the formative years of my youth. I was just five years old when the Orioles last won a World Series and have no memories of them winning that championship. My first memories of the Orioles came in 1986 and 1987, when the team was in a state of decline.

The first Opening Day I can truly remember was in 1988. I remember going over the roster in the newspaper and trying to figure out whether a team with future Hall of Famers like Cal Ripken Jr. and Eddie Murray and veteran pitchers like Mike Boddicker and Scott McGregor could bounce back and get the Orioles back into contention. If just a few things went right, I thought at the time, my Orioles could surprise their critics.

Then Opening Day arrived and spring was in the air when the Orioles hosted the Milwaukee Brewers in front of a sellout crowd at old Memorial Stadium on 33rd Street in Baltimore. Unfortunately, that feeling of optimism switched into a sense of despair as the Orioles were routed 120.

Still, with 161 games to go, my then-nine-year-old self believed my beloved Orioles would come back the next day and get back on the winning track. The Orioles then lost again... and again... and again. The team then fired their manager six games into the season, yet they kept losing.

Most fans quickly became dismayed at a lost season. Not me. I would watch every game I could that aired on TV. And on the other nights I would listen to Jon Miller and Joe Angels call on my small portable radio tucked under my pillow and the volume low enough so my parents wouldnt know I was still awake.

Each night for twenty-one games I was disappointed, and each night I would repeat the same drill hoping they would finally get a win. Then on April 29, 1988, the Orioles finally won, and I ran around the house screaming and jumping for joy that the record-setting losing streak was over. Even at such a young age, I knew the Orioles were destined for a last-place finish, but I did not care. On that night, for that one moment, my team was a winner.

It was those memories and emotions that provided me with the motivation to write A Season to Forget: The Story of the 1988 Baltimore Orioles . This book combines my two sports lives: that of the fan and of the reporter. I took an objective look at how the Orioles fell so far and so fast over a five-year period. At the same time, I tried to tap into the enthusiasm of my nine-year-old self and use it to tell a story that every baseball fan of my generation vividly remembers. It is also a story fans today should read to offer perspective that when you think it cant get worse for your team, you only need to remember its not as bad as it was for the 1988 Baltimore Orioles... that is, unless you watched the 2018 Orioles lose a franchise-worst 115 games. At least that team actually won on Opening Day.