Out of it by May: 1982 Baltimore Orioles

Posted by Major League Jerk

May 13, 2008

Despite our rough exterior, we here at Major League Jerk have a fondness for baseball history and as such we will take some time to look back at some interesting, lesser known bits of trivia.

One of my least favorite expressions as a fan (but not a commentator not surprisingly) is the phrase “Out of it by May” meaning a team that is so obviously bad that one might not even considering the team past May 1st. For Part 1 in the series, I present to you the 1982 Baltimore Orioles.

On May 1st, 1982, the Baltimore Orioles had a record of 6-13 and were 7 games out of first place in the AL East. By May 23rd, they bottomed out at 9 games back, aided by the Boston Red Sox’s impressive 28-13 start. And just as the Red Sox started to fade, the Brewers started to surge. The Orioles looked out of it by mid-April, never mind May.

The Orioles’ offense started slow that season. Eddie Murray had only 6 of his 32 homeruns by June 1st. Cal Ripken Jr., in his rookie season and starting at third base to start the year, had only 3 of his 28 in the same span after hitting a homerun in his first at bat of the season.

Some of the start may have been atributed to issues off the field. Earl Weaver, the legendary Orioles manager, famous for his claim that baseball was about “pitching, defense, and three run homeruns” announced in March that he was going to retire at the end of the year. The struggles over where to play Ripken may have affected his offensive outcome as he settled into a nice groove after he took over shortstop for good in July. There was enough drama surrounding this team that it’s no wonder that people still remember it fondly.

Seriously this division race had all the makings of cliche movie. The Orioles had a roster straight out of central casting: the young rookie with a ton of talent but needing to learn the ropes; the MVP candidate who wasn’t performing up to expectations early; the veteran pitcher nearing the end of his career; enough contribution guys like Jim Dwyer, Ken Singleton, John Lowenstein, Gary Roenicke, and Benny Ayala. And a large enough deficit to surmount to add to the excitement.

On August 3rd, the Milwaukee Brewers took over the division from the Red Sox. This Brewers team was loaded: Paul Molitor, Robin Yount, Ben Oglivie, Cecil Cooper. They led the league in runs scored, homeruns, and OPS. If this was the Bad News Bears, the Brewers would have been the Yankees.

Cut to the montage video of people having fun set to popular music. From August 1st to the end of the season, Eddie Murray had 83 hits 18 homeruns, 12 doubles and an OPS+ of 180 (!). He was hitting everything he saw. Nobody wanted to pitch to him. He had 31 walks, 7 of which were intentional. Ripken came on too, ripping 14 homers after from the start of August. Next thing you know, this team is gaining on the Brew Crew. They put together win streaks of seven and ten. They’re charging like nobody’s business.

On Sept. 4th, they passed the Boston Red Sox and stood 4.5 games back. They kept charging, but the Brewers, with their lineup weren’t exactly tripping over their own feet. You put Paul Molitor and Robin Yount into a lineup and they’re not gonna fall flat on their faces.

So it comes down to the final series of the season. The Orioles are three games back with a four game series against the Brewers. And what happens? The sweep the first three games. They tie the Brewers heading into the last fucking game of the season. And it’s set up perfectly. The Orioles send out Jim Palmer, the only man to win a World Series game in three decades. Sure he’s old but he’s been a reliable veteran like Eddie Harris. And the Brewers are sending out future Hall of Famer Don Sutton who they traded for at the end of August (which makes it even more evil somehow–also, trade deadline? WTF?).

I imagine the game thusly: Palmer goes out and struggles early. The O’s are down by like two runs, but then Palmer reaches down deep, and spends his best stuff before handing the ball off to Weaver and saying, “that’s all I got, Skip.” And then Weaver looks at him with this respectful eye, gives him a nod of the head; maybe there’s a knot in his throat or something, I don’t know if people cried back then. And then Murray or Ripken come out and rip a game winner over the fence. In your face “out of it by May” predicting assholes!

Alas, this comeback goes down in bed wetting history. The Brewers crush the O’s 10-2 including a 5 run 9th inning. Palmer brought a gas can with him to work that day (I knew that was a bad promotion) and lights the mound on fire.

But the best part is that after the team leaves the field, they go into the dugout and the crowd of 51,000+ sticks around. They stay in their seats and start cheering until the team comes back out onto the field like that scene in Little Big League. They’re cheering for 45 minutes by some accounts. The players come back out onto the field and the cheering increases and the crowd roars even louder as Earl Weaver climbs back up the steps. It’s wild and people are going crazy. Baseball!

So fuck you and your “out of it by May” bullshit. This was a great season even if they didn’t win it all and it’s so much better because they looked like they had no shot.

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