Matt Wieters? Nah, it’s not Matt Wieters. It’s the Detroit Tigers, stupid. There’s just something about the Tigers coming to town that creates a buzz in Bawlmer, hon.
Friday night at Camden Yards reminded some of us who are old enough to remember and too old to let go, of Friday, June 22, 1979 at Memorial Stadium, the night Orioles Magic was born.
Almost exactly 30 years ago, the Tigers were in town for a four-game series with the Orioles, and though they didn’t really begin to realize it until this particular weekend, those Orioles were headed to the World Series; the Tigers were headed to last place. The 2009 Tigers? They may well end up in the World Series, while these Orioles? No. Of course not. Not for a while, anyway.
Every Orioles fan, old enough to remember and too old to let go, remembers it as though it were last Friday: Two outs, bottom of the ninth, Eddie Murray on first, when third baseman Doug DeCinces, in front of 35,456 fans, launched Dave Tobik’s 2-0 pitch over the leftfield wall to give the Orioles an electrifying victory over Sparky Anderson’s Tigers. The mob scene at the plate and the feeling that immediately gripped an entire city, are pressed between the pages of Orioles fans’ minds; sweetened through the ages just like wine.
“That home run was just another great moment in my career, a great experience,” DeCinces told Craig Hest of “Press Box” upon his induction into the Orioles Hall of Fame. “It wasn’t so much hitting a home run to win the game — I had done that before — but it was the reaction the fans had and the whole city had. To be a part of that is a very special moment in baseball, and you can ask an Orioles fan and they can almost to this day, tell you where they were and what they were doing.”
(I remember, and so does Bill Feeney. He darn near drove off the road as we listened and hooted along to Bill O’Donnell’s call on the radio.)
The Magic had been born, but began to grow the next night when a another big crowd turned out, and in the first game of a doubleheader Eddie Murray hit a game-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth off of John Hiller. The second game was a little different, but the result was the same as pinch-hitter Terry Crowley singled off of Tobik, who had a really bad weekend, to score John Lowenstein with the game-winner in the bottom of the eighth.
Something had happened that instantly converted Baltimore from a Colts town into an Orioles town. Belief grew. What had been so-so attendance began to soar, and the last great era of Orioles baseball was under way, all because of Friday, June 22, 1979, and the days that would follow.
“Those moments, I can relive those moments over and over again,” DeCinces said. “It was just a very special time for me.”
Certainly, rookie catcher Matt Wieters will relive last Friday night over and over again as he made his Orioles debut in front of 42,704 fans in Camden Yards, who not only cheered his every move, but the every move of his teammates, who not only are playing winning baseball, but are getting younger and younger each day: Brad Bergesen, who, along with Luke Scott, was the real star of Friday’s game; Jason Berken, Nolan Reimold, David Hernandez, now Wieters. And there are more coming. There are more on the way.
Friday night’s crowd was electric, and it was the baseball-smart crowd Baltimore is known for. You could tell that by their reactions to certain pitches and situations, and that is sometimes just as much fun to experience as a game-winning home-run roar.
But it wasn’t just about the Orioles’ 7-2 win. Or Wieters. Or Scott’s two homers, or even Bergesen’s near complete game. It’s about what’s happening. To paraphrase that wonderful old song, something magic’s happening.
A new era of Orioles baseball is finally ascending. It’s not just Matt Wieters; it’s all of them. The fruits of a brand new and productive farm system are being harvested in the form of good, young baseball players, who are being taught how to play the game the same way — dare we say it, The Oriole Way? They’re being brought up together — which is sheer Andy MacPhail brilliance because it doesn’t put too much pressure on any one young player — and it’s coming together for what looks to be a bright future.
Sure, the fans are excited to see Wieters, but they’ve been thirsting more for what’s happening in the big picture. They’ve tired of hearing about The Plan. Now they delight in seeing it play out before their very eyes.
That’s what that buzz was last Friday night, and just as it did that magical Friday night 30 years ago with the Detroit Tigers in town, that buzz and the big picture will continue to grow.
Mike Burke is sports editor of the Cumberland Times-News. Contact Mike Burke at mburke@times-news.com.
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