What a shame! You would think, in this fiftieth anniversary of the Baltimore Orioles, the schedule makers might have known better. Perhaps, with a visit to a palm reader, or maybe a crystal ball aficionado, they, no doubt, would have been commanded to earmark the Yankees for a visit to Camden Yards -- come the twentieth day of September. For whenever the Bronx Bombers have invaded that date, remarkable things have occurred. Perhaps supernatural.
Take 1958, for instance. Ike was in the White House, and a 36 year old fellow, who some thought was washed-up, found himself claimed off waivers from the Cleveland Indians. His name, Hoyt Wilhelm. With his fluttering knuckleball, he stupefied Mickey Mantle and his mighty mates by tossing the first no-hitter in modern Orioles' history -- a 1-0 gem on Saturday, September 20.
Fast forward to 1961. The spotlight shined on a humble man born in Hibbing, Minnesota -- Bob Dylan's hometown. After all, when one chases the legend of Babe Ruth, a thousand shadows will hover. And the biggest shadow of all was Commissioner Ford Frick's dictum: 154 GAMES OR ELSE! So, on the night of September 20, the Yankees played contest number 154 in Baltimore's Memorial Stadium. Poor Joey Bishop, whose sitcom was supposed to premiere on NBC that evening, but the peacock network televised the game instead. Poor Roger Maris, with 58 home runs, he needed two more to catch the Bambino and avoid that dreaded asterisk. Sensationally, he hit a round-tripper off Oriole ace Milt Pappas -- a shot that landed halfway up the right field bleachers. However, homer number 60 wouldn't come until six days later while the sixty-first came October 1, both in Yankee Stadium. And oh that terrible *, how it would haunt Mr. Maris and baseball for years to come.
Generations pass. Suddenly, it's 1998, and Mr. Steinbrenner's Pinstripes pay a late season visit to Baltimore. A Sunday evening on September 20, and the Yankees beat the Orioles 5-4. Yawn? Not so fast; it was not just another game. Something happened that night, something that broke a chain linking way back to May 30, 1982. For in that time span, Cal Ripken played 2,632 consecutive games, 501 more than the great Lou Gehrig. Yet Ripken took himself out of the lineup. And the world saw how both teams, not to mention a capacity crowd, gave number 8 a long and standing ovation.
So, in the future, if the Yankees should ever come to Baltimore on that twentieth day of the ninth month, get out your Ouija boards -- just to be safe. It's a good bet something mystical will occur.
» I am a longtime Oriole fan and author of the book, "Baltimore's Grand Inquisition."
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Copyright © 2004 by Jerome Cohen. Posted February 8, 2005.
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