1969 Baltimore Orioles: The Team That Couldn't Lose, But Did!

Today we’re going to step back in time to the year 1969.

On January 12, 1969, the New York Jets defeated the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl lll. It’s still one of the biggest upsets in NFL history.

In April 1969, the number of American troops in Vietnam reached its highest point, at approximately 543,400.
On July 20, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon.

On August 15, 1969 hundreds of thousands of people flocked to Woodstock, New York for a three-day music festival.
While all this was happening, the Baltimore Orioles were having one of the best seasons in MLB history.

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1969 Baltimore Orioles

After winning the World Series in 1966, the Orioles struggled in 1967, finishing the season with a 76–85 record. They bounced back in 1968 with a 91–71 record, but they were a distant second to the Detroit Tigers who finished the season twelve games ahead of Baltimore.

The Orioles started the 1969 season with new Manager Earl Weaver, who was hired midway through the 1968 season. The team was loaded with talent, including three future Hall of Famers, pitcher Jim Palmer, right fielder Frank Robinson, and third baseman Brooks Robinson. By the end of June, the Orioles were 55–21. No other team in the American League was even close to them.

After the All-Star Break

The All-Star Game was played on July 23 and six Orioles players made the team. Center fielder Paul Blair, second baseman Davey Johnson, first baseman Boog Powell, third baseman Brooks Robinson, right fielder Frank Robinson, and pitcher Dave McNally.

By the end of July, the Orioles had a 15-game lead over the Tigers in the newly formed Eastern Division with a 72–31 record. From August 30 to September 25th, the team won 19 of 24 games.

The Orioles finished the regular season with a 109–53 record and were touted as one of the best teams in MLB history. Boog Powell and Frank Robinson had monster seasons. Powell had 37 home runs, 121 RBIs, and a .304 batting average. Robinson had 32 home runs, 100 RBIs, and a .308 batting average.

Paul Blair hit 26 home runs, Brooks Robinson drove in 84 runs and left fielder Don Buford batted .291. While these stats may not seem overly impressive by today’s standards, remember that this was during an era when pitching ruled.

First MLB Playoffs

Speaking of pitching, the Orioles had some of the best pitchers in baseball. Mike Cuellar had a 23–11 record with a 2.38 ERA and was voted co-winner of the Cy Young Award winner. Dave McNally won 20 games and Jim Palmer had a 2.34 ERA.
1969 would be the first year Major League Baseball had playoffs. Baltimore would face the Minnesota Twins, the American League Western Division Champions.

The Twins didn’t go down easy in game one. Frank Robinson hit a solo home run off pitcher Jim Perry in the fourth inning to give Baltimore a 1–0 lead, but the Twins tied the score in the top of the fifth. Shortstop Mark Belanger, an eight-time gold glove winner not known for his hitting, surprised everyone by hitting a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth to give Baltimore a 2–1 lead.

Tony Olivia hit a two-run homer off Mike Cuellar in the top of the seventh to give the Twins a 3–2 lead. In the bottom of the ninth, Boog Powell hit a 400-foot blast to send the game into extra innings. In the bottom of the 12th, Paul Blair laid down a bunt that scored Mark Belanger from third base, giving the Orioles a hard-fought 4–3 win. Mike Cuellar pitched eight innings and gave up only three hits. Third baseman Brooks Robinson had four hits.

Game two was a pitcher’s duel between the Twins’ Dave Boswell and the Orioles’ Dave McNally. McNally pitched the entire game, giving up only three hits and no runs, while Boswell pitched 10 2/3 scoreless innings. With two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th inning pinch hitter Curt Motton drove in Boog Powell for the winning run to put Baltimore up two games to zero.

Game three was never in question as the Orioles won easily 11–2. Pitcher Jim Palmer earned the win and had plenty of support as the Orioles had 18 hits. Paul Blair played a great game, hitting a home run and driving in 5 of the 11 runs.
And so the stage was set for the World Series. I was seven years old and it’s the first World Series I remember watching.

The Orioles would take on the New York Mets, who had finished the regular season with a 100–62 record and swept the Atlanta Braves three games to zero in the NLCS. The Orioles were heavily favored to win the Series. The starting pitchers were Cy Young award winners Mike Cuellar for the Orioles and Tom Seaver for the Mets.

Don Buford got the Birds on the scoreboard first with a solo home run. Baltimore scored three more runs in the bottom of the fourth, and Mets Manager Gil Hodges removed Tom Seaver after the fifth inning. The Mets scored a run in the top of the seventh inning, and relievers Don Cardwell and Ron Taylor held the Orioles scoreless for the remainder of the game, but their four runs were enough for a 4–1 victory. Mike Cuellar pitched a complete game and allowed only six hits.

After winning four games in a row against quality opponents the Orioles were feeling confident, maybe too confident. Dave McNally and Jerry Koosman were slated as the starting pitchers for game two. Neither team could generate much offense in the first three innings, but in the bottom of the fourth, Don Clendenon hit a solo home run to give the Mets a 1–0 lead.

Meanwhile, Jerry Koosman held the Orioles hitless for six full innings. Paul Blair broke up the no-hitter with a single in the seventh inning. Blair then stole second base and was driven in by Brooks Robinson. But in the top of the ninth inning, the Mets scored a run to take a 2–1 lead.

But Baltimore wasn’t done yet. With two outs, Frank Robinson and Boog Powell drew walks, knocking Koosman out of the game. But reliever Ron Taylor got Brooks Robinson to ground out, evening the series, one game to one.

Despite losing game two, the Orioles felt confident about winning game three with one of the best pitchers in baseball on the mound. Jim Palmer had a 2.34 ERA and a 16–4 record despite missing almost two months of the season with a back injury.

But the Mets rocked Palmer early and led 3–0 after two innings. The big bats of Baltimore got hot in the fourth inning. Frank Robinson singled and Boog Powell got Robinson to third base with a single of his own. Catcher Elrod Hendricks drilled a Gary Gentry pitch to deep left center but Tommie Agee robbed him with an amazing diving catch.

The Mets added another run in the sixth inning but the Orioles were far from done. They loaded the bases in the seventh inning and Gentry was removed in favor of reliever Nolan Ryan. Paul Blair hit a shot to right center field but again Agee made a diving catch to end the inning.

The Mets added another run in the eighth and won 5–0. It wasn’t so much that the Orioles were playing poorly as the Mets playing above anyone’s expectations.

The game four pitching matchup was a rematch between Mike Cuellar and Tom Seaver. In the second inning, Cuellar gave up a solo home run to Don Clendenon. From that point on, both pitchers showed why they were Cy Young award winners as neither team could score a run. The Orioles finally scored a run in the top of the ninth inning and would have scored more if not for a spectacular catch by right fielder Ron Swaboda.

The Mets were held scoreless in the bottom of the ninth and the game went into extra innings. In the bottom of the tenth, the Mets had runners on first and second base. Pinch hitter J.C. Martin bunted and relief pitcher Pete Richert fielded it and threw to first for what should have been an easy out, but the ball hit Martin on the wrist and bounced into right field. Pinch runner Rod Gasper scored from second base and the Mets won 2–1.

Stellar Orioles' Pitching

One could certainly not blame the Orioles’ pitching for the losses. The Orioles weren’t hitting. Some of their offensive struggles were due to the Mets’ outstanding pitching and even when their bats did get hot, they were robbed of scoring runs by the Mets’ defense.

In game five, Jerry Koosman, winner of game two, got the start for the Mets, while Dave McNally started for Baltimore. McNally shut down the Mets in the first two innings and hit a two-run home run in the top of the third inning. Frank Robinson added a solo shot to give the Orioles an early 3–0 lead.

McNally had only allowed three hits through five innings but in the sixth Don Clendenon hit a two-run homer and the Mets were only one run behind.

Meanwhile, Koosman had only let up one hit since the third inning. Another unlikely hero emerged for the Mets in the bottom of the seventh inning. Backup shortstop Al Weis, who hit only seven home runs in his ten-year career, drilled one to deep left field to tie the game.

Jerry Koosman shut down the Orioles in the top of the eighth and the Mets scored two runs in the bottom of the inning off reliever Eddie Watt.

Frank Robinson drew a walk to lead off the ninth inning but after that, Koosman shut them down and the Mets won the game and the Series.

The Orioles’ magical season was over. It wasn’t supposed to end this way but it did. The Orioles proved they were a great team by winning the World Series the following season and another American League pennant in 1971. Still, no Orioles fan will ever forget the disappointment of losing a Series that everyone expected them to win.

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Mark Morthier is the host of Yesterday’s Sports, a podcast dedicated to reliving memorable sports moments from his childhood days and beyond. He grew up in New Jersey just across from New York City, so many of his episodes revolve around the great sport’s teams of the 70s for the New York area.

He is also an author of No Nonsense, Old School Weight Training (Second Edition): A Guide for People with Limited Time and Running Wild: (Growing Up in the 1970s)