The Orioles made MLB history last week when they defeated the Rockies by the score of 18-0 and no, that was not THE record.
While it was the Orioles’ most lopsided victory in its franchise history, it was not a MLB record. That record belongs to the Pirates who in 1975 beat the Cubs 22 – 0 (click here.)
The MLB record that the Orioles set was for the following:
Two comments then on this a Twofer Tuesday:
- It always amazes me that with thousands of games having been played, baseball “firsts” and “only team/individual to have ever” records are still being set. Given that the game has been around since the 1700’s one would think that everything that could be done on a ball field has been done by now. Nonetheless, new records keep being set.
- Make note of the caveat “only MLB team in the modern era” in the above meme describing the Orioles’ accomplishment. Baseball’s “modern era” officially commenced in 1901 when the American League was introduced as a counterpart to the National League. (For a good article on “Baseball Eras” (click here.)) Through the years, the tag “in the modern era” has become a nice way of saying “we don’t put much stock in those old baseball records.” Back then, the game itself was very different as baseball’s rules were still evolving. (For example, at one time it took 9 called balls to constitute a walk.) Ball parks and their dimensions were all over the place and the keeping of stats was not the science that it is now. Thus, the pre-1900 records are often looked upon with some skepticism.
Speaking of baseball history, I had a visitor Tim Reid to Buzzy’s Country Store this past Sunday and learned that he is a Baseball Historian. He enjoyed talking baseball with Chief Larry and me such that he agreed to return this Thursday to sit down with us as we conduct a Buzzy Podcast with him. Tim gave us each a music CD “Nine for the Babe” on which he was the producer.
The CD contains some great tunes about the Babe. (If you only have time to listen to one tune, I liked “Sunshine City Babe” (11:35 mark) which does a nice job incorporating the tune Orange Blossom Special along with some great photos.)
Orioles play the first of a split double header today starting at 12:35. Will have it on the Buzzy’s Country Store Jumbotron if you’d like to drop in and root, root root for the home team. Who knows, maybe some new record may be set for most home runs hit when the temperature is above 90 and Ben is wearing a floppy hat:
Speaking of Ben, check out one of his recent funny FB page Reels videos (click here.) Warning – it might make you want a BLT.