Historical Moments:
1890's: Under the savvy tutelage of Ned Hanlon, the Orioles line-up of John McGraw, along
with the likes of Wee Willie Keeler, Hugh Jennings, Wilbert Robinson, and Joe
Kelley defined and dominated the NL in the 1890s. Keeler would hit in 44
straight in 1896 a record that would only be topped by Joe DiMaggio's 56, and equaled
by Pete Rose in 1978. These Orioles that won 3 straight pennants in 1894,
1895, and 1896, were practitioners of Hanlon's "scientific" or "inside" baseball,
an aggressive brand of the game that celebrated the hit and run, the Baltimore
chop (which earned its name from this Orioles edition), hidden baseballs and
phantom runners, along with stealing and hustling, in every sense. However,
the good times for Baltimore in the NL would not last. The NL wanted to get
rid of 4 teams, and made arrangements in which Ned Hanlon would move north to
Brooklyn take the Orioles core talent with him. The Orioles leftovers had a respectable
finish in 1899, but were still a victim of NL contraction after the
1899 season.
1901: Ban Johnson had saw what happened in 1899, and decided to take advantage. Johnson
was president of the Western League a minor league in the Central region of the
country. Johnson decided it was time for a step up and decided to add teams in
a few of the cities victimized by the NL's actions including Baltimore. With
the new teams in the NL disposed cities of Washington, Cleveland, and Baltimore
Johnson encouraged the teams to raid NL rosters and the American League was born.
The new Orioles were led by 1890's hero john McGraw, and would finish 4th with
a respectable 68-65 record. Before the season Manager John McGraw tries to
bring Charlie Grant a black pitcher into the league by claiming he is a Cherokee
Indian named Chief Tokohama. However, McGraw's plan fails when Chicago White
Sox owner Charles Comiskey learns that Grant is a member of the Columbia Giants,
a Black team that plays in Chicago
1902: On April 29th, Player-Manager John McGraw was plunked five times by Boston hurler
Bill Dineen. Apparently home plate umpire Jack Sheridan didn't think Mr. McGraw
was making a game attempt to avoid the pitches, because the Bird's skipper was
never awarded first base. After he was plunked for the 5th time, McGraw sat down
in the batter's box and refused to get off the field. Because of McGraw's "sit-down"
protest, American League President Ban Johnson suspended McGraw for 5
games. Old Oriole Park was the site of the next imbroglio when McGraw and Joe
Kelley of the Orioles got into a heated discussion with umpires Tom Connolly and
Jimmy Johnstone. The Orioles manager was ejected and Kelley let his feelings
be crystal clear. The Birds forfeited the game, and both Kelley and McGraw were
suspended indefinitely. "Little Napoleon's" days in Baltimore and in the American
League were now numbered. By early July, John McGraw was the manager of the
New York Giants, and shortly there after several of the Orioles stars would join
him. The Orioles were left in a shambles, finishing in last place with a 50-88
record. AL President Ban Johnson picked up the scraps and took over operation
of the Birds for the rest of the season. It would be these incidents that
would lead in part to there being no World Series in 1904.
1903: In January Ban Johnson, NL Henry Pullman, and the owners of the two feuding leagues
met for a peace summit. At this meeting in January the 2 leagues formed a co-existence,
with AL agreeing to a few of the NL's rules, including the reserve
clause, and the "Gentlemen's Agreement". They also agreed on a post-season series
for one champion, and that the AL would stay with the same 8 teams, and be on
level par with NL. However, Johnson agreed only when he was allowed to move one
team to New York to make the league competitive, and had a presence in the Biggest
City. Unfortunately, for Baltimore the team that was chosen to move
north was the Orioles. This would leave Baltimore without a Major League team
for 52 years.
1903-1953: Baltimore would have to wait its turn to be Major League again, but the Orioles would
establish themselves as one of the top Minor League franchises in the International
Leagues. In 1914 the Orioles signed a resident from a local boarding
school. His name was George Herman Ruth better known as Babe to his teammates.
The Babe was so impressive that the Red Sox signed him midway through that first
year, and the rest was history. Eventually the Majors would return in 1954 with another team called the Orioles.
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