Day 12...Baltimore

With one game left in our trip, we were off to Baltimore. We met up with Eric's friend from Northwestern, Corey. Corey's family lived in Baltimore and graciously offered to host us the evening we were there. We picked up Corey and headed toward the stadium. 

Before we got to the ballpark, we took in some of the other sights. We had a nice visit to the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum, which housed artifacts not just about the Babe, but about the Orioles as well. We went on from there to the nearby inner harbor, and after grabbing a bite to eat, we headed to the ballpark.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards had just opened that season and was absolutely beautiful, marking a new era for baseball stadiums. I can hardly believe that it is now one of the ten oldest ballparks in MLB. The new Comiskey Park had opened in Chicago a year earlier (Eric and I attended the second game ever played there) and was fairly non-descript. Camden Yards, on the other hand, had a retro design that hearkened to the days of yesteryear when baseball truly was America's national pastime. It's widespread acclaim changed the way ballparks were designed, as most ballparks now have more of a retro feel to them.

Terry Cashman, who most famously wrote and sang Talkin' Baseball (Willie, Mickey and the Duke), recorded a song that attempts to communicate the charm and feel that we felt in the shadows of the B&O Warehouse, directly across Eutaw Street from the Oriole Park.

We got to the ballgame early for batting practice, and what with our seats being in the right field bleachers, I not only was wearing my new St. Louis Browns cap, this also was the one game on our trip to which I brought my glove. It turned out to be a good thing, because during BP, Mell Hall hit one directly to me. I stuck up my glove and (thump!) I had a souvenir! Coincidentally, Hall was the same player that hit the foul ball in Boston that I narrowly missed getting. Even more coincidentally, twenty years later (to the day!) I took my family to a Cardinals game in Detroit and bullpen catcher Jamie Pogue tossed my then eight-year-old daughter a ball.

The Orioles failed to score in the first, but tallied runs in the next five innings, including four in the second and two each in the third and fourth. They got home runs from Mike Devereaux, Randy Milligan, and (much to our joy) future Hall of Famer, Cal Ripken Jr. The Yankees managed to put up seven runs of their own, including five in the third, powered by a Danny Tartabull three-run dinger. Everybody in the Yankees lineup got at least one hit except for none other than (you guessed it) Mel Hall.

Forty-year-old Mike Flanagan, who won the 1979 Cy Young Award and was a member of a number of Earl Weaver's great Baltimore pitching staffs, retired the only batter he faced in the eighth before yielding to closer Gregg Olson. Olson retired all four batters he faced (including three on strikes) in securing his 19th save of the season.

With that, we had seen the final game of our trip. But the trip was still not over; there were adventures yet to be had in the next couple days...

Miles driven today: 257 miles
Total miles driven: 2,639 miles

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At the home of Eric's friend from Northwestern, Corey Perman.

Part of our pre-game prep was a trip to the Inner Harbor.

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The Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum

When the Babe was a babe: George Herman Ruth was born here

 

Memorial Stadium: Home of the O's from 1954-1991

The instantly iconic B&O Warehouse behind the right field stands

Believe it or not, I still use the same glove today!

The man who gave me a batting practice souvenir

Already a legend in 1992

The view from our seats

He's no Fredbird, but we got a kick out of the Oriole mascot!

OK now...Down in front!

Yankees 7 31-34 Lost 1 5th, 8 GB

1  2  3   4  5  6   7  8  9    R  H  E                 -  -  -   -  -  -   -  -  -    -  -  - Yankees         1  0  5   0  0  1   0  0  0    7 11  1 Orioles         0  4  2   2  1  1   0  0  X   10 14  2 W: A Mills (4-1), L: S Hillegas (0-3), S: G Olson (19)

Orioles 10 39-26 Won 1 1st

BATTING

New York Yankees             AB   R   H RBI   BB  SO    BA   OPS  Pit   PO   A  Details

A Stankiewicz SS              4   1   1   0    1   0  .306  .813   21    2   4   3B

M Hall LF                     5   1   0   0    0   0  .247  .695   17    1   0  

R Kelly CF                    5   2   1   1    0   2  .298  .781   18    4   1   2B

D Mattingly 1B                5   1   2   2    0   1  .253  .708   14    9   0  

D Tartabull RF                4   1   1   3    1   1  .261  .813   22    4   0   HR

K Maas DH                     5   0   1   0    0   1  .284  .851   19    0   0   2B

M Nokes C                     4   0   2   0    0   2  .220  .664   12    1   1  

C Hayes 3B                    4   0   1   0    0   1  .262  .694   11    2   2  

M Gallego 2B                  4   1   2   0    0   0  .277  .770    9    1   2  

J Johnson P                                                              0   0

  S Hillegas P                                                           0   2

  T Burke P                                                              0   0

Totals                       40   7  11   6    2   8              143   24  12

BATTING

2B: R Kelly (14, off B Milacki); K Maas (7, off B Milacki).

3B: A Stankiewicz (1, off B Milacki).

HR: D Tartabull (5, off B Milacki; 3rd inn, 2 on, 1 out to Deep RF Line).

TB: D Tartabull 4; A Stankiewicz 3; D Mattingly 2; M Nokes 2; R Kelly 2; K Maas 2; M Gallego 2; C Hayes.

RBI: D Tartabull 3 (27); D Mattingly 2 (33); R Kelly (35).

2-out RBI: D Mattingly.

Team LOB: 8.

With RISP: 3 for 13.

FIELDING

DP: 2. R Kelly-M Nokes-C Hayes; A Stankiewicz-M Gallego-D Mattingly.

E: A Stankiewicz (6).

Baltimore Orioles            AB   R   H RBI   BB  SO    BA   OPS  Pit   PO   A  Details

B Anderson LF                 4   1   2   1    1   0  .283  .874   17    4   0  

M Devereaux CF                5   1   3   4    0   1  .286  .851   19    3   1   HR

C Ripken SS                   5   1   3   1    0   0  .276  .787   12    1   1   HR

G Davis DH                    5   0   1   0    0   0  .225  .685   19    0   0  

  M McLemore PR               0   0   0   0    0   0  .245  .603         0   0  

R Milligan 1B                 4   2   1   1    1   0  .277  .854   27    5   0   HR

  J Orsulak RF                0   0   0   0    0   0  .256  .641         0   0  

L Gomez 3B                    3   3   1   0    2   0  .292  .802   21    1   1  

C Hoiles C                    2   1   1   0    2   0  .284  .952   21   10   0  

D Segui RF-1B                 4   0   1   2    0   0  .248  .643   15    0   0   GDP

B Ripken 2B                   3   1   1   1    0   0  .200  .539   12    3   2   HBP

B Milacki P                                                              0   1

  A Mills P                                                              0   0

  M Flanagan P                                                           0   0

  G Olson P                                                              0   0

Totals                       35  10  14  10    6   1              163   27   6

BATTING

HR: R Milligan (7, off S Hillegas; 6th inn, 0 on, 0 outs to Deep LF-CF); C Ripken (8, off S Hillegas; 5th inn, 0 on, 2 outs to Deep LF); M Devereaux (10, off J Johnson; 2nd inn, 3 on, 2 outs to Deep LF).

HBP: B Ripken (3, by J Johnson).

TB: M Devereaux 6; C Ripken 6; R Milligan 4; B Anderson 2; C Hoiles; L Gomez; B Ripken; D Segui; G Davis.

GIDP: D Segui (2).

RBI: M Devereaux 4 (40); D Segui 2 (11); B Anderson (43); C Ripken (34); R Milligan (28); B Ripken (15).

2-out RBI: M Devereaux 4; D Segui 2; B Ripken; C Ripken; B Anderson.

Team LOB: 8.

With RISP: 4 for 12.

FIELDING

DP: 1. M Devereaux-B Ripken-R Milligan.

E: M Devereaux (2); L Gomez (3).

BASERUNNING

PO: B Anderson (1st base by S Hillegas).

PITCHING

New York Yankees           IP     H   R  ER   BB  SO  HR    ERA   BF  Pit-Str   GB-FB  GmSc  IR-IS

J Johnson                   2.2   8   6   6    3   0   1   6.40   19   77-40     4-3     15    -

S Hillegas, L (0-3)         4.1   5   4   4    3   1   2   5.48   20   76-42     3-7          2-0

T Burke                     1     1   0   0    0   0   0   4.66    3   10-8      0-2          0-0

Totals                      8    14  10  10    6   1   3          42  163-90     7-12         2-0

Baltimore Orioles          IP     H   R  ER   BB  SO  HR    ERA   BF  Pit-Str   GB-FB  GmSc  IR-IS

B Milacki                   4.1   7   6   4    1   3   1   5.40   24   84-50     2-8     31    -

A Mills, H (3), W (4-1)     3     4   1   1    1   2   0   1.32   13   36-24     2-4          2-0

M Flanagan, H (9)           0.1   0   0   0    0   0   0   8.83    1    4-3      0-1          1-0

G Olson, S (19)             1.1   0   0   0    0   3   0   1.16    4   19-11     0-1          1-0

Totals                      9    11   7   5    2   8   1          42  143-88     4-14         4-0

Balks: None.

WP: None.

IBB: None.

PO: S Hillegas (1; B Anderson, 1st base).

HBP: J Johnson (2; B Ripken).

OTHER

Umpires: HP - Ed Hickox, 1B - Jim Joyce, 2B - Terry Craft, 3B - Dave Phillips.

Time of Game: 3:20.

Attendance: 45,579.

Field Condition: Unknown.

Weather: 81° F, Wind 5mph out to Leftfield, Overcast, No Precipitation.

Day 9...Boston

After a relaxing day at the Mahoneys' we returned to Fenway. While New York might have a reputation for drivers that are aggressively rude, Boston it would seem had drivers that are irrationally unpredictable. Take this experience we had on our way to the game as a "for instance" of what I mean:

As we drove through the stop-and-go traffic on the surface roads approaching Fenway, it was taking us forever. Creep forward, wait. Creep forward, wait. Then, all of the sudden, we noticed the driver of the car in front of us jump out of his car, run over to a pay phone on the side of the road, and make a call. When it came time to creep forward some more, we could do no creeping, because there was a driverless car in front of us and in 1992 driverless cars did not move.

Celebrating once more!

We had planned to get there very early, so when we eventually made it to the game, we still had plenty of time. The teams were still taking batting practice as we approached the stadium on foot, having parked our car for the second straight night at Boston University. As we passed by the backside of The Green Monster, a ball came flying over it and bounced across the street. I gave chase as it bounded down a stairwell, only to be just beaten by another individual, narrowly missing out on a souvenir.

Once we got inside, we went to our seats in right field. Before the game, Reardon was honored for his record-breaking performance the night before. We were thrilled to have witnessed it when it occurred, and now we were thrilled to celebrate it once again.

It was great to have seats tonight (as opposed to last night when we stood) not only because it provided rest for our feet, but more importantly because it afforded us with the opportunity to move around the stadium, checking different things out, with the confidence that when we returned, we'd still have a place from which to watch the game!

The Fenway Press Box, as viewed from our seats

At one point during the game, as we were walking around behind home plate, Yankee Mel Hall hit a foul ball off the famous Fenway press box. It caromed directly toward me as I walked the aisle in front of the second section of seats. I reached up my hands to grab it only to have them cut off by another pair of hands belonging to a spectator elevated in the seats just next to me. He intercepted the foul ball and for the second time tonight, I was one person away from a souvenir!

As for the game itself, for the second straight night, it was a thriller, and for the second time on our trip, we would get to see Roger Clemens pitch. The Red Sox broke on top in the first when Jody Reed, Herm Winningham and future Hall of Famer Wade Boggs all singled to start the game. Boston scored a second run when former Cardinal (and favorite of ours) Jack Clark hit a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.

In the last year of his 18-year career, Clark was no longer the player he had once been. The two of us though (and Cardinal fans everywhere) will always remember Clark as the guy that hit the two-out, three-run, ninth inning off  home run Tom Niedenfuer to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in game six of the 1985 NLCS, putting the Cardinals in the World Series. After an injury-plagued season in 1986, he returned in 1987 to put up MVP numbers in the first half of the season. His production dropped off in the second half of that season, but he was still the biggest (only?) power threat in the Cardinals' lineup until what was essentially a season-ending ankle injury on September 9th. Thanks in large part to Clark's absence, the Cardinals would fall to the Twins in seven games that year, making it to but losing the Series for the second time in Clark's three years as a Cardinal.

This gives you an idea of how big a deal Clark was in St. Louis: After the season, he would join the Yankees as a free agent (before later moving to the Padres and eventually the Red Sox). That was the same winter that the St. Louis Cardinals football team of the NFL announced they were moving to Arizona. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran a reader poll asking which was the greater loss. Clark won overwhelmingly.

Anyway, back to the game in Boston...

The Yankees got one back in the third on an RBI single by Dion James. That would be the only run Clemens would allow in 7 innings pitched , over which he struck out ten. Greg Harris pitched a shutout eighth, and Reardon came on once more for the save. He could not extend his record though as Kevin Maas (whom Reardon had struck out last night for the save) got a one-out double, and Randy Velarde singled home pinch runner Pat Kelly to tie the game at two. New York wasn't done there though, as Andy Stankiewicz would later get a two out, RBI single to put them on top, and Reardon stood to get the loss.

If last night's pitching hero couldn't get the job done for Boston, then their hitting hero would have to go to work. The only run last night had been on Phil Plantier's fifth inning home run, and when he led off the ninth tonight with another dramatic game-tying homer, he cemented his place on my list of favorite players. And in the bottom of the tenth, Boston turned two walks, a hit batsman, and an RBI single by Ellis Burks into their second dramatic win in as many nights.

Leading up to the trip, I expected Boston to be our most memorable stop. As I look back at the trip all these years later, one thing is certain: historic Fenway did not disappoint!

Miles Driven Today: 64

Total Miles Driven: 2,160

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Yankees 3 30-32 Lost 2 5th, 8 GB

1  2  3   4  5  6   7  8  9  10    R  H  E                 -  -  -   -  -  -   -  -  -   -    -  -  - Yankees         0  0  1   0  0  0   0  0  2   0    3 11  1 Red Sox         2  0  0   0  0  0   0  0  1   1    4  8  0 W: D Darwin (3-2), L: G Cadaret (3-6) Winning Run scored with 2 outs

Red Sox 4 31-29 Won 2 4th, 6 GB

BATTING

New York Yankees             AB   R   H RBI   BB  SO    BA   OPS  Pit   PO   A  Details

A Stankiewicz SS              5   0   1   1    0   3  .303  .802   22    3   1  

D James RF                    5   0   1   1    0   0  .171  .546   11    1   0  

R Kelly CF                    5   0   0   0    0   1  .303  .793   13    2   0  

D Mattingly 1B                5   0   1   0    0   1  .251  .710   24   11   2  

M Hall LF                     5   0   2   0    0   1  .250  .705   23    3   0   2B

M Nokes C                     4   0   0   0    0   1  .213  .656   12    3   0  

  J Leyritz PH-C              0   0   0   0    1   0  .326 1.143    4    1   0   IW

K Maas DH                     4   0   2   0    0   2  .289  .866   16    0   0   2B

  P Kelly PR                  0   1   0   0    0   0  .224  .675         0   0  

  D Tartabull PH              1   0   0   0    0   1  .265  .805    4    0   0  

R Velarde 3B                  4   2   2   1    1   2  .245  .622   23    0   3  

M Gallego 2B                  3   0   2   0    1   0  .250  .702   18    5   6  

T Leary P                                                                0   1

  S Farr P                                                               0   0

  G Cadaret P                                                            0   0

  J Habyan P                                                             0   0

Totals                       41   3  11   3    3  12              170   29  13

BATTING

2B: M Hall (22, off T Bolton); K Maas (6, off J Reardon).

IBB: J Leyritz (1, by D Darwin).

TB: K Maas 3; M Hall 3; R Velarde 2; M Gallego 2; A Stankiewicz; D Mattingly; D James.

RBI: A Stankiewicz (10); R Velarde (13); D James (7).

2-out RBI: A Stankiewicz; D James.

Team LOB: 11.

With RISP: 3 for 12.

FIELDING

DP: 2. M Gallego-A Stankiewicz-D Mattingly; R Velarde-M Gallego-D Mattingly.

E: M Nokes (3).

Boston Red Sox               AB   R   H RBI   BB  SO    BA   OPS  Pit   PO   A  Details

J Reed 2B                     3   2   1   0    1   0  .282  .716   22    0   1   SH

H Winningham LF               4   1   1   0    0   0  .208  .504    9    1   0  

  B Zupcic PH                 1   0   0   0    0   0  .281  .724    4    0   0  

W Boggs 3B                    2   0   1   1    2   0  .266  .770   17    1   0   HBP,IW

J Clark DH                    4   0   0   1    0   1  .216  .643   22    0   0   SF,GDP

P Plantier RF                 4   1   2   1    1   0  .225  .700   22    5   0   HR

E Burks CF                    4   0   2   1    0   2  .257  .753   17    2   0   HBP

S Cooper 1B                   3   0   0   0    0   0  .239  .594   11    7   0   SH

T Pena C                      4   0   0   0    0   1  .218  .533   12   14   0   GDP

T Naehring SS                 3   0   1   0    1   0  .203  .554   13    0   4  

R Clemens P                                                              0   0

  G Harris P                                                             0   0

  J Reardon P                                                            0   0

  T Bolton P                                                             0   0

  D Darwin P                                                             0   0

Totals                       32   4   8   4    5   4              149   30   5

BATTING

HR: P Plantier (5, off S Farr; 9th inn, 0 on, 0 outs to Deep RF Line).

SF: J Clark (5, off T Leary).

SH: S Cooper (1, off S Farr); J Reed (4, off T Leary).

IBB: W Boggs (9, by T Leary).

HBP: W Boggs (1, by G Cadaret); E Burks (1, by T Leary).

TB: P Plantier 5; E Burks 2; J Reed; T Naehring; W Boggs; H Winningham.

GIDP: T Pena (4); J Clark (2).

RBI: P Plantier (20); W Boggs (22); J Clark (22); E Burks (28).

2-out RBI: E Burks.

Team LOB: 9.

With RISP: 2 for 10.

PITCHING

New York Yankees           IP     H   R  ER   BB  SO  HR    ERA   BF  Pit-Str   GB-FB  GmSc  IR-IS

T Leary                     8     5   2   2    3   3   0   4.66   31  109-58    11-7     64    -

S Farr, BS (4)              1     2   1   1    0   0   1   1.33    5    9-8      0-2          0-0

G Cadaret, L (3-6)          0.1   0   1   1    1   0   0   4.75    3   14-7      0-1          0-0

J Habyan                    0.1   1   0   0    1   1   0   1.78    3   17-11     0-0          2-1

Totals                      9.2   8   4   4    5   4   1          42  149-84    11-10         2-1

Boston Red Sox             IP     H   R  ER   BB  SO  HR    ERA   BF  Pit-Str   GB-FB  GmSc  IR-IS

R Clemens                   7     6   1   1    2  10   0   1.76   29  114-73     4-7     69    -

G Harris, H (11)            1     0   0   0    0   0   0   1.67    3   12-6      1-2          0-0

J Reardon, BS (2)           1     3   2   2    0   0   0   2.86    6   16-11     0-3          0-0

T Bolton                    0.1   2   0   0    0   0   0   3.38    3   14-8      1-0          0-0

D Darwin, W (3-2)           0.2   0   0   0    1   2   0   4.50    3   14-6      0-0          2-0

Totals                     10    11   3   3    3  12   0          44  170-104    6-12         2-0

Balks: None.

WP: None.

IBB: T Leary (2; W Boggs); D Darwin (4; J Leyritz).

HBP: T Leary (2; E Burks); G Cadaret (2; W Boggs).

OTHER

Umpires: HP - Larry Young, 1B - Tim Tschida, 2B - Don Denkinger, 3B - John Shulock.

Time of Game: 3:40.

Attendance: 34,592.

Field Condition: Unknown.

Weather: 77° F, Wind 13mph out to Rightfield, Sunny, No Precipitation.