In 1991 the Atlanta Braves and the Minnesota Twins were linked as the first teams to play each other in the World Series after going from worst to first, that is, winning division titles after having finished in last place in their respective divisions the year before.
The Braves and the Twins linked themselves in this young season as well in a totally different way. Each team began the season losing its first nine games. Only once before in modern-day baseball (since 1900) had two teams lost their first nine games.
In 1988 the Braves and the Baltimore Orioles lost their first 10 games. The Braves won their 11th, but the Orioles lost an additional 11 games, staggering through their first 21 games altogether before beating the Chicago White Sox, 9-0, in No. 22 on April 29.
It seems highly unlikely that a team could lose its first 21 games, but the Orioles did it, and they did it with some pretty good players in their lineup. During that dreadful stretch Eddie Murray, in his 12th season, and Cal Ripken Jr., in his eighth, each drove in six runs, Murray hit one home run and Ripken two homers and Murray batted .214 and Ripken .211.
The Orioles went on to lose a major league high 107 games but only one more than the Braves. The man who began the season as the Orioles’ manager, Ripken’s father, Cal Sr., wasn’t around at the end of the season. He was fired after only six losses and replaced by Frank Robinson, who oversaw the other 15 games in the losing streak.
Robinson began the season, his 13th in the Orioles’ organization, as special assistant to the president, who was the owner, Edward Bennett Williams, the noted Washington lawyer. The Hall of Fame outfielder was only one of an interesting collection of baseball people.
Doug Melvin, the player personnel director, became general manager of the Texas Rangers and then the Milwaukee Brewers. Larry Lucchino, a vice president and general counsel, went on to be president and chief executive officer of the Orioles, the San Diego Padres and the Boston Red Sox. The Orioles were also one of the earliest teams to use enhanced metrics in the evaluation of players. Eddie Epstein handled the team’s statistical projects for baseball operations.
Then there was John Hart, the third base coach, who later became general manager of the Cleveland Indians and the Texas Rangers and is now president of baseball operations for the Braves.
The Orioles’ inability to win any of their first 21 games in 1988 catapulted them into the record book. The streak stands as the longest major league losing streak at the start of a season. It’s right there on page 122 of The Elias Book of Baseball Records. It’s been there for 28 years, not as long as Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak but long enough for some team to supplant it.
The 1997 Chicago Cubs tried, but they made it only to 14. They settled for the National League record when they edged the New York Mets, 4-3, on April 20. The Mets rallied for two runs in the ninth inning and had the potential tying run at second base, but Turk Wendell induced Manny Alexander to hit a game-ending grounder to second.
As with the 1988 Orioles, the 1997 Cubs never overcame their dismal start and finished in last place.
The 2016 Braves and Twins may very well finish last in their respective divisions, but they ended their start-of-the-season losing streak early enough to have time to overcome them. Both teams won their 10th games Friday night and repeated with victories in Games 11 Saturday, the Braves beating the Marlins and the Twins downing the Angels.
Both teams, though, have the most impotent offenses in their league and need to bolster their hitting if they hope to win more than two of every 11 games. That rate computes to a 29-133 record for the season. Not even the 1988 Orioles and 1997 Cubs were that bad.
AWESOME ARRIETA
Good pitchers need to and can win both in their home parks and on the road, but what Jake Arrieta has done is just ridiculous. The winner of last year’s National League Cy Young award, Arrieta pitched eight shutout innings against Colorado at Wrigley Field Saturday.
The way the Cubs’ right-hander has pitched at Wrigley, opposing teams could not be blamed if instead of going on the field to play the Cubs at their home they picketed outside on West Addison Street carrying signs saying “Jake A. unfair to visiting hitters.”
Arrieta has not allowed a run at Wrigley in 48 2/3 innings, the longest scoreless stretch by any pitcher in the fabled park since it opened in 1914. In 23 starts since last June 21, he has 19-1 record with a 0.91 earned run average. Cole Hamels pitched a no-hitter for Philadelphia in his only loss.
His record this season is 3-0 with a 1.23 e.r.a. His award-winning performance last season was 22-6 and 1.77.
It seems like ancient history now, but Arrieta was drafted by Baltimore in the fifth round of the 2007 draft and traded to the Cubs in July 2013 for pitcher Scott Feldman and catcher Steve Clevenger. Over four seasons with the Orioles Arrieta had a 20-25 record and 5.46 e.r.a. He obviously wasn’t pitching at Wrigley.
SILVER TARNISHING NBA
Last year Adam Silver proposed that betting on NBA games be made legal. Now he wants to allow advertising on players’ uniform shirts. And I thought David Stern was bad.
Silver has succeeded Stern as the NBA commissioner, and he looks like he wants to put his own imprint on the league. Did someone say rookie mistakes?
Silver’s wrong-headed ideas are clearly designed to generate more revenue for the league. Do NBA owners need more money so badly that they would sell their souls by opening their sport to the perils of betting on basketball?
Certainly people bet with bookies, but opening gambling to the public by making it legal takes the dangers inherent in the activity to a much higher level.
Advertising on uniform shirts is just in bad taste. The four major sports have never succumbed to ads to make a few extra bucks, and they should not create a carnival atmosphere with logos of companies and products competing with team logos for fans’ attention.
The danger of the NBA ad idea is it could give Major League Baseball the idea to follow suit, and baseball has had too much class for too long to grovel in the ad pits.
I could be wrong, but I suspect Silver’s foolish idea will die a quiet death once the NBA union tells Silver the players will take their share of the advertising income, thank you. The players, after all, would be the ones displaying the ads.