The 1984

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

season was a season in American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

. It involved the Orioles finishing 5th in the

American League East The American League East is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. MLB consists of an East, Central, and West division for each of its two 15-team leagues, the American League (AL) and National League (NL). This division was created before ...

with a record of 85 wins and 77 losses.

Offseason

* February 7, 1984: Tom Underwood was signed as a free agent with the Baltimore Orioles.

Regular season

* May 6, 1984:

Cal Ripken Jr. Calvin Edwin Ripken Jr. (born August 24, 1960), nicknamed " The Iron Man", is an American former baseball shortstop and third baseman who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles (1981–2001). One of his posit ...

hit for the cycle in a game against the Texas Rangers. * Cal Ripken Jr. set an American League record for most assists by a shortstop with 583. * During the season, Mike Boddicker became the last pitcher to win at least 20 games in one season for the Orioles in the 20th century.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Opening Day starters

* Rich Dauer *

Rick Dempsey John Rikard Dempsey (born September 13, 1949) is an American former professional baseball player.Dan Ford Darnell Glenn Ford (born May 19, 1952) is a former professional baseball player. Nicknamed "Disco Dan", he played in the Major Leagues primarily as an outfielder from 1975 to 1985 for the Minnesota Twins, California Angels, and Baltimore Orioles. ...

* Wayne Gross * John Lowenstein * Scott McGregor *

Eddie Murray Eddie Clarence Murray (born February 24, 1956), nicknamed "Steady Eddie," is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman, designated hitter, and coach. Spending most of his MLB career with the Baltimore Orioles, he ranks fourth ...

* John Shelby * Ken Singleton

Notable transactions

* August 14, 1984: Ron Jackson was signed as a free agent by the Orioles.

Roster

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

''Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in''

Other batters

''Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in''

Pitching

Starting pitchers

''Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts''

Other pitchers

''Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts''

Relief pitchers

''Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts''

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Charlotte

Japan tour

The Orioles made its second ''

Yomiuri Shimbun The (lit. ''Reading-selling Newspaper'' or ''Selling by Reading Newspaper'') is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five major newspapers in Japan; the other four are ...

''-sponsored tour of Japan since 1971. The newspaper received approval from MLB on December 29, 1982 to invite the winner of the

1983 World Series The 1983 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1983 season. The 80th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League champion Baltimore Orioles and the National ...

to play 15 games against

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

competition, primarily the

1984 Japan Series The 1984 Japan Series was the 35th edition of Nippon Professional Baseball's postseason championship series. It matched the Central League champion Hiroshima Toyo Carp against the Pacific League champion Hankyu Braves. This was the fourth Japan ...

champion. ''Yomiuri'' owner Tōru Shōriki originally wanted to invite the

1984 World Series The 1984 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1984 season. The 81st edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Detroit Tigers and the Nationa ...

winner, but eventually agreed to MLB Commissioner

Bowie Kuhn Bowie Kent Kuhn (; October 28, 1926 – March 15, 2007) was an American lawyer and sports administrator who served as the fifth Commissioner of Major League Baseball from February 4, 1969, to September 30, 1984. He served as legal counsel for Ma ...

's suggestion of the previous year's

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

champion. The exhibition matches were intended to be part of the golden jubilee celebration for the

Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They ...

which was owned by the tour's sponsor and another attempt by Shōriki for his team to make a legitimate claim at being world champions of the sport. The Orioles accepted the invitation on January 2, 1984, months after winning the 1983 World Series. The ''Yomiuri'' was eventually left disappointed when both the Orioles and its Giants failed to qualify for the postseason with fifth- and third-place finishes respectively. Instead of the Giants for which the event's organizers had hoped, the opponent in the first five matches was the 1984 Japan Series champion

Hiroshima Toyo Carp The is a professional baseball team based in Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan. They compete in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. The team is primarily owned by the Matsuda family, led by , who is a descendant of Mazda ...

. Eight of the games featured both players who surpassed

Lou Gehrig Henry Louis Gehrig (born Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig ; June 19, 1903June 2, 1941) was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1923–1939). Gehrig was renowned f ...

's consecutive games played streak.

and Sachio Kinugasa batted .219 and .143 respectively. The fifteenth and final exhibition contest originally scheduled for November 15 in Baltimore's

sister city A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...

Kawasaki was cancelled due to rain.Burgess, John. "Baseball in Land of the Rising Sun," ''The Washington Post'', Saturday, November 17, 1984.
Retrieved March 27, 2023. Upon the Orioles' arrival in Tokyo on October 25, manager

Joe Altobelli Joseph Salvatore Altobelli (May 26, 1932 – March 3, 2021) was an American professional baseball first baseman and outfielder who played for the Cleveland Indians and Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball. He was also a manager for the San Fr ...

said he wanted his team to win at least 10 games."Orioles Look Anemic, Losing 1st to Carp, 1–0," ''The Washington Post'', Sunday, October 28, 1984.
Retrieved March 27, 2023. The Orioles finished the tour with an 8–5–1 record, including 4–1 each in head-to-head competition against the Giants and Carp. Source
Baltimore Orioles 1985 Media Guide (scroll down to pages 43 through 46)

References

External links

1984 Baltimore Orioles team page at Baseball Reference1984 Baltimore Orioles season at baseball-almanac.com

Bibliography

* Baltimore Orioles seasons Baltimore Orioles season

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