As the Orioles were in the midst of a tenth consecutive losing season last year, Al Bumbry walked through home plate plaza and caught a glimpse of the 1983 World Series banner.
“I said, ?gee, has it been that long?? The time has gone by fairly quickly,” Bumbry, a former outfielder, said. “It seems like just yesterday.”
The 1983 World Series championship represents the last time the Orioles reached the Fall Classic. The team has made just two trips to the playoffs since, in 1996 and 1997. But the 1983 team still resonates with Orioles fans, as about a crowd of 150 went to the ESPN Zone at the Inner Harbor Thursday to reflect and celebrate with Bumbry, pitcher Scott McGregor, outfielder Ken Singleton, pitcher Tippy Martinez, pitcher Bill Swaggerty and catcher John Stefero.
Many of Bumbry?s conversations with fans reinforced is belief that to many fans, October 1983 was a few months ago.
Swaggerty and Stefero were called up from the minor leagues late in the season. Stefero, a catcher, played in nine games as World Series MVP Rick Dempsey?s back-up, and Swaggerty pitched in seven regular-season games.
He still remembers getting the call from Triple-A.
“August 13,” Swaggerty said. “Two p.m.”
The 2008 version of the Orioles ? likely to be a younger version than the one that took the field last year ? will have no resemblance to the veteran group that finished off Philadelphia in five games to win the World Series.
“It was just a well-oiled machine. The pitching was good,” said McGregor, the winning pitcher in the series-clinching Game 5. “We believed in ourselves and it worked.”
The Orioles, who went 98-64 before going 10-3 in the postseason, found success behind a four-man starting rotation.
“Pitching is a lot different. It’s a lot more specialized in this day and age,” Singleton said. “Our team was a lot of fun to be on. We’re still very close. We had a lot of fun back in the day when we were younger, but we still have fun now.”
Twenty-five years later, many Orioles’ careers are still highlighted by the I-95 World Series.
“It’s always good to hear that world championship by your name,” Bumbry said. “Whenever you get together and reminisce about the old days, its always good.”
