I reached out to the Baltimore Orioles public relations department to find out what celebrations I may have missed so far this year for the 40th anniversary of the team’s last World Series championship.
I figured a team that finished 23rd in attendance last season and occupies the same position this year — even with a terrific product on the field — would do all they could to attract fans to Camden Yards, and nostalgia is a tried-and-true remedy for box office misery.
A year-long calendar of events to honor that team — the last real gasp of the Oriole Way — would have seemed to be warranted and good business.
So what have I missed in the first three months of the season? Nothing. “We have yet to announce plans but you can stay tuned for them,” Jackie Harig, director of public relations, responded in an email.
I’ll do that.
Meanwhile, Friday would have been a good day to have a celebration of a key moment in that World Series season. It was on June 30, 1983, that the Orioles purchased the contract of troubled infielder Todd Cruz from the Seattle Mariners.
Looking back, that was the day that Baltimore won the World Series.
“The biggest move we made was when we got Todd Cruz from Seattle,” Orioles manager Joe Altobelli said.
Sometimes the most anonymous midseason deals deliver October success.
Like most of those Orioles teams in that era, the 1983 team was led by great starting pitching — Scott McGregor, Mike Flanagan, Mike Boddicker and Storm Davis — but they were being betrayed by an infield with a problem at third base. For a staff that relied on ground ball outs, it cost them wins.
Their third base early in the season, Leo Hernandez, had limited range and was struggling to get the ball to second base. General manager Hank Peters made the move to change that by bringing in Cruz, who was playing shortstop in Seattle but was moved to third when he came to Baltimore.
Cruz was a good shortstop in Seattle and figured he would be there in Baltimore. But when he saw the lineup for his first game with the Orioles, he saw a young Cal Ripken — who had moved from third base to shortstop in July 1982 — remaining at short. Cruz was penciled in at third base.
In an interview for my book, “Oriole Magic: The O’s of ’83,” Cruz told me he went into Altobelli’s office to find out why he wasn’t playing shortstop. “We’re going to give the kid a chance to stay there,” Altobelli told him.
Cruz was convinced he would soon be moved to shortstop. “I thought it would be a month before I would be back at shortstop,” Cruz told me. “Boy was I wrong.” Ripken would play 2,216 of his record 2,632 consecutive games at shortstop.
“When Todd Cruz came over and was put at third base, he went from a shortstop with real good range to a third baseman with great range,” Ripken said. “Defensively, with the type of pitching staff we had, he was very instrumental in taking hits away from the hole and turning double plays. He allowed me to play further up the middle.”
Cruz was also a loose cannon.
This was his sixth team in six years. His nickname was “The Watchman” because when he first walked into the Orioles clubhouse, Cruz was wearing about seven watches on his arm.
“We picked up a guy who was selling watches somewhere,” McGregor said. “He was a piece of work.”
In July 1981 while with the White Sox, Cruz was arrested for attempted breaking and entering and theft while on a rehabilitation assignment in Edmonton. Police caught him in the men’s section of a department store with dozens of watches stuffed in his pocket. He had been on a drinking binge and fell asleep in the store, only to wake up to see police dogs surrounding him.
The Orioles thought the strength of the veteran clubhouse would help keep Cruz under control. He would fit in, becoming one of the “Three Stooges,” the three Orioles at the bottom of the lineup. Cruz was “Curly,” while Rick Dempsey was “Moe” and Rich Dauer was “Larry.”
“When Todd got there, he just shut down third base,” Dauer said. “He was a tremendous defensive player and had a tremendous arm. He made some great athletic plays there and I think that is part of the reason why our pitching really took off down the stretch.”
Confirmation? This from Storm Davis: “I was thrilled when we got him (Cruz),” he said. “He solidified the infield. And he had a cannon for an arm.”
Do you need any more testimony about when the 1983 Orioles season became a championship one?
Cruz would be released by the Orioles in spring training 1985 and his career would come to an end. He would die tragically of a heart attack while swimming in an apartment house pool in Bullhead, Arizona, in 2008 at the age of 52.
His memory and contribution will be worth noting whenever the Orioles get around to recognizing their last World Series team.
You can hear Thom Loverro on The Kevin Sheehan Show podcast.
• Thom Loverro can be reached at tloverro@washingtontimes.com.
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