1988 Baltimore Orioles season explained

Baltimore Orioles
Season:	1988
League:	American League
Division:	East
Ballpark:	Memorial Stadium
City:	Baltimore, Maryland
Record:	54–107 (.335)
Divisional Place:	7th
Owners:	Edward Bennett Williams
General Managers:	Roland Hemond
Managers:	Cal Ripken, Sr., Frank Robinson
Television:	WMAR-TV (Jim Simpson, Brooks Robinson) Home Team Sports (Jim Palmer, Mel Proctor, John Lowenstein)
Radio:	WBAL (AM) (Jon Miller, Joe Angel)

The 1988 Baltimore Orioles had the worst start to a season in modern American baseball history. The Orioles finished seventh in the American League East, reduced to a record of 54 wins and 107 losses just five seasons after winning the World Series. The season is most notable for the 0–21 start that lasted from April 4 to April 28.^[1] Manager Cal Ripken, Sr. was fired after an 0–6 start and replaced by Hall of Famer Frank Robinson. The Orioles won their first game of the year against the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park on April 29.^[2] The most runs allowed during the season was 15 in a game on June 19 while the most runs scored was 12 in a game on May 31. Orioles owner Edward Bennett Williams died in August of that year.

This was only the second time that the Orioles had lost at least 100 games (the other 1954); in addition, the 107 losses would not be surpassed until 30 years later. It was the team's fifth-worst overall franchise record, behind only 1939 (43–111), 2018 (47–115), 2021 (52-110) and 2019 (54–108). This would be the final season to feature the cartoon bird logo on the caps. The next year the Orioles switched back to the full bodied bird logo (which had been previously featured on the caps for the team's first 12 years from 1954 to 1965), the cartoon bird logo wouldn't return to the caps until 2012.

The Orioles’ 21-game losing streak would not be matched as the American League’s longest losing streak until 2024, when the Chicago White Sox matched it.

Offseason

October 8, 1987: Mike Kinnunen was released by the Orioles.^[3]
October 8, 1987: Mike Hart was released by the Orioles.^[4]
November 6, 1987: Rico Rossy and Terry Crowley Jr. (minors) were traded by the Orioles to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Joe Orsulak.^[5]
February 27, 1988: Ray Knight was traded by the Orioles to the Detroit Tigers for Mark Thurmond.^[6]
March 21, 1988: Mike Young and a player to be named later were traded by the Orioles to the Philadelphia Phillies for Rick Schu, Keith Hughes and Jeff Stone. The Orioles completed the deal by sending Frank Bellino (minors) to the Phillies on June 14.^[7]

Regular season

April 4, 1988: The Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Orioles 12–0, setting a record for the largest margin of victory in a shutout win on Opening Day.^[8]
September 7, 1988: Curt Schilling made his major league debut. He pitched against the Boston Red Sox and pitched in 7 innings. Schilling gave up 6 hits and 3 earned runs. He had 2 strikeouts and 5 bases on balls.^[9]

The losing streak

Game 13: The Orioles tied the 1904 Washington Senators and the 1920 Detroit Tigers for most losses to start the season with 13 losses when they lost to the Brewers 9–5 in Milwaukee.^[10]
Game 14: On a cold, wet night, 7,284 witnessed baseball history at Milwaukee's County Stadium. Baltimore became the first team in MLB history to start the season 0–14 as the Brewers won, 8–6. No MLB team would lose this many games in a row to open a season until the 1997 Chicago Cubs did so.
Game 21: The Orioles lost 4–2 to the Minnesota Twins in Minnesota, extending their streak of season-starting losses to half again their original record, marking their seventh straight series being swept,^[11] and ending the day 16 games out of first place on April 28.^[12]

Opening Day starters

Notable transactions

April 2, 1988: Dickie Noles was signed as a free agent with the Orioles.^[14]
April 5, 1988: Mickey Tettleton was signed as a free agent by the Orioles.^[15]
June 1, 1988: Pete Rose Jr. was drafted by the Orioles in the 12th round of the 1988 Major League Baseball Draft. Player signed September 1, 1988.^[16]
July 29, 1988: Mike Boddicker was traded by the Orioles to the Boston Red Sox for Brady Anderson and Curt Schilling.^[17]

Roster

1988 Baltimore Orioles roster
Roster
Pitchers	CatchersInfielders	Outfielders	ManagerCoaches (Bench) (Hitting) (Third Base) (Bullpen) (First Base) (Pitching)

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

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

Pos	G	AB	H	HR	RBI	Avg.
C	86	283	74	11	37	.261
1B	161	603	171	28	84	.284
2B	150	512	103	2	34	.207
3B	89	270	69	4	20	.256
SS	161	575	152	23	81	.264
LF	83	261	60	4	17	.230
CF	87	301	76	18	37	.252
RF	125	379	109	8	27	.288
DH	136	452	104	10	47	.230

^[18]

Other batters

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

G	AB	H	HR	RBI	Avg.
103	352	78	10	45	.222
85	265	60	3	16	.226
103	262	51	9	23	.195
92	237	51	2	15	.215
53	177	35	1	9	.198
41	108	21	2	14	.194
26	81	15	2	4	.185
26	61	10	0	1	.164
35	53	12	0	3	.226
18	47	9	0	1	.191
20	30	3	0	0	.100
13	25	6	0	0	.240
13	24	3	0	2	.125

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
33	171.2	6	15	4.30	76
30	158.2	4	15	5.39	82
25	153.1	8	12	4.40	41
21	147.0	6	12	3.86	100
19	86.0	5	7	5.55	61
3	25.0	2	0	0.72	18
4	17.1	0	3	8.83	10
4	14.2	0	3	9.82	4
2	13.0	0	2	5.54	10
2	3.1	0	2	24.30	1

Other pitchers

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

G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
41	129.2	8	5	3.40	67
37	117.2	5	8	4.90	69
22	71.1	1	6	5.43	29
2	3.0	0	0	6.00	2

Relief pitchers

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

G	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
52	59.0	3	4	18	3.51	40
52	94.1	3	3	0	3.72	26
43	74.2	1	8	3	4.58	29
35	46.2	0	0	0	4.05	28
7	14.2	1	0	0	4.30	4
10	11.0	1	1	0	3.27	9
4	4.0	0	1	0	13.50	3

Farm system

References

https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BAL/1988-schedule-scores.shtml 1988 Baltimore Orioles Schedule, Box Scores and Splits - Baseball-Reference.com
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=198804290CHA Box Score of Game played on Friday, April 29, 1988 at Comiskey Park I
https://www.baseball-reference.com/k/kinnumi01.shtml Mike Kinnunen page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/h/hartmi02.shtml Mike Hart page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/r/rossyri01.shtml Rico Rossy page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/k/knighra01.shtml Ray Knight page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/schuri01.shtml Rick Schu page at Baseball Reference
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/statitudes/news/2002/03/26/openingday_btn/ SI.com - Statitudes - Statitudes: Opening Day 2002, By the Numbers - Sunday March 30, 2003 01:50 AM
https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/schilcu01.shtml Curt Schilling page at Baseball Reference
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/orioles/longterm/memories/1988/11to21.htm Washingtonpost.com: The 1988 Orioles: And the Losing Goes On
Web site: 1988 Baltimore Orioles Schedule . Baseball Almanac . October 10, 2014.
Web site: ALCS: Someone's misery will end . Jim Caple . October 10, 2014 . ESPN . October 10, 2014.
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=1988&t=BAL 1988 Baltimore Orioles Roster by Baseball Almanac
https://www.baseball-reference.com/n/nolesdi01.shtml Dickie Noles page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/t/tettlmi01.shtml Mickey Tettleton page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/r/rosepe02.shtml Pete Rose Jr. page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/boddimi01.shtml Mike Boddicker page at Baseball Reference
https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BAL/1988.shtml 1988 Baltimore Orioles Statistics and Roster - Baseball-Reference.com