BASEBALL'S FORGOTTEN TEAMS: 1971 BALTIMORE ORIOLES

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SteemSports Presenter:@thesportsguy

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SteemSports Editor:@scottybuckets

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On another Sunday full of action across Major League Baseball, it's the perfect time to take another look back on a team from baseball's past that accomplished some truly noteworthy achievements. As the 1970s dawned on professional baseball, the game was continuing to enjoy immense popularity. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn signed a new $72 million dollar television deal with NBC in May of 1971. The Special Veteran's Committee had been formed, and was about to enshrine their first class in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Former Negro League stars like Satchel Paige were finally getting their recognition in the Hall of Fame and were starting to be honored as full-time members of the Hall. African-American players in general, were finally getting the opportunity to fully infuse into baseball's mainstream. The Pirates became the first team to field an all-black lineup in 1971. As the game was continuing to change for the good, the 1971 season would feature a highly-entertaining All-Star game from Detroit, some terrific power numbers from Pittsburgh, and once-again, dominant pitching. One team in particular, fit that mold perfectly - the Baltimore Orioles.

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The 1971 Orioles were a mix of crafty veterans, some heading for the Hall of the Fame, several All-Star-level pitchers and a to-be Hall of Fame pitcher just coming into the prime of his career, as well as a legendary manager who won 1,480 games over his MLB managing career. However, the one area where the Orioles truly set themselves apart from their contemporaries, and in the history of baseball overall, was with their pitching. The 1971 Baltimore Orioles will always be remembered for their dominant starting pitching in particular.

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In the long, storied, history of baseball, starting rotations and the use of pitchers had changed dramatically from baseball's early days through the 1910s, the 50s and 60s and so forth. By the time of the 1970s, the 4-man starting rotation had been established for a few decades, and bullpens were expanding more and more to feature more relief pitchers. The concepts of "set-up men" and "closers" were now somewhat established and becoming more and more the norm. In the history of baseball, however, no team had ever featured 4 - 20-game winners in the same starting rotation. In fact, only 1 team in the history of baseball had ever featured four 20-game winners period, the 1920 Chicago White Sox.

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That all changed in 1971 when the Baltimore Orioles accomplished something that had never been done before, and has yet to be matched since. The Orioles starting rotation of Mike Cuellar, Pat Dobson, future Hall of Famer Jim Palmer, and Dave McNally, all made at-least 30 starts and all won at-least 20 games. Cuellar led the way as he made 38 starts and logged a team-best 292 1/3 innings. He posted a record of 20-9 record with a 3.08 ERA. The Cuban left-hander had won the Cy Young Award in 1969, and was elected to his 2nd All-Star game in a row in 1971. Behind Cuellar was Pat Dobson, who also made 38 starts and posted a record of 20-8 with a 2.90 ERA and a team-best 187 strikeouts. Dobson made the All-Star game the following year, ironically enough, in a season where he ended up leading the league in losses, posting a 16-18 record. His 1971 campaign was the finest of his 11-year career and the only season in which he won 20 games.

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The legendary Jim Palmer was next with 37 starts, posting a record of 20-9 with a team-low 2.68 ERA (for starting pitchers) and finished just 3 strikeouts behind Dobson with 184 for the season. Palmer was just coming into the prime of a Hall-of-Fame career. He was elected to the All-Star game in 1971, the 2nd of 3 consecutive appearances, and won 20-games or more for the second consecutive season. He would go on to win 20+ games in four consecutive seasons, and 7 out of 8 overall from 1970-1978. He would also win the Cy Young Award in 1973, 1975, and 1976. The first-ballot Hall-of-Famer would finish his 19-year career with a 268-152 record with just a 2.86 ERA.

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As dominant as Palmer was, the fourth man in the rotation, Dave McNally, was just as dominant in 1971. McNally logged 30 starts and went a team-best 21-5 with a 2.89 ERA. He only notched 91 strikeouts, but was never known as a strikeout-pitcher. He was in the 10th season of a 14-year career and had made the All-Star game in both 1969 and 1970. 1971 marked the fourth consecutive season that he won at least 20-games. It would be the final time he won 20+ games as he went on to post career marks of 184-119 with a 3.24 ERA. He also posted a 7-4 record with just a 2.49 ERA over 12 career post-season starts.

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While the pitching staff made history for the Orioles, they also featured a very capable closer in Eddie Watt, who pitched in 35 games, and logged 39 2/3 innings, and managed to go 3-1 with a team-best 11 saves and 1.82 ERA. "Closers" weren't quite yet featured as prominently in late-game situations as they would be by the end of the decade. That being said, the dominant starting pitching for Baltimore made the bullpen obsolete in many games throughout the season as the four starters combined to pitch a mind-boggling 70 complete games, led by Mike Cuellar's 21, and Jim Palmer's 20. Cuellar and Palmer also combined to toss 7 shutouts, led by Cuellar's 4. The dominance from the starting pitching propelled the Orioles to an American League-best 101-57 record, 12 games better than the 2nd-place Detroit Tigers.

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As the Orioles coasted to the AL East crown, the Oakland Athletics did the same in the AL West, posting a record of 101-60, good for 16 games better than the second-place Royals. The two met in the ALCS with the Orioles sweeping the A's 3-0 behind dominant starting-pitching, as Oakland managed just 7 runs in the 3 games. As good as the pitching was for Baltimore, the bats featured some awfully good talent as well.

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Brooks Robinson was in the 17th season of a legendary 23-year career that was all spent with the Orioles. He went to 15 consecutive All-Star games from 1960-1974, and posted a .272 average, with 20 Home Runs and 92 RBIs in 1971. As dominant as Robinson was, he was joined by another future Hall of Famer in outfielder Frank Robinson. He was in the 16th season of another legendary 21-year career, and led the way from the plate, with a .281 average, and posted team-highs with 28 Home Runs and 99 RBIs. In edition to the Robinsons, 2nd baseman Davey Johnson hit .282 with 18 HRs and 72 RBIs and outfielder Don Buford managed a .290 average with 19 HRs and 54 RBIs. Merv Rettenmund played all-over and led the team in hitting with a .318 average and also chipped-in with 11 HRs and 75 RBIs.

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While the bats of this potent lineup tend to be a bit forgotten due to the overwhelming success of the pitching rotation, they were none-the-less an important aspect of the overall success of the club. After getting balanced hitting and great pitching in the 3-game sweep of the A's in the ALCS, they advanced to face the Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series. The Pirates were a formidable squad as well, featuring future Hall-of-Famers Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, and Bill Mazeroski. They featured 5 All-Stars from that season, and Stargell led the National League with 48 Home Runs.

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The Pirates finished 97-65 and while they dispatched the San Francisco Giants 3-1 in the NLCS, many had them pegged as underdogs heading into the World Series matchup with the Orioles and their vaunted starting rotation. The Orioles dominated the first two games of the Series from Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, winning Game 1 5-3, and Game 2 11-3. Baltimore's bats would cool off significantly however in the next 3 games from Pittsburgh, with the Pirates winning all 3, while holding the Orioles to just 4 runs combined in the 3 games. In Game 6, Jim Palmer took the mound for the Orioles as they attempted to stave off elimination, and he surrendered a pair of early runs. Baltimore came back as the game wore on and tied it up 2-2 in the bottom of the 7th. They would go on to win in the bottom of the 10th on a sac fly as McNally got the win as he closed the game out in relief.

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With the series tied 3-3, game 7 took place from Memorial Stadium in Baltimore and featured each team's "ace" as Steve Blass matched up with Mike Cuellar in the deciding game. Roberto Clemente once again provided the first spark for Pittsburgh as he managed to hit a 2-out homer off Cuellar in the 4th. Blass would go on to barely get the best of Cuellar in the game, as he pitched his second complete game of the series, and the Pirates edged out the Orioles 2-1 in the decisive game 7.

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The Orioles' pitching was as stellar as it had been in the regular season, as they held the Pirates to 23 runs in the 7 game series (3.29 per game). After piling up the runs in the first two games of the series, Baltimore's bats went silent the rest of the way, as they only managed 8 runs total, and hit just .141 in the final 5 games as Pittsburgh completed the upset.

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Baltimore's 1971 squad will always be remembered for their dominant and record-setting starting pitching, however, they will also go down as one of the best teams of all-time to not win a World Series. It is increasingly difficult to imagine a starting rotation going forward that will ever-again feature 4 20-game winners. With today's 5-man rotations and the ever-increasing roles of relief pitching and expanded bullpens, it is difficult for most staff's to feature one 20-game winner, let alone 2. Which helps solidify that the 1971 Orioles will forever go down in baseball history, led by a Hall-of-Fame pitcher, the most dominant starting rotation in history, and two Hall-of-Famers in the field, who just so happened to both be named Robinson, and a Hall-of-Fame manager in the legendary Earl Weaver.

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