The 1998 Baltimore Orioles season involved the Orioles finishing fourth in the American League East with a record of 79 wins and 83 losses, the first of 14 consecutive losing seasons.
1998 Baltimore Orioles | ||
---|---|---|
League | American League | |
Division | East | |
Ballpark | Oriole Park at Camden Yards | |
City | Baltimore, Maryland | |
Record | 79–83 (.488) | |
Divisional place | 4th | |
Owners | Peter Angelos | |
General managers | Pat Gillick | |
Managers | Ray Miller | |
Television | WJZ-TV/WNUV Home Team Sports (Jim Palmer, Michael Reghi, Rick Cerone) | |
Radio | WBAL (AM) (Fred Manfra, Jim Hunter) | |
|
Eddie Murray 1B Retired 1998 |
* From July 2 to August 15, Eric Davis hits in 30 consecutive games during which time he hits .400 (52-130) with 10 home runs and 35 runs batted in.[3][4] |
AL East | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New York Yankees | 114 | 48 | 0.704 | — | 62–19 | 52–29 |
Boston Red Sox | 92 | 70 | 0.568 | 22 | 51–30 | 41–40 |
Toronto Blue Jays | 88 | 74 | 0.543 | 26 | 51–30 | 37–44 |
Baltimore Orioles | 79 | 83 | 0.488 | 35 | 42–39 | 37–44 |
Tampa Bay Devil Rays | 63 | 99 | 0.389 | 51 | 33–48 | 30–51 |
Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] | |||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team | ANA | BAL | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TB | TEX | TOR | NL |
Anaheim | — | 5–6 | 6–5 | 5–6 | 4–7 | 8–3 | 6–5 | 6–5 | 6–5 | 5–7 | 9–3 | 6–5 | 5–7 | 4–7 | 10–6 |
Baltimore | 6–5 | — | 6–6 | 2–9 | 5–6 | 10–1 | 5–6 | 7–3 | 3–9 | 8–3 | 6–5 | 5–7 | 6–5 | 5–7 | 5–11 |
Boston | 5–6 | 6–6 | — | 5–6 | 8–3 | 5–5 | 8–3 | 5–6 | 5–7 | 9–2 | 7–4 | 9–3 | 6–5 | 5–7 | 9–7 |
Chicago | 6–5 | 9–2 | 6–5 | — | 6–6 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 4–7 | 4–7 | 4–7 | 5–6 | 5–6 | 4–6–1 | 7–9 |
Cleveland | 7–4 | 6–5 | 3–8 | 6–6 | — | 9–3 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 4–7 | 3–8 | 9–2 | 7–3 | 4–7 | 7–4 | 10–6 |
Detroit | 3–8 | 1–10 | 5–5 | 6–6 | 3–9 | — | 6–6 | 8–4 | 3–8 | 7–4 | 3–8 | 5–6 | 3–8 | 5–6 | 7–9 |
Kansas City | 5–6 | 6–5 | 3–8 | 4–8 | 4–8 | 6–6 | — | 7–5 | 0–10 | 7–4 | 4–6 | 8–3 | 3–8 | 6–5 | 9–7 |
Minnesota | 5–6 | 3–7 | 6–5 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 5–7 | — | 4–7 | 4–7 | 2–9 | 7–4 | 7–4 | 4–7 | 7–9 |
New York | 5–6 | 9–3 | 7–5 | 7–4 | 7–4 | 8–3 | 10–0 | 7–4 | — | 8–3 | 8–3 | 11–1 | 8–3 | 6–6 | 13–3 |
Oakland | 7–5 | 3–8 | 2–9 | 7–4 | 8–3 | 4–7 | 4–7 | 7–4 | 3–8 | — | 5–7 | 5–6 | 6–6 | 5–6 | 8–8 |
Seattle | 3–9 | 5–6 | 4–7 | 7–4 | 2–9 | 8–3 | 6–4 | 9–2 | 3–8 | 7–5 | — | 6–5 | 5–7 | 4–7 | 7–9 |
Tampa Bay | 5–6 | 7–5 | 3–9 | 6–5 | 3–7 | 6–5 | 3–8 | 4–7 | 1–11 | 6–5 | 5–6 | — | 4–7 | 5–7 | 5–11 |
Texas | 7–5 | 5–6 | 5–6 | 6–5 | 7–4 | 8–3 | 8–3 | 4–7 | 3–8 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 7–4 | — | 7–4 | 8–8 |
Toronto | 7–4 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 6–4–1 | 4–7 | 6–5 | 5–6 | 7–4 | 6–6 | 6–5 | 7–4 | 7–5 | 4–7 | — | 9–7 |
In June, Cal Ripken Jr. began to contemplate ending his still-active, record-breaking streak of consecutive games played. However, the Orioles were still in contention for a wild-card spot in the playoffs at that point, so he continued playing. By mid-September, after the team fell out of wild-card contention, Ripken decided that, since the games that began his streak (May 30, 1982), tied Lou Gehrig's old record of 2,130 games (September 5, 1995) and surpassed it (September 6, 1995) all took place in his Baltimore hometown, it would be most appropriate to bring his incredible run to a close at home also. Thus, on September 20, after playing 2,632 games without a break, Cal Ripken Jr. asked to be taken out of the starting lineup for the Orioles' last home game of the season against the New York Yankees. Everybody was stunned when rookie Ryan Minor took third base instead of Ripken for the start of the game. The game's first batter, New York's Chuck Knoblauch, grounded out to shortstop for the first out, officially ending Ripken's streak and prompting both teams and the fans to give "The Iron Man" a thunderous ovation for his monumental achievement.
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
C | Chris Hoiles | 97 | 267 | 70 | .262 | 15 | 56 |
1B | Rafael Palmeiro | 162 | 619 | 183 | .296 | 43 | 121 |
2B | Roberto Alomar | 147 | 588 | 166 | .282 | 14 | 56 |
3B | Cal Ripken | 161 | 601 | 163 | .271 | 14 | 61 |
SS | Mike Bordick | 151 | 465 | 121 | .260 | 13 | 51 |
LF | B.J. Surhoff | 162 | 573 | 160 | .279 | 22 | 92 |
CF | Brady Anderson | 133 | 479 | 113 | .236 | 18 | 51 |
RF | Eric Davis | 131 | 452 | 148 | .327 | 28 | 89 |
DH | Harold Baines | 104 | 293 | 88 | .300 | 9 | 57 |
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lenny Webster | 108 | 309 | 88 | .285 | 10 | 46 |
Joe Carter | 85 | 283 | 70 | .247 | 11 | 34 |
Jeffrey Hammonds | 63 | 171 | 46 | .269 | 6 | 28 |
Jeff Reboulet | 79 | 126 | 31 | .246 | 1 | 8 |
Rich Becker | 79 | 113 | 23 | .204 | 3 | 11 |
Willie Greene | 24 | 40 | 6 | .150 | 1 | 5 |
Lyle Mouton | 18 | 39 | 12 | .308 | 2 | 7 |
Danny Clyburn | 11 | 25 | 7 | .280 | 1 | 3 |
Charlie Greene | 13 | 21 | 4 | .190 | 0 | 0 |
Calvin Pickering | 9 | 21 | 5 | .238 | 2 | 3 |
Ozzie Guillén | 12 | 16 | 1 | .063 | 0 | 0 |
Ryan Minor | 9 | 14 | 6 | .429 | 0 | 1 |
Jesús Tavárez | 8 | 11 | 2 | .182 | 1 | 1 |
P. J. Forbes | 9 | 10 | 1 | .100 | 0 | 2 |
Jerry Hairston Jr. | 6 | 7 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
Willis Otáñez | 3 | 5 | 1 | .200 | 0 | 0 |
Gene Kingsale | 11 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Scott Erickson | 36 | 251.1 | 16 | 13 | 4.01 | 186 |
Juan Guzmán | 33 | 211.0 | 10 | 16 | 4.35 | 168 |
Mike Mussina | 29 | 206.1 | 13 | 10 | 3.49 | 175 |
Doug Drabek | 23 | 108.2 | 6 | 11 | 7.29 | 55 |
Scott Kamieniecki | 12 | 54.2 | 2 | 6 | 6.75 | 25 |
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sidney Ponson | 31 | 135.0 | 8 | 9 | 5.27 | 85 |
Doug Johns | 31 | 86.2 | 3 | 3 | 4.57 | 34 |
Jimmy Key | 25 | 79.1 | 6 | 3 | 4.20 | 53 |
Nerio Rodríguez | 6 | 19.0 | 1 | 3 | 8.05 | 8 |
Rocky Coppinger | 6 | 15.2 | 0 | 0 | 5.17 | 13 |
Bobby Muñoz | 9 | 12.0 | 0 | 0 | 9.75 | 6 |
Chris Fussell | 3 | 9.2 | 0 | 1 | 8.38 | 8 |
Richie Lewis | 2 | 4.2 | 0 | 0 | 15.43 | 4 |
Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Armando Benítez | 71 | 5 | 6 | 22 | 3.82 | 87 |
Alan Mills | 72 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3.74 | 57 |
Jesse Orosco | 69 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 3.18 | 50 |
Arthur Rhodes | 45 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3.51 | 83 |
Norm Charlton | 36 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6.94 | 41 |
Pete Smith | 27 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 6.20 | 29 |
Terry Mathews | 17 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6.20 | 10 |
Joel Bennett | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 0 |
Radhames Dykhoff | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18.00 | 1 |