Together We Were Eleven Foot Nine

Tells the story of the Baltimore Orioles of the 1960's and 1970s in contextualized biographies of the players, managers, and everyone else important to the team.

In the years following the decline of the New York Yankees dynasty that ended in 1964, three American League teams endeavored to stake their claim to the Junior Circuit's crown. From 1965 to 1975, the Minnesota Twins, Baltimore Orioles, and Oakland Athletics emerged as the most significant AL clubs, but this trio achieved varying degrees of success. Through the prism of these three teams, this book examines facets of their dynastic aspirations: the way in which key personnel were assembled into a cohesive roster, the glory that was won by the clubs, and the factors leading to their decline. Drawing on a rich variety of primary and secondary sources, the story is told of vital players from Latin America who made their way to Minnesota, the select few who ventured from the Orioles' training facility in Thomasville, Georgia, to Baltimore, and the collegiate stars selected in the early years of the newly-created amateur draft who went on to help forge a winning combination in Oakland.

In Suds Series, J. Daniel takes readers back forty years, telling a story that is part baseball history, part urban history, and part U.S. cultural history, the narrative weaving together the development of the Midwest cities of St. Louis and Milwaukee through their engagement with beer and baseball. As the National and American League champions squared off for the 1982 Fall Classic, the St. Louis Cardinals, owned by Anheuser-Busch, took on the Milwaukee Brewers, so named by owner Bud Selig in homage to the city’s baseball and brewing past. Even nominal baseball fans will enjoy reading about legendary players, teams, and personalities that emerged in the 1982 season: the year Ricky Henderson stole 130 bases; Reggie Jackson led the league in home runs; and Cal Ripken Jr. began his remarkable playing streak. Readers will also enjoy the cultural references, including the Pac-Man craze, a chart-topping album by Rush, and the “Light Beer Wars” waged by Anheuser-Busch and the Miller Brewing Company through a series of humorous TV commercials featuring well-loved professional sports figures.

Jim Palmer was just 20 years old when he became the youngest pitcher ever to throw a World Series shutout, helping lead the Baltimore Orioles to their first-ever championship, in 1966. Two years later, Palmer's budding career almost ended due to arm problems. Yet, he mounted an inspiring comeback and reached the pinnacle of his profession, becoming the winningest pitcher of the 1970s and the only hurler to win a World Series game in three different decades. With three World Series rings, three Cy Young Awards and six All-Star selections to his name, an exemplary record as a spokesperson for charities and corporations, and his long tenure as a TV baseball analyst, Palmer is an authority on what it takes to succeed on and off of the field. Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer and co-author Alan Maimon take readers inside the clubhouse, broadcast booth, and corporate world to tell the story of a one-of-a-kind career that serves as a how-to guide on succeeding in the workplace. Interspersed with memorable stories from his illustrious career with the Orioles, this book includes baseball wisdom and life-lessons learned from the one-of-a-kind Earl Weaver as well as colorful anecdotes about O's teammates like Cal Ripken, Jr and Rick Dempsey, and broadcast partners Howard Cosell and Al Michaels.

Many of the most powerful trends in baseball today have their roots in the 1970s. Baseball entered that decade seriously behind the times in race relations, attitudes toward conformity versus individuality, and the manager-player relationship. In a sense, much of the wrenching change that American society as a whole experienced in the 1960s was played out in baseball in the following decade. Additionally, the game itself was rapidly evolving, with the inauguration of the designated hitter rule in the American League, the evolution of the closer, the development of the five-man starting rotation, the acceptance of strikeout lions like Dave Kingman and Bobby Bonds and the proliferation of stolen bases. This book opens with a discussion of the challenges that faced baseball's movers and shakers when they gathered in Bal Harbour, Florida, for the annual winter meetings on December 2, 1969. Their worst nightmares would be realized in the coming years. For many and often contradictory reasons the 1970s game evolved into a war of competing ideologies--escalating salaries, an acrimonious strike, Sesame Street-style team mascots, and the breaking of the time-honored tradition that all players, including the pitcher, must play on offense as well as defense--that would ultimately spell doom for the majority of attendees.

The first complete biography of the Baltimore Orioles' Hall of Fame baseman Brooks Robinson, the greatest defensive third baseman of all time. Finalist for the 2014 Casey Award! Selected by the National Baseball Hall of Fame for the 2014 author's series Brooks Robinson is one of baseball's most transcendent and revered players. He won a record sixteen straight Gold Gloves at third base, led one of the best teams of the era, and is often cited as the greatest fielder in baseball history. Credited with almost single-handedly winning the 1970 World Series, this MVP was immortalized in a Normal Rockwell painting. A wholesome player and role model, Brooks honored the game of baseball not only with his play but with his class and character off the field. Author of The Bird: The Life and Legacy of Mark Fidrych, Doug Wilson returns to baseball's Golden Age to detail the birth of a new franchise through the man who came to symbolize it as one of baseball's most beloved players. Through numerous interviews with people from every part of the legendary player's life, Wilson reveals never-before-reported information to illuminate Brooks's remarkable skill and warm personality. Brooks takes readers back to an era when players fought for low-paying yearly contracts, spanning the turbulent 60s and 70s and into the dawning of the free agent era. He was elected to the MLB All-Century Team and as president of the MLB Players Alumni, Brooks continues to influence today's baseball players. In the climate of astronomic salaries, steroids, off-field troubles, and heroes who let down their fans, Brooks reminds baseball fans of the honor and glory at the heart of America's favorite pastime.

"Orioles Magic" is a phrase fans still associate with the 1979-1983 seasons, Baltimore's last championship era, when they played excellent, exciting ball with a penchant for late-inning heroics. This book analyzes the Orioles not just as a great team but as the team to be marked by the fabled "Oriole Way," an organizational commitment to fundamentally sound baseball that guided them for nearly 30 years. The Magic years are discussed in the context of Baltimore sports, fan culture and baseball history, recalling the thrills of a splendid squad that delighted fans and reminding us why Peter Gammons called the 1979-1983 Orioles one of the major league's "last fun teams."