Your "All Time" team - Not by Position ........

If you had the chance to make the All time O's team by group, what would you pick?  Would it be the Pitching from the 1971 team that bosted FOUR 20 game winners? (something that has never been done before or repeated again) What infield would you choose?  Brooks, Balanger, and Boog of the late 60's, or Ripken, Alomar, Palmaro of the 90's?  What outfield year would you choose to make your All Time O's team?

Pitching - I would choose the 1971 Starting pitching staff and team them up with the 1983 Bullpen.  No one would be able to get on base with a team like that! 

Infield -  I would have to take the 90's Infield of Ripken, Palmaro and Alomar for the Defense and Power.

Outfield - has to be one of the hardest to choose from.  I really like the early 80's outfield of Lowenstein and company, however keeping with the trend to build the Ultimate O's team I would have to go with the trio of Robinson, Blair and Bufford. They had power, speed and talent. 

What era would you pick?

Starting Pitching - 1970 team.  4 20-game winners - Palmer, McNally, Cuellar, Dobson

Relief - Definately the 1989 bullpen - Greg Olson, Mark Williamson, Kevin Hickey, Mark Thurmond. 

Infield - 1971 - Brooks Robinson, Mark Belanger, Bobby Grich, Boog Powell - 4 Gold Gloves; power from Boog, Brooks, and Grich

Manager - Earl Weaver

Catching - Rick Dempsey

Outfield - This one is tough.  I would have to go with 1979 Of of Roenicke/Lowenstein, Bumbry, Singleton

Starting Pitching:  Palmer, Cuellar, McNally, Dobson

Relief Pitching:  Drabowsky   [We didn't anyone else back in those '66 days]

      &nbs p; Remember the '66 WS headline:  Moe mows down 11!  

Infield:  Brooks, Belanger, Johnson, Powell.  

Outfield:  Frank, Blair, Blefary and/or Buford

Catcher:  Etchebarren  or Triandos

By far, the 1966-1971 ball clubs we had were our absolute best.  We dominated like no other.  This could actually be the best in MLB ever.   Yes, EVER!  

Hey Byrds,

Since I am just a tad younger than you (figured this out by reading some of your other posts), I would have to say the juggernaut teams of 1969-1971.  Earl Weaver takes over for Paul Richards and the Orioles have 3 20 game winners in 1969 and 4 in 1970-1971.  Plus the best record in baseball all 3 of those years.   I always liked Earl's philosophy of winning:   pitching, defense, and the 3-run homer.  lol.

Damn those Mets and Pirates. 

The 1971 Baltimore Orioles were the most complete team in Orioles history. HANDS DOWN! Starters in bold.

Starting Pitchers: Mike Cuellar (20-9 3.08 21 CG), Pat Dobson (20-8 2.90 18 CG), Dave McNally (21-5 2.89 11 CG), Jim Palmer (20-9 2.68 20 CG), Dave Leonhard (5th starter when needed)

Relief Pitchers: Dave Boswell,  Tom Dukes, Dick Hall, Grant Jackson, Jim Hardin,  rlando Pena, Pete Richert, Eddie Watt,

Catchers: Clay Dalrymple, Andy Etchebarren, Ellie Hendricks

Infielders: Mark Belanger, Jerry DaVanon, Bobby Grich, Davey Johnson, Boog Powell,  Brooks Robinson,  Chico Salmon,

Outfielders:  Don Baylor, Paul Blair, Don Buford, Terry Crowley, Curt Motton, Merv Rettenmund, Frank Robinson, Tom Shopay

Manager: Earl Weaver

The 1969, 1970, 1971 Orioles were three of the best MLB teams of all time. Although they lost in 1969 to the Amazing Mets and in 1971 to the "We Are Family" Pirates, We beat the "Big Red Machine"  in 1970 who were considered by many to be better than the Orioles that year. Johnny Bench, Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez and Dave Conception to name a few headlined the Reds line-up.

I must say that I am surprised no one is picking the infield of the 90's with Cal, Alomar, and Palmaro.  That was a great infield with the hitting and defense.  I am also surprised there has been no mention of the 83 Bullpen.  I would have thought they would have gotten some consideration for this.

I agree that the starters of the early 70's there was no comparison.  Hands down the best that baseball has ever seen on one team!

On the Move:

No wonder Joe Morgan seems to hate the Orioles so much when he calls one of the games for ESPN.  Any one else notice that?  I can not stand the man.

No wonder Joe Morgan seems to hate the Orioles so much when he calls one of the games for ESPN.  Any one else notice that?  I can not stand the man.

He also played for the Phillies in '83 when we smacked them down in 5 games.  I'm sure he has many a bad dream about the O's...

I like Joe as an announcer, but I agree with you - he bashes us any time he can.

Move,

Thanx for the correction.  The '71 pitching staff is who I was thinking about.  Will agree that this team was the best all-around Orioles team ever.

One correction for you.  It wasn't the '71 Pirates that were the "We Are Family' (God I hate that song) team.  It was the '79 Pirates that beat the O's.  In both the '71 and '79 series, the O's were up 3 games to 1.  Somehow the Pirates won three straight games and won both WS.  Man, I was bummed both years. 

Come to think of it, the '79 team had a pretty good bullpen:  Don Stanhouse (21 saves), Tippy Martinez (ERA under 3.00), Tim Stoddard (ERA under 2.00), Sammy Stewart. 

Loved that '70 series.  First WS game I was at.  Can't remember what game it was.  I was only 8.  Didn't Cuellar hit a grand slam in that series?  I might be wrong, but for some reason I remember that. 

Agreed...Brady Anderson was my favorite baseball player when I was growing up (born in 1980).

I also agree that the 1990s infield needs some more love before of course Robbie Alomar spit in that Umps face.

Hi Move,

Don't know too many players, whether they were pitchers or not, who couldn't out hit Belanger.  LOL.

Forgot about the Blast.  Wow!  That's going back.  Loved that team, hated the song.

I think Cuellar's screwball was slower than Mike Boddicker's "Fosh ball" and Bill Lee's "Eephus" pitch. 

But the real question Jazz, was it slower than Dempseys fast ball?  hahaha

He had to pitch in a few games if I remember right.

Hey Move,

Here is a question for your post:Earl Weaver did not like the DH rule.  What did he do to make it hard on the other team when handing in the lineup card that created a rule against doing this?

Answer:
He would put a pitcher down as his DH.  Usualy the starter from the night before and then once he knew how the other teams starter was throughing that night, he would decide who was going to be his DH. 

To think that they actually made a rule against that is to funny.

m,

Not only Dempsey, but I also remember Elrod Hendricks and Larry Harlow pitching when the Orioles were getting blown out by the Blue Jays. 

Still think Cuellar's srewball was slower though.