October 16, 1983, 40 years ago: Eddie
Murray slams a pair of home runs and Scott McGregor pitches a 5-hitter, as the
Baltimore Orioles beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-0 at Veterans Stadium, and
win the World Series 4-1. Baltimore catcher Rick Dempsey‚ who hit .385 with 4
doubles and a home run‚ is the named the Series' Most Valuable Player.
The Orioles win their 3rd World Series, following 1966 and 1970. This one marks a unique double: Edward Bennett Williams, famed trial lawyer, majority owner of
the Orioles, and minority owner and former majority owner of the Washington
Redskins, becomes the only man ever to be an owner of the current World Series
and Super Bowl champions at the same time.
NFL rules prohibit a majority owner from being a
majority owner in another sport, so before buying the Orioles, Williams sold
some of his stake in the Redskins to Jack Kent Cooke, former owner of the Los
Angeles Lakers and Kings, builder of the Forum arena outside L.A., and the last
owner of the minor-league baseball team that gave its name to an NHL
powerhouse, the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The 1983 World Series win caps a period where the Orioles have finished 1st
8 times in 18 years, and have at least been competitive almost continuously
since 1960. But, due to their core players getting old and later mismanagement
by owner Peter Angelos, they have not played a World Series game since.
The last out is a line shot to shortstop Cal
Ripken Jr., son and namesake of the Orioles' longtime 3rd base coach. He will
play another 18 seasons, but never appear in another World Series.
It's been 40 years. How long has that been?
*
There was only 1 holdover from their previous World Series win, in 1970. It was Jim Palmer, and he was a holdover from their 1966 win, too. In 1983 Game 3, he became the 1st pitcher to win a World Series game in 3 different decades. He remains the only one.
He, 1st baseman Eddie Murray, and shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. reached the Baseball Hall of Fame. Joe Altobelli had taken over as manager from Earl Weaver, who took them to the 1970 title, and also to Pennants in 1969, 1971 and 1979. Hank Bauer managed the 1966 title, so Weaver basically got into the Hall of Fame with 1 World Series win.
The Houston Astros, the Kansas City Royals, the franchise then known as the Montreal Expos, had never won a World Series. The Braves hadn't won in 26 years, including their entire tenure in Atlanta. The Giants hadn't won in 29 years, including their entire tenure in San Francisco. The Cleveland Indians hadn't won in 35 years. The Twins hadn't won in 59 years, including their entire tenure in Minnesota. The Boston Red Sox hadn't won in 65 years. The Chicago White Sox had just won the American League Western Division, but hadn't won the World Series in 66 years. The Chicago Cubs hadn't won in 75 years.
The Astros, the Expos franchise, and the San Diego Padres had never won a Pennant. The Padres, the Seattle Mariners, the Texas Rangers and the Toronto Blue Jays had never even won a Division title. The Expos were still in Montreal, the Astros were still in the National League, the Milwaukee Brewers were still in the American League, and the Cleveland team was still known as the Indians.
All of those facts are no longer true.
Only 6 ballparks in use that season are still in use: Fenway Park in Boston, Wrigley Field in Chicago, the Oakland Coliseum, Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City, and both Los Angeles area stadiums, Dodger Stadium and Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).
There was an NFL team in Baltimore (for 5 more months, anyway), but it was the Colts, not the Ravens. There was an NFL team in Houston, but it was the Oilers, not the Texans. There were NBA teams in Kansas City, San Diego and Seattle. There were NHL teams in Quebec City and Hartford. And the USFL and the original North American Soccer League were still operating.
Carl Hubbell, Hank Greenberg and Lefty Gomez were still alive. Of the defining players of my childhood, Carl Yastrzemski and Johnny Bench had just retired; Willie Stargell had done so a year earlier; Reggie Jackson and Rod Carew were pursuing milestones in Anaheim, the former, 500 home runs, the latter, 3,000 hits; Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan were now elder statesmen; and Mike Schmidt, Dave Winfield, Carlton Fisk, George Brett were roughly at their peaks.
The Orioles dethroned the St. Louis Cardinals as World Champions. The titleholders in the other sports were the Washington Redskins in football, the Philadelphia 76ers in basketball, and the New York Islanders in hockey. The Sixers and Isles have never won another title, either. The Heavyweight Champion of the World was Larry Holmes.
The Olympic Games have since been held in America 3 times; twice each in Canada, Korea, Japan and China; and once each in Bosnia, France, Spain, Norway, Australia, Greece, Italy, Britain, Russia and Brazil.
The World Cup has since been held in America, Mexico, Italy, France, Germany, South Africa, Brazil, Russia and Qatar.
There were 26 Amendments to the Constitution. The idea that two people of the same gender could be legally recognized as married was ridiculous -- but so was the idea that corporations were "people."
The President of the United States was Ronald Reagan. The Governor of the State of New York was Mario Cuomo. The Mayor of the City of New York was Ed Koch. The Governor of New Jersey was Tom Kean Sr. The Mayor of the Orioles' City of Baltimore was William Donald "Dud" Schaefer. The Governor of their home State of Maryland was Harry Hughes, who would be succeeded by Schaefer.
The current holders of those offices? Joe Biden was a U.S. Senator from Delaware, Kathy Hochul was in law school at The Catholic University of America in Washington, Eric Adams was at the New York Policy Academy, Phil Murphy was a rookie at Goldman Sachs, Governor Wes Moore of Maryland had just turned 5, and Mayor Brandon Scott was born the next year.
The current holders of those offices? Joe Biden was a U.S. Senator from Delaware, Kathy Hochul was in law school at The Catholic University of America in Washington, Eric Adams was at the New York Policy Academy, Phil Murphy was a rookie at Goldman Sachs, Governor Wes Moore of Maryland had just turned 5, and Mayor Brandon Scott was born the next year.
There were still living veterans of the Spanish-American War, the Philippine Campaign, the Boxer Rebellion, the Boer War, the Russo-Japanese War and the Potemkin Mutiny. Polish Cold War hero Lech Wałęsa was about to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Pope was John Paul II. The current Pope, Francis, was Father Jorge Mario Bergoglio, teaching in San Miguel, Argentina.
The Prime Minister of Canada was Pierre Trudeau, and of Britain, Margaret Thatcher. The monarch of both countries was Queen Elizabeth II. Liverpool F.C. were the holders of the Football League title, and Manchester United of the FA Cup.
Major novels of 1983 included Hollywood Wives by Jackie Collins, On Wings of Eagles by Ken Follett, Ironweed by William Kennedy, The Little Drummer Girl by John le Carre, and Christine and Pet Sematary by Stephen King. George R.R. Martin published the murder mystery/fantasy The Armageddon Rag. J.K. Rowling had just started at the University of Exeter.
This was the year of the blockbuster film sequel, including Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Superman III with Christopher Reeve (playing "Evil Superman" and Clark Kent fighting each other thanks to Richard Pryor), Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 (the working title had been Smokey IS the Bandit, which is essentially the plot, with Sheriff Justice taking up the Enoses' latest challenge, and Burt Reynolds only appears at the end), the Dirty Harry film Sudden Impact (introducing Clint Eastwood's line "Go ahead, make my day"), the Saturday Night Fever sequel Staying Alive, and battling James Bond films: The official Octopussy with Roger Moore, and the unofficial Never Say Never Again with a one-time-only return for Sean Connery, in what is essentially a remake of Thunderball. Peter Davison was playing The Doctor.
This was the year Tom Cruise became a star with All the Right Moves and Risky Business. Eddie and the Cruisers and The Big Chill helped to launch the 1960s nostalgia wave that didn't quite catch on in the late 1970s with film versions of Beatlemania and Hair. Brainstorm, Natalie Wood's last film, delayed because of her death 2 years earlier, finally premiered.
October 1983 also saw the premieres of film versions of Stephen King's The Dead Zone and Tom Wolfe's Mercury astronaut drama The Right Stuff. Steven Spielberg, John Landis, Joe Dante and George Miller had recently teamed up, each directing a segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie. And Leonard Nimoy was shooting, as director and (though not billed, as to avoid what we would now call spoilers) actor, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.
Major TV shows that had just debuted included the M*A*S*H spinoff AfterMASH, Webster, Scarecrow & Mrs. King, the game show Love Connection, The Sally Jessy Raphael Show, the cartoon Inspector Gadget, a new cartoon version of Alvin and the Chipmunks, and a cartoon that took G.I. Joe into a far less wholesome direction.
NBC debuted a bunch of new series that turned out to be laughably bad. These included The Rousters, with Chad Everett as the leader of a family of carnival promoters that was descended from Wild West hero Wyatt Earp, including a crazy brother played by Jim Varney (basically doing his Ernest P. Worrell character) and a crazier mother played by Maxine Stuart that made Granny Clampett look like Jessica Fletcher. Hoyt Axton and Mimi Rogers also starred on this turkey, which NBC said was "going to sink The Love Boat." It sank in the harbor.
NBC also tried to copy Three's Company, only instead of a guy chef with 2 women, 1 of them a bouncy blonde, We Got It Made was a bouncy blonde maid with 2 guys. That was less ridiculous than Bay City Blues, a bad show about a bad minor-league baseball team. (The fact that the baseball season and the TV season don't match up well is a big reason why, unlike football and basketball, there's never really been a successful TV show about baseball.)
The following month, 2 shattering programs were broadcast: ABC's nuclear thriller The Day After, and Sesame Street's episode discussing the death of Mr. Hooper (whose portrayer, Will Lee, had died a year earlier).
More ridiculous still was Mr. Smith, about an orangutan in a science lab that got exposed to radiation and developed an I.Q. over 200, making him smarter than the scientists working on him. But that was still better than Manimal, with Simon MacCorkindale as a shapeshifter. Was that supposed to be NBC's attempt to copy CBS' The Incredible Hulk? If so, it didn't work, and it remains a pop-culture joke on the level of My Mother the Car from the '60s and Cop Rock from the '90s.
No one had yet heard of Forrest Gump, Jack Ryan, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Terminator, the Ghostbusters, Freddy Kreuger, Marty McFly, Bart Simpson, Robocop, Codename V, John McClane, Zack Morris, the Seinfeld Four, Deadpool, Buffy Summers, Fox Mulder, Ross Geller & Rachel Greene, Bridget Jones, Xena, Carrie Bardshaw, Jed Bartlet, Tony Soprano, Master Chief, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Rick Grimes, Lisbeth Salander, Bella Swan, Don Draper, Katniss Everdeen, Walter White or Richard Castle.
The Number 1 song in America was "Total Eclipse of the Heart," sung by Bonnie Tyler, written by Jim Steinman. R.E.M. made its TV debut on Late Night with David Letterman. Michael Jackson was riding the crest of Thriller, and was now the biggest pop-culture star in the world. The Clash fired guitarist Mick Jones. Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott had to apologize for his onstage remark that El Paso, Texas was "that place with all the greasy Mexicans."
Cyndi Lauper released She's So Unusual, featuring "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" and "Time After Time." John Mellencamp released Uh-Huh, featuring "Pink Houses." KISS released Lick It Up, and appeared in public without their makeup for the 1st time. Motley Crue released Shout at the Devil. Quiet Riot's Metal Health was about to become the 1st metal album to top Billboard magazine's album charts. Billy Joel was riding the success of An Innocent Man, The Police of Synchronicity.
In October 1983, a U.S. Marine barracks was blown up by terrorists in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 305 people, including 241 Marines. Two days later, another group of Marines invaded Grenada, settling things down there after the overthrow and assassination of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop. Argentina held a democratic election, ending 7 years of brutal military rule. And a pair of close calls both nearly led the Soviets to launch a nuclear first strike.
Knute Rockne, All-American star Pat O'Brien, and NFL founder George Halas, and Willie "Puddin' Head" Jones, 3rd baseman for the 1950 Phillies' "Whiz Kids," died. Jesse Eisenberg, and Joey Votto, and Zack Greinke were born.
This was the year of the blockbuster film sequel, including Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Superman III with Christopher Reeve (playing "Evil Superman" and Clark Kent fighting each other thanks to Richard Pryor), Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 (the working title had been Smokey IS the Bandit, which is essentially the plot, with Sheriff Justice taking up the Enoses' latest challenge, and Burt Reynolds only appears at the end), the Dirty Harry film Sudden Impact (introducing Clint Eastwood's line "Go ahead, make my day"), the Saturday Night Fever sequel Staying Alive, and battling James Bond films: The official Octopussy with Roger Moore, and the unofficial Never Say Never Again with a one-time-only return for Sean Connery, in what is essentially a remake of Thunderball. Peter Davison was playing The Doctor.
This was the year Tom Cruise became a star with All the Right Moves and Risky Business. Eddie and the Cruisers and The Big Chill helped to launch the 1960s nostalgia wave that didn't quite catch on in the late 1970s with film versions of Beatlemania and Hair. Brainstorm, Natalie Wood's last film, delayed because of her death 2 years earlier, finally premiered.
October 1983 also saw the premieres of film versions of Stephen King's The Dead Zone and Tom Wolfe's Mercury astronaut drama The Right Stuff. Steven Spielberg, John Landis, Joe Dante and George Miller had recently teamed up, each directing a segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie. And Leonard Nimoy was shooting, as director and (though not billed, as to avoid what we would now call spoilers) actor, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.
Major TV shows that had just debuted included the M*A*S*H spinoff AfterMASH, Webster, Scarecrow & Mrs. King, the game show Love Connection, The Sally Jessy Raphael Show, the cartoon Inspector Gadget, a new cartoon version of Alvin and the Chipmunks, and a cartoon that took G.I. Joe into a far less wholesome direction.
NBC debuted a bunch of new series that turned out to be laughably bad. These included The Rousters, with Chad Everett as the leader of a family of carnival promoters that was descended from Wild West hero Wyatt Earp, including a crazy brother played by Jim Varney (basically doing his Ernest P. Worrell character) and a crazier mother played by Maxine Stuart that made Granny Clampett look like Jessica Fletcher. Hoyt Axton and Mimi Rogers also starred on this turkey, which NBC said was "going to sink The Love Boat." It sank in the harbor.
NBC also tried to copy Three's Company, only instead of a guy chef with 2 women, 1 of them a bouncy blonde, We Got It Made was a bouncy blonde maid with 2 guys. That was less ridiculous than Bay City Blues, a bad show about a bad minor-league baseball team. (The fact that the baseball season and the TV season don't match up well is a big reason why, unlike football and basketball, there's never really been a successful TV show about baseball.)
The following month, 2 shattering programs were broadcast: ABC's nuclear thriller The Day After, and Sesame Street's episode discussing the death of Mr. Hooper (whose portrayer, Will Lee, had died a year earlier).
More ridiculous still was Mr. Smith, about an orangutan in a science lab that got exposed to radiation and developed an I.Q. over 200, making him smarter than the scientists working on him. But that was still better than Manimal, with Simon MacCorkindale as a shapeshifter. Was that supposed to be NBC's attempt to copy CBS' The Incredible Hulk? If so, it didn't work, and it remains a pop-culture joke on the level of My Mother the Car from the '60s and Cop Rock from the '90s.
No one had yet heard of Forrest Gump, Jack Ryan, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Terminator, the Ghostbusters, Freddy Kreuger, Marty McFly, Bart Simpson, Robocop, Codename V, John McClane, Zack Morris, the Seinfeld Four, Deadpool, Buffy Summers, Fox Mulder, Ross Geller & Rachel Greene, Bridget Jones, Xena, Carrie Bardshaw, Jed Bartlet, Tony Soprano, Master Chief, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Rick Grimes, Lisbeth Salander, Bella Swan, Don Draper, Katniss Everdeen, Walter White or Richard Castle.
The Number 1 song in America was "Total Eclipse of the Heart," sung by Bonnie Tyler, written by Jim Steinman. R.E.M. made its TV debut on Late Night with David Letterman. Michael Jackson was riding the crest of Thriller, and was now the biggest pop-culture star in the world. The Clash fired guitarist Mick Jones. Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott had to apologize for his onstage remark that El Paso, Texas was "that place with all the greasy Mexicans."
Cyndi Lauper released She's So Unusual, featuring "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" and "Time After Time." John Mellencamp released Uh-Huh, featuring "Pink Houses." KISS released Lick It Up, and appeared in public without their makeup for the 1st time. Motley Crue released Shout at the Devil. Quiet Riot's Metal Health was about to become the 1st metal album to top Billboard magazine's album charts. Billy Joel was riding the success of An Innocent Man, The Police of Synchronicity.
Inflation was such that what $1.00 bought then, $2.35 would buy now. A U.S. postage stamp cost 20 cents, and a New York Subway ride 75 cents. The average price of a gallon of gas was $1.22, a cup of coffee $1.13, a McDonald's meal (Big Mac, fries, shake) $2.55, a movie ticket $3.18, a new car $10,607, and a new house $97,800. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the preceding Friday at 1,263.52.
The tallest building in the world was the Sears Tower in Chicago. The birth control pill was long-established, but there was, as yet, no Viagra. The 1st analog cellular system widely deployed in North America was introduced in October 1983: The Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS). There were personal computers, but almost nobody had yet heard of the Internet. Even VCRs weren't in every home yet. Home video games were a battle between the Atari 5200 SuperSytem and ColecoVision -- Nintendo's systems were yet to come. Chrysler introduced the 1st minivan, the Dodge Caravan.
In October 1983, a U.S. Marine barracks was blown up by terrorists in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 305 people, including 241 Marines. Two days later, another group of Marines invaded Grenada, settling things down there after the overthrow and assassination of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop. Argentina held a democratic election, ending 7 years of brutal military rule. And a pair of close calls both nearly led the Soviets to launch a nuclear first strike.
Knute Rockne, All-American star Pat O'Brien, and NFL founder George Halas, and Willie "Puddin' Head" Jones, 3rd baseman for the 1950 Phillies' "Whiz Kids," died. Jesse Eisenberg, and Joey Votto, and Zack Greinke were born.
