Title/Author:
“A Season to Forget:
The Story of the 1988 Baltimore Orioles” by Ron Snyder
Tags:
Baseball,
professional, Orioles, history
Publish date:
April 23, 2019
Length:
216 pages
Rating:
3 of 5 stars (okay)
Review:
In 1988, the Baltimore Orioles set a baseball record that a
team would never want to claim – they lost 21 consecutive games to start the
season. While the Orioles had been
declining since winning the World Series in 1983, no one expected a team led by
Cal Ripken Jr. and Eddie Murray to perform so terribly. The streak and the
state of the Orioles before and after the streak is told in this book by Ron
Snyder.
There is writing about the Orioles both before and after the
chapters on the streak itself. The
beginning chapters tell a brief history of the team and the success it had for
nearly 20 years between 1966 and 1984 when the team won three World Series titles
and appeared in two others. Then, after
the awful season of 1988, there is a nice write up about their nearly complete
turnaround in 1989 when they fell one game short from winning the American
League East Division. That was called the “Why Not?” season and certainly a
terrific feel-good story.
However, the book’s main topic, the 21 game losing streak in
1988, was described in what is best described as haphazard fashion. The games were not recapped in chronological
order, at least not regularly as one will read about say game 9 in the streak, then
a player interviewed will talk about game 15.
At least it starts with the 12-0 opening day loss to the Milwaukee
Brewers and the chapters on the streak does end when the Orioles defeated the
Chicago White Sox. None of the games
during the streak are analyzed in depth and there isn’t a lot of information on
any player or manager written. Not even
Cal Ripken Sr., the shortstop’s father and manager of the team who was fired
six games into the streak.
While the book certainly has its flaws, it was one that was
a quick read and something this reader wanted to finish to the end and see what
happens, much like how the media and fans all over the world were following the
Orioles streak. It gained international
attention and when the streak was over, it was a relief for everyone, not just
the Orioles players and staff. One other
noteworthy occurrence that should be mentioned as it gained its own
chapter. The Orioles ended the streak in
Chicago. After losing two more games to
the White Sox, they came back home to a sold-out Memorial Stadium on a Monday
night where it was announced that the team would be getting a new ball park. It
was quite a sight to see a packed stadium come out to watch a team with a 1-23
record.
While this book was at best only a cursory description of
the historic streak, the author does mention in the foreword of the book that
this was written from the viewpoint of both a journalist and a fan. Reading
that and finishing the book was enough to give this book a passing grade, but
for more information on the streak, players or Orioles of that 1988 season, it
is best to seek that elsewhere.
Book Format Read:
E-book (PDF)
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