It’s August 19, 1996, and the O’s got a day off as they headed back home from one Bay to another. In the Sun, that means it’s time to reflect on the rollercoaster ride that has been the 1996 Orioles experience.

They started hot, then played mediocre ball for a couple months before ultimately falling below .500 in July. And now they have become road warriors, winning 14 of their last 20 away from home.

“We’re playing probably as well as we can,” said O’s GM Pat Gillick to the Sun’s Peter Schmuck. “We were talking about our inconsistency from late April into July, but the last three weeks we’ve played the type of baseball we’re capable of playing.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 1D, August 20, 1996)

Tomorrow, the O’s kick off a nine-game home stand by hosting the Mariners, who are right alongside them in the wild card race. In a bit of good fortune, the O’s will miss M’s star lefty Randy Johnson, who has dominated of late.

“I’m not saying that we needed time to jell,” said O’s center fielder Brady Anderson. “But if you look at our team, this is a good team that can be successful for the next two or three years. I don’t think there is any reason to break up this team.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 6D, August 20, 1996)

Until tomorrow, then!

Homer Happy

No game today. No bricks added.

Mariners (64-59) at Orioles (65-58), 7:35 p.m.

Starting Pitchers
SEA – RHP Matt Wagner (3-3, 6.40 ERA)
BAL – RHP Mike Mussina (15-8, 4.93 ERA)

Billionaire Ross Perot is all-in on his second run for the presidency. He will carry the standard of the Reform Party.

“Can we count on the two political parties to solve these problems?” Perot said of some nebulous “economic problems” that are presumably not the ones that allowed him to be a billionaire. “No! They are the problem, right?”

He kicked off his campaign at Valley Forge, where George Washington wintered with his troops during the American Revolution. 

“I will be your servant,” Perot declared, according to Sun reporters Susan Baer and Frank Langfitt because this was a big enough occasion for two reporters. “I will only belong to you the people. I am absolutely committed, irrevocably committed to passing on a better world to our children and grandchildren.”

While neither “absolutely” or “irrevocably” committed to a better world apparently means relinquishing any of his massive wealth on anything other than funding his own campaign, Perot is hoping his populist messaging against trade agreements and such can take hold like it did in 1992. Perot spent more than $60 million of his own money to get 19% of the vote in the race where Bill Clinton ultimately defeated incumbent president George Bush. A recent poll of 1996 voters found support for the Reform Party hovering around 3%.

Only 4% of the 1.1 million members of the Reform Party actually cast ballots for the party’s nomination, which Perot won with a 2-to-1 margin over Colorado governor Richard Lamm.

Welcome to a recurring segment where I find fun things in today’s (in 1996) Baltimore Sun!

It’s Babe Ruth’s daughter throwing out the first pitch at the Babe Ruth World Series.