1996 Leaf Signature Series - Extended Series Autographs Shawn Boskie (Trading Card Database)
It’s August 23, 1996, and on some days you can score 18 runs in Oakland, while on other days you get shut out by Shawn Boskie at home. The latter is what happened to the O’s today as the Angels righty and two relievers combined for a five-hit shutout, 2-0.
The O’s remain a half-game back of the White Sox in the wildcard race.
David Wells pitched into the ninth inning having surrendered just a solo homer to Chili Davis. But outfielder Jim Edmonds hit another solo homer to chase the Birds’ lefty from the game and send him to a hard-luck loss.
Davis’s homer just made it over the left field wall in the extremely homer-friendly confines of Camden Yards.
“That’s a Camden Special right there,” Wells said. “It was off the plate. He just got it up in the air, and it was a Campden Special. It’s a pitcher’s nightmare here. It’s frustrating to me, because basically I’m a fly-ball pitcher.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 5C, August 24, 1996)
O’s manager Davey Johnson was back in the dugout after spending the previous night in the hospital with an irregular heartbeat. According to the Sun’s Buster Olney, Johnson has strict orders to avoid caffeine and nicotine.
“It’s going to kill me,” Johnson said before the game. “I’m just going to wait until this blows over…” (Baltimore Sun, p. 1C, August 24, 1996)
Cal Ripken had two hits on a very quiet offensive night for the Birds as Boskie pitched 6⅓ scoreless innings and relievers Mike Holtz and Troy Percival finished off the shutout.
Here’s the box score with the not-so-lovely totals.
Since there hasn’t been much drama lately, recently traded rookie catcher Gregg Zaun decided to provide some on the way out. According to Olney, Zaun says he was lied to by the team and didn’t get a fair shot, and that veteran players weren’t helping young players.
After saying guys on the team “beat down the younger guys,” Zaun named some names of guys he liked, which helps you read between the lines about the others.
“I’m always going to remember guys like Brady [Anderson], Jesse Orosco, Alan Mills, Arthur Rhodes,” said Zaun. “I’m going to be friends with those guys for a long time. And Rafael Palmeiro and Bobby Bonilla, and Cal. Most of the other guys, the players and the coaching staff, they talked behind my back. I know I got blamed for other guys’ failures, guys making $2 million and $3 million. I’m definitely not going to miss that.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 3C, August 24, 1996)
Well, then. This ends our time with Zaun this season. If you’ll recall from the preseason intro to him here on Ghosts, he predicted his major league career: “Fifteen years, and I’ve got to be a starter sometime. I’ll play until I’m 40-something years old. I want to play here so badly.” Well, Zaun ultimately would play parts of 16 seasons in the major leagues before retiring in 2010 at the age of 39. Not a bad prediction.
Homer Happy
A shutout means the wall stays the same.
Tomorrow’s Game
Angels (60-68) at Orioles (67-60), 7:05 p.m.
Starting Pitchers
CAL – RHP Pep Harris (0-0 7.20 ERA)
BAL – RHP Mike Mussina (16-8, 4.79 ERA)
Baltimore Sun, p. 6C, August 24, 1996
Baltimore Sun, p. 6C, August 24, 1996
Weekend Box Office
The summer box office has slowed dramatically since its peak with “Independence Day.” This week, newcomer “The Island of Dr. Moreau” topped the box office at just over $9 million. Based on a famous H.G. Wells novel and starring an all-star cast of Marlon Brando, Val Kilmer, and Fairuza Balk, this John Frankenheimer movie is forever remembered by some as a movie that came out in 1996.
Front Page News
Carl Cannon from the Sun has all you need on this day:
WASHINGTON — In a White House ceremony shunned by his fellow Democratic leaders on the eve of the party’s national convention in Chicago, President Clinton yesterday signed a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s welfare laws.
“Today, we are ending welfare as we know it,” Clinton said, echoing his 1992 campaign promise.
“We’re going to take this historic chance to try to re-create the nation’s social bargain with the poor. We’re going to see if we can’t create a system of incentives which reinforce work and family independence.”
But the president, keenly aware that this issue has divided his party, added: “I hope this day will be remembered not for what it ended but for what it began, a new day that offers hope, honors responsibility, rewards work and changes the terms of the debate.”
As we said three weeks ago in this space when the bill advanced through Congress, from 1995 to 2005, the number of children in deep poverty rose from 1.5 million to 2.2 million. As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said on the 20th anniversary of the bill in 2016, “If government income support programs kept the same share of otherwise deeply poor children out of deep poverty in 2005 as they did in 1995, the children’s deep poverty rate would have fallen, not risen.”
Fun in the Sun
Welcome to a recurring segment where I find fun things in today’s (in 1996) Baltimore Sun!
I wonder if this amateur golfer ever did anything later in life?
The Baltimore Sun, p. 2D, August 23, 1996