It’s May 4, 1996, and the O’s won their second straight against the Brewers. Brady Anderson hit yet another leadoff home run, and Tony Tarasco added a 3-run double in the first inning as the Birds jumped all over Milwaukee starter Steve Sparks. They kept adding after that, eventually winning 10-5.

Ace starter Mike Mussina returned to form somewhat, pitching into the seventh but giving up five runs (only two earned). Jeffrey Hammonds and Robbie Alomar also homered for the O’s, who are back within one game of the first-place Yankees.

“Sometimes it comes together like this,” said O’s manager Davey Johnson, “and that makes it easy.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 1D, May 5, 1996)

Mussina was frustrated with the fact that he gave up 11 hits and two walks in his 6⅔ innings.

“I kept letting guys on base,” he said. “I haven’t gone 1-2-3 in about 15 innings, so sooner or later, it’s going to hurt you.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 8D, May 5, 1996)

But Roger McDowell, who relieved Moose and finished the game, had a different take. “If the starter gets into the sixth or seventh or eighth inning, it means you’re in the game or ahead and the bullpen isn’t being overused.”

After Brady did the leadoff homer thing yet again, even his teammates are in awe. “The MVP,” Billy Ripken kept repeating. “The MVP.”

Here’s the box score with the lovely totals.

There were some celebrity guests in the game, as noted by the Sun. Actors Kevin Costner, Anthony Hopkins, and Tom Selleck were at Camden Yards yesterday, with Costner watching part of the game with Cal Ripken, Jr.’s wife, Kelly. While that last part is buried as the smallest tidbit at the end of the Sun’s Orioles notes roundup, it is part of the fuel that fires one of the most famous rumors/conspiracy theories in all of Birdland. For more, you should listen to “The Rumor,” a podcast about conspiracy theories, baseball, and the Baltimore power grid. Co-hosted by friend of the blog Sam Dingman.

In other news, tomorrow’s starting pitcher for the Brewers in the series finale is Ben McDonald, the former #1 overall pick by the Orioles in 1989 who will be facing his former team for the first time. Perhaps scared off by an injury-shortened, three-win season in 1995, the Birds didn’t offer McDonald a new contract. 

“I knew that I’d be taking a pay cut after the season I had and the salary I made,” McDonald said. “I was just waiting for an offer and if it had been anywhere close to being a fair offer, I’d have had to think about it.” It doesn’t seem like there’s that much hard feelings, but for now Big Ben is focused on coming back to Camden Yards as a visitor. “I don’t know what it’s going to be like. They know what I throw, but I know what they like to hit, so it will be a cat-and-mouse thing. It’ll be fun.” (Baltimore Sun, p. 8C, May 4, 1996)

A brick apiece for Brady, Robbie, and Jeff.

15 homers! The man can’t be stopped.

Brewers (12-16) vs. Orioles (16-13), 1:35 p.m.

Starting Pitchers
MIL – RHP Ben McDonald (3-1, 4.15 ERA)
BAL – RHP Jimmy Haynes (1-3, 9.50 ERA)

A judge who made sexist comments during sentencing of a man who killed his wife was cleared by a judicial panel. Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge Robert Cahill, Sr., went the 1996 version of viral when he sentenced the man to just 18 months for killing his wife after he found out she was having an affair.

Cahill called the man a “non-criminal” and, per the Sun’s description, that he “could not imagine someone in the defendant’s position not feeling compelled to resort to some sort of corporal punishment.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the two female judges on the commission dissented. They said Cahill’s comments reflected “a stereotypical view of the proper or expected behavior of a husband who finds his wife engaged in infidelity.”

Anyway, seems like a charming guy. Good thing he has so much power.

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

What on earth is going on in Germany?