1971 Baltimore Orioles – A Pitching Staff for the Ages

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By Tony Samboras

During the 1971 baseball season, the Baltimore Orioles rose to the pinnacle of Major League Baseball. Under the guidance of Hall of Fame Manager Earl Weaver, the Orioles finished a great season with a record of 101-57. In the process, they claimed the American League Pennant only to lose to the Pittsburgh “We are Family” Pirates led by Hall of Fame greats Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell.

For the Orioles, the offense was loaded. Three players (Boog Powell, Brooks Robinson and Frank Robinson – latter two in the Hall of Fame) would finish the season with 20+ homeruns and 90+ RBIs. The defense was among the best defenses in history, led by Brooks Robinson, who is arguably the greatest third baseman to ever stand at the “hot” corner. Much like today’s NJ sports betting apps, this team had all the boxes checked for consideration as one of baseball’s greatest teams.

Oh, by the way, the pitching staff was in a league of its own. While running with a rotation of four to five pitchers during the entire season, the top four starters were Mike Cuellar, Pat Dobson, Dave McNally and Jim Palmer with Grant Jackson catching a few starts along the way. Note: Jim Palmer would finish his 20-year pitching career with three Al Cy Young awards, three World Series Championship rings and a firm place in MLB’s Hall of Fame.

The road to sports greatness in often paved by doing something seldom if ever done before or since. That’s exactly what earned the Orioles pitching staff its recognition as one of the greatest pitching staffs of all-time. The something this staff did that had only been accomplished once before by the 1920 Chicago White Sox was produce four 20-game winners in the same season. In order of innings pitched during the season, here’s how the wins stacked up: Cuellar (20), Dobson (20), Palmer (20) and McNally (21). Had Cuellar given up a little more than ½ a run less each start, all four pitchers would have recorded ERAs of less than 3.00 per game. Under the category of “for what it’s worth”, fifth starter Jackson finished the season 4-3 with a solid ERA of 3.13.

In a season where Vida Blue of the Oakland Athletics would easily win the AL Cy Young award with a record of 24-8 and an ERA of 1.82, any one of the Orioles starters would have been a respectable runner-up in the voting. The fact McNally finished 4^th in the voting was an amazing fat given the fact he only struck out 91 batters over 224 innings while recording an ERA of 2.86.

In an era where most teams use a 5-man rotation and very few pitchers ever exceed 200 innings pitched on the season, it’s a solid bet MLB will never see another pitching staff with four 20-game winners coming out of the same season. The fact this is a feat that has only been accomplished twice in history is a testament to just how special the Baltimore Orioles pitching staff in 1971 really was.