1998 Baltimore Orioles season


The 1998 Baltimore Orioles season involved the Orioles finishing 4th in the American League East with a record of 79 wins and 83 losses, the first of 14 consecutive losing seasons.

Offseason

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions

In June, Cal Ripken, Jr. began to contemplate ending his still-active, record-breaking streak of consecutive games played. However, the Orioles were still in contention for a wild-card spot in the playoffs at that point, so he continued playing. By mid-September, after the team fell out of wild-card contention, Ripken decided that, since the games that began his streak, tied Lou Gehrig's old record of 2,130 games and surpassed it all took place in his Baltimore hometown, it would be most appropriate to bring his incredible run to a close at home also. Thus, on September 20, after playing 2,632 games without a break, Cal Ripken, Jr. asked to be taken out of the starting lineup for the Orioles' last home game of the season against the New York Yankees. Everybody was stunned when rookie Ryan Minor took third base instead of Ripken for the start of the game. The game's first batter, New York's Chuck Knoblauch, grounded out to shortstop for the first out, officially ending Ripken's streak and prompting both teams and the fans to give "The Iron Man" a thunderous ovation for his monumental achievement.

Roster

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At Bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting Average; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In
PosPlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
CChris Hoiles9726770.2621556
1BRafael Palmeiro162619183.29643121
2BRoberto Alomar147588166.2821456
3BCal Ripken161601163.2711461
SSMike Bordick151465121.2601351
LFBJ Surhoff162573160.2792292
CFBrady Anderson133479113.2361851
RFEric Davis131452148.3272889
DHHarold Baines10429388.300957

Other batters

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Other pitchers

Relief pitchers

Farm system