This year, the Baltimore Orioles celebrated a historic milestone in their storied history by commemorating the 60th anniversary of their first World Series championship in 1966, when they swept the Los Angeles Dodgers in four games.
The Orioles finished the regular season with a 97-63 record to win the American League pennant. There was no divisional round or league championship series at that time, so posting the best record in the AL sent the Orioles straight to the World Series.
Orioles legend and former first baseman Boog Powell, one of the few surviving members of the ’66 club, looked back on that season on the Friday Baseball Show Sept. 4.
Powell was asked about his immediate thoughts when he found out outfielder Frank Robinson was coming to Baltimore from the Cincinnati Reds in December 1965.
“I wasn’t really sure what to think because there were some rumors and stuff going about [that] he was kind of a malcontent type of a person and all of that,” Powell said. “I didn’t know what to think.”
A six-time All-Star prior to the trade, Robinson had one of the great individual seasons in Major League Baseball history in 1966. He hit .316/.410/.637 with 49 homers, driving in 122 runs and scoring 122 runs. His dominance that year immediately transformed Baltimore into a championship contender.
Powell then described seeing him hit for the first time and what kind of belief he brought to the team.
“It was kind of fun being on the on-deck circle when Frank was hitting and stuff. It was a show to watch,” Powell said. “If Frank could do it, I didn’t want to let him down. I wanted to do the same thing. The rest of the guys on the team kind of felt the same way. He brought a winning attitude to the organization and to that team that’s out there on the field.”
Powell also spoke highly of Hank Bauer, an ex-Marine who won 407 games as the manager of the Orioles from 1964-1968.
“I absolutely loved him,” Powell said. “He was a man’s manager.”
Bauer brought strict, military-style discipline to the clubhouse, establishing a culture of professionalism that Powell embraced and still remembers vividly.
“He wasn’t necessarily the greatest tactician in the world, but he was an old Marine and he made us wear a coat and tie at all times when we were on the road, every minute on the road,” Powell said. “And I hated that.”
But after a while, Bauer told Powell that “you look a lot better with a tie on than you do with it off, and he felt that way about everybody. But he was one tough cookie and you wanted to stay on his good side.”
Heading into the 1966 World Series against the Dodgers, Powell recalled the team’s quiet confidence.
“We didn’t think there was anybody who could beat us,” Powell said. “We were just confident. We didn’t brag. We didn’t do anything. We just played ball and we were pretty good.”
Reflecting on his approach at the plate, Powell remembered the advice given to him in 1963 by former shortstop and third baseman Woody English: “Swing hard in case you hit it. And don’t look for nothing you can’t hit.”
Powell recalled feeling that confidence when he stepped into the batter’s box in the World Series after Frank Robinson and Brooks Robinson hit back-to-back home runs off Dodgers Game 1 starter Don Drysdale, even if his first at-bat didn’t go as well.
“He threw me a changeup and I popped up,” Powell recalled.
The key to Game 1 for the Orioles was getting 6.1 innings of shutout ball from right-hander Moe Drabowsky, who replaced a wild Dave McNally in the third inning.
“We had seen him all year long and we knew he had a good fastball, but boy, I mean, he was throwing nothing but No. 1. Here it comes,” Powell said. “There were no breaking balls. They were all high fastballs. Every one was over 100. He never did pitch like that again, ever.”
Powell managed two hits off Game 2 starter Sandy Koufax and scored during Baltimore’s fifth-inning rally after Dodgers center fielder Willie Davis dropped a routine fly ball hit by catcher Andy Etchebarren.
“[Dodgers catcher] John Roseboro saw that I was on his fastball. I fouled off two or three fastballs, so they went to [the curveball],” Powell said. “He introduced me to [the curveball] and I said hello.”
Powell was asked about the World Series team of 1966 and how he remembers that group. He discussed the mixture of pride and emotion that comes with remembering winning that World Series, especially since there are only a handful of members still alive.
“I don’t know how many of us are left, but when you look back and when you look at the team picture … these are guys that I was in a battle with. I would have died for them and they would have died for me,” Powell said. “That was how strongly we felt about each other.”
For more from Boog Powell, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Baltimore Orioles