The Oriole Way

There could be 100 or more ways to start this book. So many different people had a hand in creating the tremendous history of the Baltimore Orioles, whether it's the incarnation that moved from St. Louis in 1954, the dominating teams in the late 1800s, or the minor league powerhouses that bridged the gap. But in crafting an overall assessment of the organization — the glories and the pratfalls — it's hard to ignore the foundation on which the modern-day success was built.

It had become somewhat cliché in Baltimore — the phrase being tossed around even when the club was in disarray. But the three familiar words were a source of pride for decades and may be experiencing a resurrection: "The Oriole Way." It's a phrase that was coined to describe a thorough and universal commitment to winning from the lowest level of the minors to the majors.

How important is the history of The Oriole Way to this franchise? Consider that one of the things Buck Showalter wanted to do when he took over managing the club in 2010 was to provide a tangible reminder of the previous triumphs for the club's current players. Not a competition, mind you, just a healthy blueprint of success. So Showalter had pictures of the club's Hall of Famers placed along the walkway from the Camden Yards home clubhouse to the dugout tunnel. Each poster contains a quote from the depicted Oriole great. The first one you see on the right when you turn the corner from the clubhouse is Jim Palmer, the best pitcher in club history. But his quote isn't about pitching. No, it's more encompassing. "The Oriole Way is no mystery," Palmer's quote reads. "Have an unparalleled work ethic, be a good teammate, respect the game, have fun and an undying passion to be the best you can be."

The concept of The Oriole Way — though it wasn't coined at the time — can probably be traced to Paul Richards, the lanky Texan and former big leaguer who stressed pitching and defense and doing the little things correctly to win baseball games. From 1955 to 1958, Richards was the Orioles manager and general manager before being replaced as GM by Hall of Fame executive Lee MacPhail. Richards remained as the manager until 1961, when he eventually left to take over the expansion Houston Colt 45s. A renowned taskmaster and consummate teacher of baseball, Richards wanted instruction to be uniform throughout the system. For him nothing was too routine: bunt defense, proper positioning for relay throws, or the most efficient base-running techniques.

He put together an instructional manual for all of his managers and coaches. Full staffs would gather during spring training so they were — literally and figuratively — on the same page as the various seasons began. As the Orioles surged above mediocrity in the early 1960s — the 1960 team under Richards was the modern-day franchise's first to win more than it lost at 89–65 — a consistent player development program was paramount.

Perhaps the two most influential disciples of The Oriole Way were minor league lifers with an unrivaled passion for the game: Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver and former coach and manager Cal Ripken Sr. In 1961 Weaver was charged with directing the organization's minor league spring training camp at former military barracks in Thomasville, Georgia, which often included hundreds of players at a time. He built on that organizational instructional manual, which, in a sense became The Oriole Way handbook. Weaver continued that emphasis on fundamentals when he became the Orioles manager in 1968, kick-starting an amazing run of 18 straight seasons in which the club finished above .500.

Part of the fiber of the organization during that time was Ripken Sr., who spent 36 years in the organization, much of it as the no-nonsense professor of baseball for generations of minor leaguers. His mantra, "Practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect," was an echoing theme throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, when the Orioles went to six World...