# 1998 Baltimore Orioles season

The 1998 Baltimore Orioles season was the 98th season in Baltimore Orioles franchise history, the 45th in Baltimore, and the 7th at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
The Orioles finished fourth in the American League East with a record of 79 wins and 83 losses, the first of 14 consecutive losing seasons.

## Offseason

* December 11, 1997: Doug Drabek was signed as a free agent with the Baltimore Orioles.
* December 12, 1997: Joe Carter was signed as a free agent with the Baltimore Orioles.

## Regular season

* Eddie Murray 1B Retired 1998
* * From July 2 to August 15, Eric Davis hits in 30 consecutive games during which time he hits .400 (52-130) with 10 home runs and 35 runs batted in.
* On September 13, 1998, Ryan Minor would make his Major League debut.
* The 1998 Baltimore Orioles season marks the last time a team other than the New York Yankees had the highest payroll in baseball until 2013, when New York was surpassed by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

### Season standings

vteAL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 114 | 48 | .704 | — | 62‍–‍19 | 52‍–‍29 |
| Boston Red Sox | 92 | 70 | .568 | 22 | 51‍–‍30 | 41‍–‍40 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 88 | 74 | .543 | 26 | 51‍–‍30 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 79 | 83 | .488 | 35 | 42‍–‍39 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Tampa Bay Devil Rays | 63 | 99 | .389 | 51 | 33‍–‍48 | 30‍–‍51 |

### Record vs. opponents

1998 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ANA | BAL | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TB | TEX | TOR | NL |
| Anaheim | — | 5–6 | 6–5 | 5–6 | 4–7 | 8–3 | 6–5 | 6–5 | 6–5 | 5–7 | 9–3 | 6–5 | 5–7 | 4–7 | 10–6 |
| Baltimore | 6–5 | — | 6–6 | 2–9 | 5–6 | 10–1 | 5–6 | 7–3 | 3–9 | 8–3 | 6–5 | 5–7 | 6–5 | 5–7 | 5–11 |
| Boston | 5–6 | 6–6 | — | 5–6 | 8–3 | 5–5 | 8–3 | 5–6 | 5–7 | 9–2 | 7–4 | 9–3 | 6–5 | 5–7 | 9–7 |
| Chicago | 6–5 | 9–2 | 6–5 | — | 6–6 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 4–7 | 4–7 | 4–7 | 5–6 | 5–6 | 4–6–1 | 7–9 |
| Cleveland | 7–4 | 6–5 | 3–8 | 6–6 | — | 9–3 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 4–7 | 3–8 | 9–2 | 7–3 | 4–7 | 7–4 | 10–6 |
| Detroit | 3–8 | 1–10 | 5–5 | 6–6 | 3–9 | — | 6–6 | 8–4 | 3–8 | 7–4 | 3–8 | 5–6 | 3–8 | 5–6 | 7–9 |
| Kansas City | 5–6 | 6–5 | 3–8 | 4–8 | 4–8 | 6–6 | — | 7–5 | 0–10 | 7–4 | 4–6 | 8–3 | 3–8 | 6–5 | 9–7 |
| Minnesota | 5–6 | 3–7 | 6–5 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 5–7 | — | 4–7 | 4–7 | 2–9 | 7–4 | 7–4 | 4–7 | 7–9 |
| New York | 5–6 | 9–3 | 7–5 | 7–4 | 7–4 | 8–3 | 10–0 | 7–4 | — | 8–3 | 8–3 | 11–1 | 8–3 | 6–6 | 13–3 |
| Oakland | 7–5 | 3–8 | 2–9 | 7–4 | 8–3 | 4–7 | 4–7 | 7–4 | 3–8 | — | 5–7 | 5–6 | 6–6 | 5–6 | 8–8 |
| Seattle | 3–9 | 5–6 | 4–7 | 7–4 | 2–9 | 8–3 | 6–4 | 9–2 | 3–8 | 7–5 | — | 6–5 | 5–7 | 4–7 | 7–9 |
| Tampa Bay | 5–6 | 7–5 | 3–9 | 6–5 | 3–7 | 6–5 | 3–8 | 4–7 | 1–11 | 6–5 | 5–6 | — | 4–7 | 5–7 | 5–11 |
| Texas | 7–5 | 5–6 | 5–6 | 6–5 | 7–4 | 8–3 | 8–3 | 4–7 | 3–8 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 7–4 | — | 7–4 | 8–8 |
| Toronto | 7–4 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 6–4–1 | 4–7 | 6–5 | 5–6 | 7–4 | 6–6 | 6–5 | 7–4 | 7–5 | 4–7 | — | 9–7 |

### Notable transactions

* June 2, 1998: Cliff Lee was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 20th round of the 1998 amateur draft, but did not sign.
* June 16, 1998: Rich Becker was selected off waivers by the Baltimore Orioles from the New York Mets.
* July 23, 1998: Joe Carter was traded by the Baltimore Orioles to the San Francisco Giants for Darin Blood (minors).

### All good things must come to an end

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 (May 30, 1982), tied Lou Gehrig's old record of 2,130 games (September 5, 1995) and surpassed it (September 6, 1995) 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
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| C | Chris Hoiles | 97 | 267 | 70 | .262 | 15 | 56 |
| 1B | Rafael Palmeiro | 162 | 619 | 183 | .296 | 43 | 121 |
| 2B | Roberto Alomar | 147 | 588 | 166 | .282 | 14 | 56 |
| 3B | Cal Ripken | 161 | 601 | 163 | .271 | 14 | 61 |
| SS | Mike Bordick | 151 | 465 | 121 | .260 | 13 | 51 |
| LF | B.J. Surhoff | 162 | 573 | 160 | .279 | 22 | 92 |
| CF | Brady Anderson | 133 | 479 | 113 | .236 | 18 | 51 |
| RF | Eric Davis | 131 | 452 | 148 | .327 | 28 | 89 |
| DH | Harold Baines | 104 | 293 | 88 | .300 | 9 | 57 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| Lenny Webster | 108 | 309 | 88 | .285 | 10 | 46 |
| Joe Carter | 85 | 283 | 70 | .247 | 11 | 34 |
| Jeffrey Hammonds | 63 | 171 | 46 | .269 | 6 | 28 |
| Jeff Reboulet | 79 | 126 | 31 | .246 | 1 | 8 |
| Rich Becker | 79 | 113 | 23 | .204 | 3 | 11 |
| Willie Greene | 24 | 40 | 6 | .150 | 1 | 5 |
| Lyle Mouton | 18 | 39 | 12 | .308 | 2 | 7 |
| Danny Clyburn | 11 | 25 | 7 | .280 | 1 | 3 |
| Charlie Greene | 13 | 21 | 4 | .190 | 0 | 0 |
| Calvin Pickering | 9 | 21 | 5 | .238 | 2 | 3 |
| Ozzie Guillén | 12 | 16 | 1 | .063 | 0 | 0 |
| Ryan Minor | 9 | 14 | 6 | .429 | 0 | 1 |
| Jesús Tavárez | 8 | 11 | 2 | .182 | 1 | 1 |
| P. J. Forbes | 9 | 10 | 1 | .100 | 0 | 2 |
| Jerry Hairston Jr. | 6 | 7 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Willis Otáñez | 3 | 5 | 1 | .200 | 0 | 0 |
| Gene Kingsale | 11 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Scott Erickson | 36 | 251.1 | 16 | 13 | 4.01 | 186 |
| Juan Guzmán | 33 | 211.0 | 10 | 16 | 4.35 | 168 |
| Mike Mussina | 29 | 206.1 | 13 | 10 | 3.49 | 175 |
| Doug Drabek | 23 | 108.2 | 6 | 11 | 7.29 | 55 |
| Scott Kamieniecki | 12 | 54.2 | 2 | 6 | 6.75 | 25 |

#### Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Sidney Ponson | 31 | 135.0 | 8 | 9 | 5.27 | 85 |
| Doug Johns | 31 | 86.2 | 3 | 3 | 4.57 | 34 |
| Jimmy Key | 25 | 79.1 | 6 | 3 | 4.20 | 53 |
| Nerio Rodríguez | 6 | 19.0 | 1 | 3 | 8.05 | 8 |
| Rocky Coppinger | 6 | 15.2 | 0 | 0 | 5.17 | 13 |
| Bobby Muñoz | 9 | 12.0 | 0 | 0 | 9.75 | 6 |
| Chris Fussell | 3 | 9.2 | 0 | 1 | 8.38 | 8 |
| Richie Lewis | 2 | 4.2 | 0 | 0 | 15.43 | 4 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Armando Benítez | 71 | 5 | 6 | 22 | 3.82 | 87 |
| Alan Mills | 72 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3.74 | 57 |
| Jesse Orosco | 69 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 3.18 | 50 |
| Arthur Rhodes | 45 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3.51 | 83 |
| Norm Charlton | 36 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6.94 | 41 |
| Pete Smith | 27 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 6.20 | 29 |
| Terry Mathews | 17 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6.20 | 10 |
| Joel Bennett | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 0 |
| Radhames Dykhoff | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18.00 | 1 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Rochester Red Wings | International League | Marv Foley |
| AA | Bowie Baysox | Eastern League | Joe Ferguson |
| A | Frederick Keys | Carolina League | Tommy Shields |
| A | Delmarva Shorebirds | South Atlantic League | Dave Machemer |
| Rookie | Bluefield Orioles | Appalachian League | Andy Etchebarren |
| Rookie | GCL Orioles | Gulf Coast League | Butch Davis |