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 EddieMurray1BRetired 1998* From July 2 to August 15, Eric Davis hits in 30 consecutive games during which time he hits .400 (52 hits over 130 at-bats) with 10 home runs and 35 runs batted in. On September 13, 1998, Ryan Minor would make his Major League debut.100 Things Orioles Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die, Dan Connolly, Triumph Books, Chicago, 2015, ISBN 978-1-62937-041-5, p.224 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

Record vs. opponents

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.Cliff Lee Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com 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 1998 Baltimore Orioles Roster Pitchers Catchers

Infielders Outfielders

Other batters Manager

Coaches (first base) (hitting) (pitching) (bullpen) (bench) (third base) (bullpen catcher)

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 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 Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

References

1998 Baltimore Orioles team page at Baseball Reference 1998 Baltimore Orioles season at baseball-almanac.com