The 1992 Baltimore Orioles season was the 92nd season in Baltimore Orioles franchise history, the 39th in Baltimore, and the inaugural season at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, after having played almost 40 years at Memorial Stadium where they still play to this day. It involved the Orioles finishing third in the American League East with a record of 89 wins and 73 losses.

Offseason November 13, 1991: Jeff Robinson was released by the Orioles.Jeff Robinson page at Baseball Reference January 7, 1992: Amalio Carreño was signed as a free agent with the Baltimore Orioles.

Regular season The Orioles spent most of the first three months of the season battling with the Toronto Blue Jays for first place in the division. The lead switched back and forth between the two teams before the Jays took it for good on June 20. Baltimore remained in second place for the next two months, with the margin between themselves and Toronto fluctuating from between one and five games. However, the Birds faded during the September stretch and relinquished second place to the Milwaukee Brewers on September 19. Still, they were not mathematically eliminated from contention until September 27, finishing at a respectable 89–73.

In 1992, Mike Mussina played his first full season with the Orioles. He finished with an 18–5 record and a 2.54 ERA in 241 innings; his .783 win–loss percentage was the best in the American League, and his 1.79 BB/9 was second-best in the AL behind the Brewers' Chris Bosio. Mussina also pitched four shutouts, tying for second in the league behind Boston's Roger Clemens. He finished fourth in the American League Cy Young Award voting, and participated in the 1992 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in San Diego, pitching one perfect inning.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards In 1992, with grand ceremony, the Orioles began their season in a brand new ballpark, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, and thus retiring Memorial Stadium in the major league baseball world. The ballpark was an instant success; however, the name of the new park had controversy. Many felt that since the Orioles' new home was so close to Babe Ruth's birthplace that the new park should have been named after Ruth instead of being indirectly named after the Earl of Camden, Charles Pratt, who was a Briton who never set foot on American soil. There was also the superficial connection to the fact that Ruth played for the Orioles early in his career, but the Orioles team that Ruth played for was in no way related to the Orioles team that moved to Baltimore from St. Louis. Camden Yards was built at the location of the old Camden Railway. It was the first of the "retro" major league ballparks constructed during the 1990s and early 2000s, and remains one of the most highly praised.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions August 11, 1992: Juan Bell was traded by the Orioles to the Philadelphia Phillies for Steve Scarsone.Juan Bell page at Baseball Reference

Roster 1992 Baltimore Orioles Roster Pitchers Catchers

Infielders Outfielders

Other batters Manager

Coaches

Player stats = Indicates team leader

= Indicates league leader 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 96 310 85 .274 20 40 1B Randy Milligan 137 462 111 .240 11 53 2B Billy Ripken 111 330 76 .230 4 36 3B Leo Gómez 137 468 124 .265 17 64 SS Cal Ripken Jr. 162 637 160 .251 14 72 LF Brady Anderson 159 623 169 .271 21 80 CF Mike Devereaux 156 653 180 .276 24 107 RF Joe Orsulak 117 391 113 .289 4 39 DH Glenn Davis 106 398 110 .276 13 48

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 Mark McLemore 101 228 56 .246 0 27 Chito Martínez 83 198 53 .268 5 25 David Segui 115 189 44 .233 1 17 Jeff Tackett 65 179 43 .240 5 24 Sam Horn 63 162 38 .235 5 19 Tim Hulett 57 142 41 .289 2 21 Luis Mercedes 23 50 7 .140 0 4 Mark Parent 17 34 8 .235 2 4 Steve Scarsone 11 17 3 .176 0 0 Rick Dempsey 8 9 1 .111 0 0 Manny Alexander 4 5 1 .200 0 0 Tommy Shields 2 0 0 ---- 0 0 Jack Voigt 1 0 0 ---- 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 Mike Mussina 32 241.0 18 5 2.54 130 Rick Sutcliffe 36 237.1 16 15 4.47 109 Ben McDonald 35 227.0 13 13 4.24 158 Bob Milacki 23 115.2 6 8 5.84 51 Arthur Rhodes 15 94.1 7 5 3.63 77 José Mesa 13 67.2 3 8 5.19 22 Craig Lefferts 5 33.0 1 3 4.09 23 Richie Lewis 2 6.2 0 2 10.80 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 Gregg Olson 60 1 5 36 2.05 58 Todd Frohwirth 65 4 3 4 2.46 58 Storm Davis 48 7 3 4 3.43 53 Mike Flanagan 42 0 0 0 8.05 17 Alan Mills 35 10 4 2 2.61 60 Pat Clements 23 2 0 0 3.28 9 Mark Williamson 12 0 0 1 0.96 14 Jim Poole 6 0 0 0 0.00 3

Awards and honors Cal Ripken Jr., shortstop, Roberto Clemente Award

Farm system

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

References

1992 Baltimore Orioles team page at Baseball Reference 1992 Baltimore Orioles season at baseball-almanac.com