Robert K. Shoop's Memorial Stadium - Baltimore Maryland

Brooks Robinson would soon become a fixture at 3rd Base and remain with the Baltimore Orioles for 23 seasons before retiring at the age of 40 to become the first Baltimore Oriole to be inducted into the Hall of Fame (exclusively from the Orioles). You could see slowly but surely� the Baltimore Orioles were adding the pieces that would turn them into a dynasty for years to come. Milt Pappas would come back for a full season in 1959 along with Hoyt Wilhelm who was brought in to help teach the young rookie pitchers and provide a veteran presence. Wilhelm may have been 35 years old but he was a future Hall of Famer himself and he would have one of his best seasons with the Orioles in 1959, going 15-11 with an Orioles record, 2.19 ERA. Young Milt Pappas who was now 20 was right there with him, going 15-9 with a 3.28. Billy O�Dell went 10-12, 2.93 and Jerry Walker was 11-10, 2.92. The Baltimore Orioles now had a very exciting pitching staff. They just needed their hitting to come along and it would� not yet but it would. Gus Triandos would again lead the team in HR with 25 but his batting avg sunk to .216 as the hitting kept the great pitching from taking the Orioles to the next level. They would finish the season 74-80 in 6th place. 1960 would bring a new decade and with it came new hope. They now had some exciting new players� a nice sprinkling of great veterans and a stock of great prospects just waiting to reach the Major Leagues. Perhaps the Orioles were something to be excited about? Brooks Robinson began showing just how talented he was by hitting 27 2B, 14 HR and batting .294. Jim Gentile meanwhile hit 21 HR and hit .292 while Ron Hansen hit 22 HR and hit .255. It was the first time that the Orioles had 2 players hit over 20 HR in the same season. The pitching meanwhile was coming along very nicely. Milt Pappas won 15 games for the 2nd season in a row finishing the year at 15-11, 3.37 and rookie Chuck Estrada went 18-11, 3.58 to take over the all time Wins record. Hal Brown was excellent going 12-5, 3.06 and Hoyt Wilhelm was 11-8, 3.31. Together this pitching staff and decent hitting core brought the Orioles over .500 for the first time ever as Baltimore finished the season with an excellent 89-65 (.578) record climbing from 6th place to 2nd place in just one year. The excitement surrounding these new Orioles helped the team draw an all-time franchise record 1.187 million fans.