Phil Wood: During ’66 title run, some O’s truly reached a bench mark

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - In the program that was distributed to attendees at Thursday’s reunion of the 1966 Orioles World Series championship team at Morgan State, there were thumbnail sketches of several players that ended with the phrase “… and helped the Orioles win the 1966 World Series.”

Ironically, virtually none of the players profiled that way actually provided any help beyond cheerleading in the four-game sweep of the Dodgers. Orioles skipper Hank Bauer used only nine position players and four pitchers in the Series, meaning that 12 players only sat.

It’s almost stunning to imagine such a scenario today, particularly in one-run ballgames, like Games 3 and 4 of the ’66 Fall Classic, both 1-0 shutouts. Yet, several of that inactive dozen told me that they’d have been shocked if Bauer put them in.

“Hank managed that way all season,” backup catcher Larry Haney said Thursday. “He believed in a set lineup, and the guys on the bench knew they’d play if somebody got hurt, or maybe in a blowout, so not playing against the Dodgers was no big deal.”

Super-sub Woodie Held, who played second, short, third and the outfield that year, said he understood Bauer’s philosophy early on.

“I broke in the with the Yankees when [Casey] Stengel platooned Hank with Gene Woodling. He wasn’t crazy about it, and neither was Gene,” he said. “Hank called me when Baltimore got me from the Senators to say, ‘Welcome aboard,’ and not to expect to play much. He didn’t lie — I didn’t.”

Woodie batted only 82 times in 1966 and appeared in the field, albeit at multiple positions, in only 21 contests.

“It never bothered me not to have played in the Series,” he said. “I was just happy to be there.”

It was a sentiment that was expressed all evening.

Despite opportunities to either insert a pinch-runner when a slow man was on base in the late innings of Games 3 and 4, or to hit for the starting pitcher with just a one-run lead, Bauer just sat back and let ‘em play. The Orioles had the best bullpen in baseball, so it couldn’t have been fear of gambling on a reliever. It worked, in retrospect, so it’s hard to argue with his logic.

It was interesting to note how often someone — from fans in attendance to emcee Keith Mills — said something along the lines of, “Nobody thought the Orioles had a chance against the powerful Dodgers that fall” on Thursday. Unless they were referring to someone actually named “Nobody,” that part of it just isn’t so.

In 1966, the Orioles outscored the Dodgers for the year, 755-606. They outhomered L.A., 175-108. The Dodgers had southpaw Sandy Koufax, who had a spectacular season (27-9, 1.73 ERA), but No. 2 starter Don Drysdale, who pitched twice in the series, had a losing record that year (13-16) and the highest ERA on the staff (3.42). If you’ll check the archives of most major market dailies, you’ll see that baseball writers nationally were pretty evenly split on their predictions.

For whatever reason, lots of locals believe that Baltimore is the classic underdog, put upon in perpetuity by the rest of the world. Didn’t that end 40 years ago?

Phil Wood has covered baseball in the Washington/Baltimore market for more than 30 years. You can reach him at philwood@baltimoreexaminer.com.

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