Up next in our bests/worsts series are the Baltimore Orioles.
Up next in our bests/worsts series are the Baltimore Orioles. (USATSI)

Over the course of the next month, we'll venture through the history of each of the 30 Major League Baseball franchises, discussing some of the best and worst moments, players, teams, etc. It's more of a fun snapshot for discussion purposes than a be-all, end-all declaration. We continue today with the Baltimore Orioles.

The Orioles as we know them came to be in 1954, when the St. Louis Browns moved to Baltimore. Here are our totally subjective selections of the bests and worsts in franchise history. If you disagree -- and I'm sure you will! -- tell us about it in the comments.

Best team: 1970

The Orioles were a powerhouse in the late 1960s and entire 1970s, and they were at their best from 1969-71, when they won three straight pennants and had three straight seasons of 100-plus victories. The 1969 squad went 109-53 with a plus-262 run differential, but they lost the World Series to the Mets in five games.

So, we'll go with the 1970 team as the best in franchise history instead. They went 108-54 with a plus-218 run differential and did win the World Series, beating the Big Red Machine in five games. The 1970 Orioles had three Hall of Fame players (Frank Robinson, Brooks Robinson, Jim Palmer), a Hall of Fame manager (Earl Weaver), the AL MVP (Boog Powell), one 20-game winner (Palmer) and two 24-game winners (Mike Cuellar, Dave McNally). They started the season 5-0 and ended it with an 11-game winning streak, including three walk-off wins in the final four games.

The O's thoroughly thrashed the Twins in the ALCS -- they outscored them 27-10 in the three-game series -- before beating the Reds in the Fall Classic. Between the end of the regular season and the postseason, they won 17 straight games. And they went 115-55 in 1970 overall. Total domination.

Worst team: 1988

The 1939 Browns went 43-111 with a minus-302 run differential, but we're going to stick with the Orioles, so the 1988 team gets the nod. They went 54-107 with a minus-239 run differential. And, of course, they started the season 0-21. Yes, 0-21. So I suppose the good news it that they went 54-86 after that, which is ... not as terrible?

Can you imagine going 0-21 to start the year? The O's were 15.5 games back in the AL East by the end of April and finished the year 34.5 games back in the division. My goodness they were bad. So very, very bad.

Best manager: Earl Weaver

Easy call here. Weaver has the most wins by franchise history by a mile -- 1,354; second-place Jimmy McAleer had 551 -- and was very fond of the three-run homer. He was still using four-man rotations even after most of the league adopted five-man rotations, and he was the first manager to regularly change his lineup based on the opposing pitcher. Weaver was, quite simply, a managerial pioneer.

Best manager press conference: Dave Trembley

On July 27, 2008, the Orioles beat the Angels 5-2 to snap a five-game losing streak. They had lost 14 of their previous 18 games overall. So, after the win over the Halos, then-manager Dave Trembley lit up a victory cigar during his postgame press conference:

Video of the press conference is right here.

Best player: Cal Ripken Jr.

There are five players (and one manager) in the Hall of Fame wearing an Orioles hat, and Ripken is the best of the bunch. He finished his career with 3,184 hits and is behind only Derek Jeter and Honus Wagner for the most hits as a shortstop in baseball history. Ripken does hold the record for most homers by a shortstop -- he retired with 345 at the position, one more than Alex Rodriguez.

Ripken is the franchise leader is almost every meaningful category, including hits, games (3,001), runs (1,647), total bases (5,168), doubles (603), home runs (431), RBI (1,695), walks (1,129) and WAR (95.5). And, of course, he smashed Lou Gehrig's consecutive games played record and currently holds the MLB record with 2,632 consecutive games played, a streak that spans 16 seasons. Talk about an unbreakable record.

Best moment: Ripken sets the record

On Sept. 6, 1995, Ripken played in his 2,131st consecutive game, breaking Gehrig's long-standing record. After the game became official in the fifth inning, play was halted and Ripken was honored with a long standing ovation and a ceremony lasting more than 20 minutes. Here's video of the celebration and Ripken's speech:

Worst call: Jeffrey Maier

The Orioles were up 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning of Game 1 of the 1996 ALCS when rookie Derek Jeter lifted a high fly ball to right field at Yankee Stadium. Right fielder Tony Tarasco retreated to the warning track and camped under the ball, but was unable to make the catch because a 12-year-old fan named Jeffrey Maier reached over the fence and snatched the ball. To the video:

It was ruled a home run even though it would have clearly stayed in the park had Maier not interfered. (It should be noted this would not have been a homer with the current instant replay rules!) The Yankees eventually won the game in 11 innings and went on to win the ALCS in five games.

Best trade: Frank Robinson

During the 1965-66 offseason, the Orioles acquired outfielder/first baseman Frank Robinson from the Reds for three players: righty Jack Baldschun, righty Milt Pappas and outfielder Dick Simpson. Baldschun spent two years with the Reds and had a 5.25 ERA in 70 1/3 relief innings. Pappas spent two and a half years with Cincinnati (4.04 ERA in 75 starts and seven relief appearances) before being traded to the Braves. Simpson played in 136 games for the Reds as a reserve outfielder from 1966-67 and put up a 96 OPS+ in only 161 plate appearances.

Robinson, meanwhile, won the Triple Crown and was named AL MVP in his first year with the Orioles. He led the league in homers (49), RBI (122), batting average (.316), on-base percentage (.410), slugging percentage (.637), OPS (1.047), OPS+ (198) and total bases (367) in 1966. Robinson spent six years with the Orioles and hit .300/.401/.543 (169 OPS+) with 179 homers, 545 RBI and 32.3 WAR in 827 games. He was at the center of those dominant Orioles teams in the late 1960s and early 1970s. And, although he played more career games with the Reds, Robinson went into the Hall of Fame with an O's hat.

Best trade in terms of size: 17-player swap with the Yankees

On Nov. 17, 1954, the Orioles and Yankees got together for the largest trade in baseball history in terms of the number of players involved. A total of 17 (!) players were involved in the swap. Here's the recap:

To the Orioles (10 players): RHP Harry Byrd, RHP Jim McDonald, SS Willy Miranda, C Hal Smith, C Gus Triandos, OF Gene Woodling, LHP Bill Miller, IF Kal Segrist, 2B Don Leppert and OF Theo Del Guercio.

To the Yankees (7 players): RHP Don Larsen, IF Billy Hunter, RHP Bob Turley, RHP Mike Blyzka, C Darrell Johnson, OF Jim Fridley and 1B Dick Kryhoski.

Believe it or not, the trade was originally Larsen, Hunter, Turley and players to be named later for players to be named later. Fourteen players to be named later!

Worst trade: The Glenn Davis deal

A few weeks before the start of spring spring in 1991, the O's sent three young players -- right-hander Curt Schilling, outfielder Steve Finley, right-hander Pete Harnisch -- to the Astros for first baseman Glenn Davis. Davis played in only 185 games with Baltimore from 1991-93 and hit .247/.312/.400 (97 OPS+) with 24 home runs.

Schilling was only 24 at the time and had a 4.54 ERA in 69 1/3 innings for the Orioles. He spent one year with the Astros before being moved to the Phillies and beginning his borderline Hall of Fame career in earnest. Finley had a 79 OPS+ in two years with the O's, then had a 107 OPS+ in four years with the Astros before enjoying success with the Padres, Diamondbacks and other clubs. Harnisch had a 4.49 ERA in 305 innings with the Orioles and a 3.41 ERA in 736 innings for the Astros. He also played for three other teams.

All told, the O's got 0.7 WAR out of Davis while Schilling, Finley and Harnisch combined for 141.4 WAR after the trade. Egads.

Worst run support: Mike Mussina, 1997 ALCS

Poor Moose. Here's what he did in his two ALCS starts against the Indians in 1997:

SeriesDateTm OppIPHRERBBSOGScWPAEnteredExited
ALCS g3 Oct 11 BAL @ CLE 7.0 3 1 1 2 15 80 0.238 1b start tie 7b 3 out d1
ALCS g6 Oct 15 BAL   CLE 8.0 1 0 0 2 10 88 0.568 1t start tie 8t 3 out tie
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/24/2015.

The result: two losses. The Orioles lost Game 3 by the score of 2-1 and lost the decisive Game 6 by the score of 1-0 in 11 innings. Mussina allowed one run on four hits and four walks in 15 innings while striking out 25 in the two starts, and somehow got two no decisions. Those 15 strikeouts in Game 3 set an AL postseason strikeout record, by the way.

Best pitch by a position player: Chris Davis' changeup

The Orioles and Red Sox played a 17-inning marathon on May 6, 2012, a marathon the O's won by the score of 9-6. The winning pitcher? Starting DH Chris Davis, of course. Baltimore ran out of pitchers in the 16th, so manager Buck Showalter turned to Davis, who had pitched in college.

Davis allowed two hits and a walk in two scoreless innings to get the win -- Adam Jones clubbed a three-run homer off Red Sox outfielder Darnell McDonald in the top of the 17th. Davis also struck out two, including Adrian Gonzalez on this filthy changeup:

(GIF via Baltimore Sports Report)

Worst "left hanging": Mark Reynolds snubs Buck Showalter

I'm not quite sure of the exact date that this happened, but ...

... yeah. Probably not a good thing to leave the manager hanging like that. (GIF via SB Nation)

Best logo: The Peacock Bird

The team's official site calls this "The Peacock Bird." Needless to say, the Orioles were damn proud of their four-game sweep of the Dodgers in the 1966 World Series, which clinched the first title in franchise history. Modesty is overrated.

Up Next: On Sunday, we'll look at the best and worst moments for the Toronto Blue Jays.

>> Want more franchise bests/worsts? CHC | MIL | STL | CIN | PIT | CLE | DET | MIN | CHW | KC | NYY | BOS