In the days after the Orioles' 1969 World Series loss to the Miracle Mets, the team flew back into Baltimore, where a crowd of what first baseman Boog Powell estimated was 5,000 fans greeted them. They wedged up against the fence, sticking their fingers through the openings to welcome back their defeated hometown team.
“I went over there and I touched as many hands as I could,” Powell recalled on a Zoom call Friday, “and I told them, ‘Just wait until next year.’”
Powell and the Orioles delivered on that forecast, winning the 1970 World Series in five games over the Cincinnati Reds.