Vintage Fridays: Frank Robinson, 1969 Topps #250

In about an hour, the Orioles will participate in the first-ever American League Wild Card Game, playing on the road against the Texas Rangers. The odds are long for the O's in their first postseason game since 1997, but long odds have been the theme of the year for the 93-win Birds. Joe Saunders probably shouldn't beat Yu Darvish in Arlington, but then the Orioles shouldn't have gone 29-9 in one-run games either. They shouldn't have won 16 consecutive extra-inning games. They shouldn't have battled the Yankees to the end for the Eastern Division title, especially with Brian Roberts, Nolan Reimold, Nick Markakis, and Mark Reynolds each missing big chunks of time. So I like our chances tonight.

If you needed any cosmic themes for the evening, it was 46 years ago today that the Orioles played their first postseason game, stunning the Dodgers with a 5-2 road win in Game One of the 1966 World Series. In the first inning, Frank Robinson and Brooks Robinson hit back-to-back home runs off of Don Drysdale; it was all that the O's would need, thanks to 6.2 innings of one-hit, 11-strikeout relief from Moe Drabowsky. The pair of runs that Los Angeles scored in that game were the only two they would get in the Fall Classic, as Baltimore's young pitchers blanked them for the last 33 innings of the Orioles' Series sweep. It all started with one game...