Brooks Robinson

This coming season marks the 40th anniversary of one of the finest teams in baseball history, the 1970 Baltimore Orioles.

A dominating team, whose central cast of players were responsible for six first-place finishes in a nine-year period, the 1970 version of the Birds saw everything going right.

As I watch the New York Yankees erupt for another night of offensive fireworks against the Baltimore Orioles under-whelming pitching staff, I’m tempted to pound out a column imploring team president Andy MacPhail to forget about his plan and go find some pitching NOW.

Then, after I take a few deep breaths and let the blood flow back to my brain, I realize that this is one of the rare cases in professional sports where you can’t dwell on the current win-loss record.