On a night where 50,402 turned out to welcome the 1-23 Orioles back from a 1-11 road trip, Governor William Donald Schaefer announced that owner Edward Bennett Williams and the Maryland Stadium Authority had agreed upon a long-term lease for a new downtown ballpark to be built in time for the 1992 season. Williams, who was very ill, never attended another game after that and lost his battle with cancer on August 13, 1988. The season was a lost one as the Birds went 54-107, but the process of rebuilding had begun.

The Orioles new uniforms and new attitude were on display as the team improved by 32 1/2 games in the standings and spent nearly three months of the season in first place. '89 became known as the "Why Not?" season and Frank Robinson won American League Manager of the Year for his role in leading this young group into a pennant chase that ended on the next-to-last day of the season following consecutive 1-run losses to Toronto.

The final season for Orioles baseball on 33rd Street saw Cal Ripken have a career year. He hit .323 with 210 hits including 34 HR, 144 RBI, 368 total bases, and only 46 strikeouts. He won the MVP, All-Star MVP, Major League Player of the Year, and even won the All-Star Home Run contest for good measure hitting 12 bombs in 22 swings. Mike Flanagan pitched the last inning of the last game ever at Memorial Stadium and retired the batters 1-2-3. After the game a magical ceremony that included over 100 Oriole Greats bid farewell to the stadium and transplanted home plate from Memorial Stadium to the new location at Camden Yards to officially end an era and begin a new one.

The dawn of a new era of Orioles baseball began as Camden Yards was introduced to the world. Despite many comments about how hitter-friendly the park was, the first three games played there were low-scoring shutouts with the O's winning two of them. At the end of the '92 season, Cal Ripken Jr.'s consecutive games streak had reached 1,735 and Lou Gehrig's record was in sight.

The All-Star Game returned to Baltimore for the first time since 1958 in the beautiful setting of Camden Yards and All-Star Fanfest Week was a celebration unlike any in recent memory. In the Home Run contest, Ken Griffey Jr. became the first player to hit the warehouse on the fly. Not to be outdone, Juan Gonzalez, a right-hander, reached the 3rd deck in left field with a shot estimated to be over 500 feet. The Birds as a whole had a streaky season, but catcher Chris Hoiles was solid throughout en route to winning Oriole MVP. He hit .310 with 29 HR and 82 RBI even though he missed 21 games due to injury.

On September 5th and 6th at Oriole Park at Camden Yards against the California Angels, Cal Ripken Jr. (right) became baseball's all-time "Iron Man", tying and breaking Lou Gehrig's consecutive games played record of 2,130. Cal's streak began on May 30, 1982. In the games Cal went a combined 5-9 and hit home runs in each. Ceremonies were held after the tying game and included a "roast" of Cal to congratulate him on his achievement, but the best celebration was to come during the record breaking game. After the game was in the books as an official game, play was halted for over 20 minutes and Cal made a victory lap as the fans showed their appreciation for baseball's new "Iron Man".

After a frustrating first half which saw the team struggle to find their identity, the Birds made a charge and captured the A.L. Wild Card. In the Division Series against Cleveland, Roberto Alomar (right) secured victory for the O's with his heroics on the field and at the plate and the Orioles moved on to face the Yankees in the ALCS. Two extremely close games in New York, including the famous Home Run That Wasn't game, brought the series back to Baltimore tied 1-1 but the Yankees proved to be too much to take and the O's fell short, losing the series 4-1 to the eventual World Champs.

The O's potent attack, led by Rafael Palmeiro (right), Roberto Alomar, and B.J. Surhoff, and double digit wins from 5 Orioles pitchers propelled the Birds to a season-long reign in the division as they went wire-to-wire. Their dominance brought them back to a Division Series rematch with the Indians, who had also been nothing short of dominating throughout the regular season campaign. This time around the Tribe got the best of the favored Orioles, whose offense had suddenly gone silent in the series, and the Indians eeked out a six-game series win to take the A.L. pennant before falling to the Marlins in the World Series.