Flashback. 1999.

Cole Sear was seeing dead people in “The Sixth Sense.” American audiences were introduced to the greatest show in the history of episodic television through the hilarity, brutality and mental meanderings of Tony Soprano. And 18-year-old Brittany Spears was begging someone to “Hit me baby one more time.”

And alas, 1999 was also the last time the Baltimore Orioles — trotting onto the field with the likes of Cal Ripken Jr., Mike Mussina and Brady Anderson – won at least 10 games in a row. Their streak that year reached 13.

The O’s have recently been known for their abysmal play and propensity of losing more than a hundred games in three of the last four seasons. Prior to the streak, the biggest headlines coming out of Camden Yards were from the ownership group, with the Angelos sons feuding over the family fortune and the future of the franchise.

But now — even with Friday night’s 5-4 loss to Tampa Bay that ended their surprising 10-game run — long-suffering Orioles fans have found themselves randomly singing, “Something magic happens, every time you go. You make the magic happen, the magic of Orioles baseball … Orioles magic, feel it happen!”

With a record of 45-45, Baltimore would be in second or third place in any other American League division, but they happen to play in the strongest in Major League Baseball, with the Yankees, Rays, Blue Jays and Red Sox all playing above-.500 ball.

Scott Bigham can vividly recall the moment his love for the Orioles turned into fanaticism. The 46-year-old technology account executive was 7 years old when Cal Ripken Jr. caught the last out, sealing the team’s World Series victory in 1983.

“These last few seasons left me feeling hopeless that we’d ever win, let alone see another World Series,” said Bigham. “This team is conjuring up some of those old feelings of excitement.”

Bigham credited General Manager Mike Elias for some of the team’s success, but also the Orioles’ scrappy, never-say-die perseverance. “We don’t have a huge group of stars, but we have a true team in every sense of the word,” he said. “It seems like every game a different player comes up big to deliver in a tight situation. And the talent down in the minor league system is one of the best in all of Major League Baseball. It’s going to take a few years, but you can feel something special brewing.”

Bigham said his son, Cooper, is 5, and this win streak has definitely sparked joy.

“To see his excitement around watching this team is pretty cool,” Bigham said. “We were at Camden Yards last weekend to celebrate my birthday when they played the Angels. And seeing the folks coming back to the stadium just goes to show you that no matter how down we’ve been as fans, and how bad the team has been in recent years, winning cures everything.”

Despite Friday night’s loss to the Rays, and with two games remaining before the All-Star break, excitement among local fans is ramping up. The audacity of even dreaming of a wild card playoff berth doesn’t seem so far-fetched right now.

Jeffrey Wallace, 50, a local bartender and resident of Hoes Heights, is a lifelong Orioles fan. His father was a talented catcher from the Virginia Tidewater region who moved to the city in the late 1940s to try out for Baltimore’s Negro Leagues franchise, the Elite Giants.

Although his father now suffers from dementia, Wallace said the pair tunes in to MASN when the Birds are playing. The sights and sounds of the ball meeting leather and the crack of the bat will sometimes bring his dad back for fleeting moments of lucidity.

“Considering the tough times that we’ve been going through recently in Baltimore, it’s great to see something positive that can lift the city’s collective spirit,” said Wallace. “This is an Orioles town. Whether you’re black, white, rich or poor and no matter what neighborhood you live, folks want to see those O’s when they’re doing good. ... I’ve already got my tickets for when the Yankees come to town after the All-Star break.”

On Friday night, a diverse, motley crew of young professionals, college kids on summer break and older neighborhood regulars gathered around the numerous television screens at Frazier’s on the Avenue in Hampden.

Given their recent history, an Orioles game in mid-July would normally garner the same excitement as the NBA Summer League games airing on ESPN.

But the bar was buzzing and the Natty Boh flowed as cheers filled the room with every hit, slick fielding play and every Rays strikeout.

Dave Dubs, a 52-year-old Hampden resident who works in sales, can still remember sitting with his uncle at Memorial Stadium in the ‘70s, staring at Hall of Fame third basemen Brooks Robinson sporting the sawed-off brim on his batting helmet. He said his favorite player on the current squad is first baseman Ryan Mountcastle, because “he’s a big goony guy, just like me.”

“It’s tough to put into words what it felt like to watch them struggle in recent years,” said Dubs. “We’d bring in all these free agents, but it was like putting a band-aid on a bullet wound — nothing stopped the bleeding. But to see these young guys coming up from the farm system, to see them turn the corner and now start winning has been really special. It doesn’t matter what happens during the rest of this year and where we finish, a 10-game winning streak is nothing to sneeze at.”

At Frazier’s, the packed bar erupted after both of Ramon Urias’ home runs.

“Yah!” someone loudly screamed, “put that chain on him!” They were referring to the gaudy home run chain that gets ceremoniously draped around a player’s neck after he’s knocked one out of the park.

“I haven’t felt this way in a long time,” Dubs said. “I remember what it was like in the ‘70s and ‘80s, when they could be losing going into the late innings, but you always felt like they would pull every game out. I’ve gotten that same feeling over the last few weeks. I’ve been miserable watching them recently, but this team has reawakened my love for the Orioles.”

The team’s fresh faces, like catcher Adley Rutschman, the top pick in the 2019 MLB Draft, who’s considered to be among one of the game’s top young prospects, are bringing a newer, youthful spirit and energy to the franchise.

Ricky Kingsley, a Woodberry resident who’s worked at Frazier’s for 22 years, stopped in on his night off to watch the game with a bunch of friends and his wife, Justine. He remembers being 13 years old, working as a busboy at Cafe Hon when one of the bartenders told him to hand Cal Ripken Jr. the Coca-Cola that he ordered. “That’s the only time my hand has ever trembled when handing someone a drink,” said Kingsley.

He looked around the boisterous, crowded bar, grateful for the robust business.

“The O’s bring us money when they’re winning,” he continued. “This pandemic really hurt everybody. But we’re riding it out with the Orioles because just like them, we’re coming back and coming out of it, excited about better days ahead.”

When the Rays went up 5-2 in the seventh inning, the jukebox began to ominously, loudly spit out B.B. King’s “The Thrill Is Gone.”

But the loss couldn’t fully put a damper on the jovial mood.

“This city can use some positivity, and that’s what the Orioles are bringing right now,” said Byron Williams, a 38-year-old West Baltimore resident who works for the state of Maryland. “We knew the winning streak would end at some point, but this team is going to contend in the future. They’re bringing that magic back.”

The last time the Orioles made a deep postseason run was in 2014, when they advanced to the AL Championship series. That seems like eons ago to a fan base that celebrated six World Series appearances between 1966 and 1983.

But maybe, just maybe, the happy days will return again, perhaps sooner than some people thought.

alejandro.danois@thebaltimorebanner.com

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