THEY’RE FOR THE BIRDS NOW : Baltimore’s Commitment to Youth Brings a New Hunger to Win on the Club

The Baltimore Orioles are scheduled to move into a $200 million downtown stadium in 1992, but they couldn’t wait that long to initiate a re-development of their own.

What other course was there in the wake of 107 losses, including a major league record 21 straight at the start of last season, when they were a blight on the landscape?

“We committed the future to young players,” Manager Frank Robinson said at Anaheim Stadium Tuesday night.

“It was pretty simple. We had tried it the other way for five years and it didn’t work.”

Will this?

Will the Baby Birds be able to mend that damaged pride and tradition.

Time will tell, of course, but the Orioles have already accomplished more in three weeks than the 1988 team did in seven, and they employ words that had seemed to disappear from the club’s vocabulary--enthusiasm, hunger, desire, among them.

For example:

“There’s a hunger to win that was not always there before,” designated hitter Larry Sheets said. “It’s a lot more enjoyable coming to the park.

“I’m not accusing anyone, but when you’ve got established players on a team not going anywhere, maybe the attitude isn’t what it should be, maybe they’re not thinking the way they should.

“We had guys who wanted to play, but some of them didn’t want to do it in Baltimore.

“Now you’ve got 24 guys who want to play and who want to do it in Baltimore.”

Why not? The alternative for many members of a team with an average age of 26.1 years, the youngest in the majors, would seem to be Rochester, site of the Orioles’ triple-A affiliate.

Who wouldn’t be hungry after living on triple-A meal money of $14 a day?

“The key is that the club isn’t going for a quick fix anymore,” Sheets said. “We may still take our lumps, but the organization seems willing to take them now rather than putting a Band-Aid on them as they did in the past.

“If they’d done this three or four years ago maybe we’d wouldn’t be at square one as we are now.”

Square one? Consider:

--The Oriole roster includes 13 players with two years or less of major league experience, only four players who are 30 or more and seven rookies, including starting pitchers Bob Milacki and Pete Harnisch and reliever Gregg Olson.

--The Orioles have the lowest payroll in the majors at about $8.5 million, which is also about what they have dumped in salaries since last May, when they began tearing off the bandages.

Among those who have been traded, released or allowed to leave as free agents: Eddie Murray, Fred Lynn, Terry Kennedy, Mike Boddicker, Don Aase, Doug Sisk and Scott McGregor.

Of the current Orioles, 13 came in trade, 10 were home grown and one, Kevin Hickey, was signed as a free agent. In major off-season deals:

The Orioles traded Murray to the Dodgers for pitchers Brian Holton and Ken Howell and shortstop prospect Juan Bell, then traded Howell to Philadelphia for outfielder Phil Bradley, then sent pitcher Mike Morgan to the Dodgers for outfielder Mike Devereaux.

Robinson walked through the Oriole clubhouse Tuesday night, pointed to a row of lockers and said to a reporter, “better check the nameplates because you won’t recognize the faces.”

Is Craig Worthington ready to end the parade of 35 third baseman since the retirement of Brooks Robinson? Can defense and speed--”we’re no longer a station to station team,” Sheets said--compensate for the absence of the three-run homer? Are all those other anonymous names ready.

Three weeks into a season in which they had played 17 games against Boston, Minnesota and Kansas City before arriving in Anaheim, the Orioles are 10-9 and leading the American League East. They didn’t win their 10th game last year until May 28, by which time they had lost 38.

Robinson said he saw no reason to discuss 1988 with his current group because of the turnover. Twelve of his 24 players were not with the club during the 21-game losing streak.

Reflecting on his team’s progress, Robinson said he was excited by the effort and resiliency, then added:

“It looks like we’re a little bit ahead of schedule as far as development is concerned. They’re showing us enthusiasm. They’re showing us they belong. All of them won’t be here three years from now, but they’ve shown us we can be competitive while we’re doing this. I knew we would be better if only because of the desire and enthusiasm, and what makes this nice is that we’re looking at 1989, but also 1990 and 1991 in the process. All of these kids have a chance to get better.”

Pitcher Dave Schmidt is no kid, but he’s feeling like one. At 32, the Orioles’ oldest player, he said he hasn’t experienced this degree of team closeness since his senior year at UCLA and it has generated his own “burst of enthusiasm.”

“You have to credit Frank and (general manager) Roland Hemond for doing their homework on the guys we’ve acquired and brought up,” Schmidt said. “There’s none of the pessimism and selfishness we’ve had here recently.

“It’s like a college coach who brings a good group of freshmen together building for the future. By the time they’re juniors and seniors he’s got a monster team.” The Orioles don’t have to look too far into the past to remember some monster teams of their owns. Bad drafts and bad front office decisions disrupted the tradition, but re-development has the city excited. The club sold 11,000 season tickets, its fourth highest ever.

“It’s a blue-collar town that appreciates the type work ethic this club will give it,” Schmidt said.

Others may be more skeptical, believing the 1989 Orioles will finish much like the 1988 team.

“There’s probably some people who expect us to fall on our faces again, but those same people are going to be surprised at how hard we’re going after them,” said Robinson, alluding to Oriole opponents.

Added Sheets: “I think we’ve changed a lot of people’s opinion already. We’ve played 19 games and been in 18. I know we’ve changed the opinion of the Royals, Twins, Red Sox and Angels.”