10. Tito Landrum homers in the 10th inning of Game 4 of the 1983 American League Championship Series
The Orioles and White Sox had matched zeroes for nine innings in Game 4 of the ALCS as Chicago’s Britt Burns pitched into the tenth and left fielder Tito Landrum stepped to the plate with one out. Acquired from St. Louis in August of that season and a man who hit only 13 homers in his nine major league seasons, Landrum ripped one into the left-field upper deck at windy Comiskey Park to give Baltimore a 1-0 lead.
Scoring twice more before Tippy Martinez closed out the series in the last of the 10th, the Orioles were relieved to win Game 4 and avoid 1983 AL Cy Young Award winner La Marr Hoyt in a deciding Game 5. First-year manager Joe Altobelli would lead the club to its third World Series title against Philadelphia in the coming days, but it was Landrum’s big blast in the league championship series that helped make it possible.
Landrum would be traded back to the Cardinals in the spring of 1984 before briefly returning to Baltimore in 1988, but the wiry outfielder’s name will never be forgotten by Orioles fans.
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