Aug. 13, 1963 - “This park makes me sick,” said Oriole pitcher Steve Barber (pictured) before taking the mound against the Twins at Minnesota’s Metropolitan Stadium today. He was looking at deep left and deep right fields, marked 365 feet as opposed to 390 at Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium. “It’s a big joke,” he moaned. “Of course, it depends which end of the stick you’re on. If you’re a hitter, it’s a helluva park.” Said Oriole coach Hank Bauer: “If a power hitter doesn’t hit 35 home runs playing out here, he’s had a real bad year.” It wasn’t too much later that Baltimore catcher John Orsino, leading off the second inning, powered a home run over the 365-foot sign in left. And Barber didn’t fare too badly either in registering his 16th victory and leading the O’s to a 6-1 victory over the Twins. The 25-year-old southpaw trails only Whitey Ford’s 17 victories among American League pitchers. Barber yielded eight hits, struck out nine, and walked one. In the sixth, he helped his own cause by doubling to drive in an Oriole run. Orsino’s homer came off Dick Stigman, while Ray Moore gave up Boog Powell’s 374-foot blast to left-center in the ninth, his 20th round-tripper of the season. Harmon Killebrew of Minnesota connected in the eighth for his 27th homer. The victory enabled the Orioles to close within half a game of the third-place Twins. The Bird still trail second-place Chicago by 2½ games.
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