July 10, 1977 – Orioles 6, Yankees 0

BALTIMORE – Billy Martin was completely flummoxed by the fact that his All-Star lineup managed only five feeble singles against the soft-tossing Ross Grimsley, a guy who couldn’t break a pane of his glass with his alleged fastball.

Of course, Billy had an excuse for the Yankees offense wilting in the 90-degree heat: Grimsley was a cheater.

“The guy throws a grease ball, there’s no question about it,” Martin whined to reporters afterward. “And he’s smart enough to get away with it. That’s why he’s winning again. But the umpires refuse to call it. It’s a grease ball, or whatever he gets off his hair or eyebrows. You can tell by the way it falls off.”

When informed of Martin’s contention, his arch rival, Earl Weaver, laughed and said, “Billy said he throws a what? My goodness. Where would he learn a thing like that?” Weaver paused for effect, then quipped, “Don’t tell Billy this, but (pitching coach) George Bamberger used to throw a greaser in the Pacific Coast League . . . I think.”

All Bamberger would say is that, “It gives Ross a change-up even slower than his regular one, if that’s possible. Now he has a change-up off the change-up. If the hitters want to think it’s a grease ball, let ‘em. Just gives ‘em one more thing to get mad about. Anyway, we don’t cheat around here. . . anymore.”

With Grimsley sending batter after batter back to the dugout cursing, Ed Figueroa got roughed up by the Orioles for five runs on six hits. Rookie of the Year frontrunner Eddie Murray, who had been killing the Yankees all year, hit a solo homer in the second inning, the only run Baltimore would need.

“That ball was a pea,” said Tony Muser, who took over for Murray at first base late in the game. “It was in the seats in half a second. Fastest homer of the year. We’re a team that needs momentum. With us, one thing leads to another and that got us going.”

The daily baseball report

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