PARTY GOERS – A few of the boys whooped it up as Orioles clinched Eastern Division title. Pouring the traditional champagne toasts are (left to right), Billy Hunter, Dave McNally, Boog Powell, Mark Belanger, Brooks Robinson. (Sept. 14, 1969, Baltimore Sun photo)

The Orioles’ Sept. 16, 2014, victory over the Blue Jays at Oriole Park at Camden Yards was especially delicious because it was the first time the team had clinched the American League East with a victory at home.

Including the 1966 pennant clincher, which came before the advent of division play, the O’s had managed to clinch nine times without ever doing it with a victory at home. Either they were on the road or, as happened several times, the second place team managed to eliminate itself with a loss.

The 1969 clincher is sometimes mis-remembered as a clinch-by-victory, but that’s not how it happened. The second-place Tigers had lost earlier on the afternoon of Sept. 13, making the Orioles’ night game against the Cleveland Indians a meaningless one, as far as the standings were concerned.

The 1969 Orioles may not have had the kind of spontaneous and jubilant celebration like the one the 2014 team had on Tuesday night, but champagne, and high spirits, flowed all the same, as Lou Hatter reported in The Sun:

“Following last night’s meaningless game with Cleveland, the mood was destined for a less-inhibited turn with popping champagne corks, samples of the sponsor’s foamy beverage and unrestrained clubhouse horseplay. … On and on it went. There wasn’t a dry torso in the house. The press got its share. Baby, that ice was cold! Finally, manager Earl Weaver … announced above the bedlam: ‘Remember fellows, we’ve got a day game tomorrow.’ Frank Robinson then turned the shower hose full blast on his baseball bat.”

-Click here to see Orioles players’ nicknames through the years.

-Click here to see Baltimore Sun front pages after Orioles’ division titles.