when was the last time the orioles had a winning season?
1983 World Series
neutral
 In the 1990s , Orioles ' owner Peter Angelos lobbied the United States Government to gain permission to hold this series for three years . Various politicians , including members of the United States House of Representatives , opposed the idea and attempted to block the series . Eventually , Angelos secured the approval in 1999 , after a change in United States foreign policy to Cuba under President Bill Clinton , which eased travel restrictions and increased cultural exchange . 

neutral
 In 2000 , Syd Thrift , the Orioles ' general manager , told The Washington Times that the team had a practice of not signing players who had defected from Cuba , which he attributed to Angelos ' desire to avoid doing " anything that could be interpreted as being disrespectful or ... encouraging players to defect " . Investigations by Major League Baseball and the United States Department of Justice did not find evidence that the absence of Cuban players on the Orioles ' roster or in its minor league system was due to discrimination . 

neutral
 These Orioles teams , led by John McGraw , were known to break the rules in order to win , including tampering with their bats and the playing field . Kelley hid baseballs in the outfield , using the closest hidden ball instead of finding the ball batted into the outfield . Kelley hit ten home runs in 1895 , a then @-@ franchise record , tying him for fifth in the NL with five other players . He also tied Brodie for second with 134 RBI , finished fourth with 54 stolen bases , fifth with a .546 SLG , and sixth with a .456 OBP . In 1896 , Kelley finished seventh in the NL in batting average ( .364 ) , fourth in runs scored ( 148 ) , fourth in SLG ( .543 ) , fifth in OBP ( .469 ) , ninth in hits ( 189 ) , and tied Gene DeMontreville for eighth in home runs ( 8 ) . 

neutral
 At the end of the 1900 baseball season , the Western League was positioned by its president , Ban Johnson , as a new major league that would compete with the established National League ( NL ) . The league was reorganized and renamed the American League ( AL ) , and eight cities fielded teams in the 1901 season . A Baltimore team had played in the NL through the 1899 season , after which the club was shut down by the league . Baltimore was one of three former NL cities where the AL placed teams in an effort to reach underserved fans . The new Orioles ' first manager was John McGraw , who had held the same position for the previous Baltimore team in 1899 ; McGraw also held an ownership stake . 

neutral
 In 1996 , Peter Angelos , the new owner of the Orioles , met with Armstrong and Saul Landau , who convinced him to pursue an exhibition series between his Orioles and the Cuban national baseball team . Angelos petitioned the United States Government to permit a series . United States Representative Ileana Ros @-@ Lehtinen wrote to the State Department , asking that the series be prevented . The United States Department of the Treasury denied Angelos ' request on the grounds that American money may not be spent in Cuba under the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917 . 
