Brooks Robinson and the Baltimore Orioles

[quitcrab]

One of my favorite oddball sets of the 60s. Great looking cards! I wish they would have been 2.5 x 3.5.

[BaltOrioles]

The 1978 Miami Orioles were the Orioles class A affiliate, in the Florida State League. They finished with a record of 76-65, which was good for 1st place in the Southern Division. They went on to defeat the Lakeland Tigers, 2 games to 1, to win the championship that year.

The Orioles were managed by future O's coach Jimmy Williams. Not a lot of future major leaguers were on the roster, although John Shelby played a few games that year. Drungo Hazewood, who played briefly for the Orioles, is probably the biggest name to make the team photo that year.

1978 Team Photo

1978 Miami Orioles.jpg

1978 Program (cover was same as the Orioles spring training program, but some different content inside)

1978 Spring Training (Miami).jpg

2 different pocket schedules

1978 Miami Orioles (Review Financial Printers).jpg 1978 Miami Orioles (Dupont Plaza Hotel).jpg

[Mark70Z]

Originally Posted by BaltOrioles

The 1978 Miami Orioles were the Orioles class A affiliate, in the Florida State League. They finished with a record of 76-65, which was good for 1st place in the Southern Division. They went on to defeat the Lakeland Tigers, 2 games to 1, to win the championship that year.

The Orioles were managed by future O's coach Jimmy Williams. Not a lot of future major leaguers were on the roster, although John Shelby played a few games that year. Drungo Hazewood, who played briefly for the Orioles, is probably the biggest name to make the team photo that year.

1978 Team Photo

Were the 1978 Miami Orioles even prepared for a team photo?

I'm liking the small schedules as well as the programs...

[Mark70Z]

Day 57 (February 26, 2020 – 057)

Brooks had a couple of baseball heroes growing up in Little Rock, Arkansas. He was a St. Louis Cardinals fan so Stan Musial was one of this favorite players. In the 8th grade Brooks was given an English composition assignment about his career ambition and he entitled the paper, “Why I Want to Play Professional Baseball.” His desire was to play professional baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals (so glad that part of the goal didn’t happen). Another all-time favorite player was a fellow Arkansas native George Kell (who was inducted to the HOF the same year as Brooks). George Kell was traded to the Orioles to fill in at third base in 1956 and 1957 till Brooks was ready to take the position full time. Kell had nothing but good things to say about Brooks; he stated, “You could talk about Brooks all day but he possessed three things you must have, he could hit, he could field – the best ever – and he was a class act.”

This is a photo of Brooks and George at Spring Training in Scottsdale, AZ in 1957 comparing bat grips. The picture was taken at a slightly weird angle, but still looks pretty cool.

Day 57 a (2).jpg

[quitcrab]

World Series 1970 at Memorial Stadium. Cool to see the athletes in "street clothes".
I drove Frank Robinson and his wife in my car about two years ago. I showed them this picture. The wife thought it was SO FUNNY! "Frank look how skinny you where! " "Look at that collar " "Look at your Afro" They both got a good laugh from the photo.
Rose looks so Young-Love the skinny tie
Weaver with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.
and Bench looks like he was just robbed..... maybe he was!

[ripfan008]

I just noticed that Gil Coan passed away earlier this month at 97 years old. He recorded the first hit in modern Orioles history.

Here'a photo of his 1954 Esskay card (not mine). RIP

[BaltOrioles]

The 1954 Aberdeen Pheasants were the Orioles Class C affiliate. They played in the Northern League. The Pheasants were affiliated with the
Orioles until 1971 and saw a lot of future O's go through there.

The 1954 Pheasants finished 60-75 and were managed by Barney Lutz. The only future Oriole to play that year was Dick Luebke.
I was happy when I found the program, but thrilled to come across some player photos.


1954 Pheasants program

1954 Aberdeen Pheasants.jpg

5x7 Player Photos - George Blash, Paul Carson, Robert Ehrke, William Hain, John Hoffman, William Hurst, Arthur Hunt, Roy Leafgren,
Barney Lutz, George Morris, Reginald Pitre, Rolf Scheel and the batboys

1954 Aberdeen Pheasants 01.jpg 1954 Aberdeen Pheasants 02.jpg 1954 Aberdeen Pheasants 03.jpg 1954 Aberdeen Pheasants 04.jpg 1954 Aberdeen Pheasants 05.jpg 1954 Aberdeen Pheasants 06.jpg 1954 Aberdeen Pheasants 07.jpg

Dick Luebke Postcard

Dick Luebke.jpg

[BaltOrioles]

Originally Posted by ripfan008

I just noticed that Gil Coan passed away earlier this month at 97 years old. He recorded the first hit in modern Orioles history.

Here'a photo of his 1954 Esskay card (not mine). RIP

I wondered how long it would take for some Esskay cards to be posted. I'm working on the set, but a long way from completing it. I have 21 from 1954, but none from 1955.

It's interesting to note, that Esskay used the Orioles team issued photos for their sets.

[Mark70Z]

Originally Posted by quitcrab

World Series 1970 at Memorial Stadium. Cool to see the athletes in "street clothes".
I drove Frank Robinson and his wife in my car about two years ago. I showed them this picture. The wife thought it was SO FUNNY! "Frank look how skinny you where! " "Look at that collar " "Look at your Afro" They both got a good laugh from the photo.
Rose looks so Young-Love the skinny tie
Weaver with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.
and Bench looks like he was just robbed..... maybe he was!

Scott,

While you've showed me these snapshots in the past I still think they are AWESOME! It's really hard to pick a favorite since I like them all and all are very unique in their own way.

Thanks for sharing the story of your drive with Frank and his wife. Frank brought some great memories to the O's fans including myself. I heard that Frank could be a bit rough at shows and such, but each time I've had an interaction with him it was ALWAYS pleasant and sometimes funny...

[Mark70Z]

Originally Posted by quitcrab

One of my favorite oddball sets of the 60s. Great looking cards! I wish they would have been 2.5 x 3.5.

One of my favorites as well. I think most of the 1964 Topps Giant cards are good looking. I especially like the Brooks and the size is fine with me, but I'm sure that's the reason they are not as desirable currently. Also, it seems like they are rather abundant as well.

[BaltOrioles]

Mark,

That unopened package is great. I know there are at least a couple others Orioles in that set (Paul Blair and Dave McNally).


I've posted Morton Tadder team issued B&W 8x10 photos in some earlier posts. In addition to the individual 8x10 photos, the Orioles also produced 8x10 team sheets. There were usually 4-5 per year. I haven't seen any after 1997 and by 1999, you could no longer stop by the Orioles offices and purchase individual player photos directly from the team. The team sheets were usually distributed to newspapers, magazines, etc to use if they needed a photo for their publications. I assume the digital photo era made them obsolete. Sometimes you find them cut up into individual photos, but they weren't printed as such. The team sheets also help me to identify the year of the individual player photos, since the individual 8x10 player photos usually paralleled the team sheets.

Here are the last sheets from the 1997 wire-to-wire Eastern Division champs.

1997 Orioles Team Sheets

1997 Tadder 1.jpg 1997 Tadder 2.jpg 1997 Tadder 3.jpg 1997 Tadder 4.jpg 1997 Tadder 5.jpg