Brooks Robinson and the Baltimore Orioles

[BaltOrioles]

Originally Posted by Mark70Z

Day 81 (March 21, 2020 – 081)

The Orioles were making quite a run for the pennant in 1964. The O’s were in a in a tight three-way battle with the Yankees and the White Sox for the American League pennant. The Orioles did fall short in ’64, but it was a really good year for the Birds.

Mark,

As a 6 year old, 1964 was the first year I paid much interest to baseball. My dad loved baseball, but didn't cheer for any particular team. Growing up in Maine, I didn't realize I was supposed to be a Red Sox fan. I fell in love with the Orioles and Brooks Robinson. I don't remember really collecting anything until a couple years later when I discovered baseball cards.

Here are a few programs from that memorable 1964.

The regular season programs featured Brooks Robinson on one of the covers and I've always wondered if the batter silhouette on the other program isn't also Brooks. Looks like a shaved helmet to me.

1964 Program #1.jpg 1964 Program #2.jpg


Newspapers back then provided scorecards for their readers.

1964 News American.jpg 1964 Sunpapers.jpg


Several programs celebrated local business nights.

1964 Bethlehem Steel Family Night.jpg 1964 Martin Family Night.jpg


When a team is successful, they also attract the attention of local car dealers. Ford vs Chevy...

1964 Bob Davidson.jpg 1964 Fox Chevrolet.jpg

[roarfrom34]

Mark:

You're correct in that 1960 team photo the player on the top row on the right
was also photo shopped in.

Here is a team photo/program from the 1962 Fox Cities club. That team now had Cal Ripken Sr. as a player/manager and included Eddie Watt. I love how someone colored in the program (dated inside as May 28th) cover....

[roarfrom34]

About 10 years ago, Cal Ripken Sr. was inducted into the Appleton Baseball Hall of Fame & they gave out a Bobblehead to commemorate the occasion:

[Mark70Z]

Originally Posted by roarfrom34

About 10 years ago, Cal Ripken Sr. was inducted into the Appleton Baseball Hall of Fame & they gave out a Bobblehead to commemorate the occasion:

Looks like a well made bobblehead.

[Mark70Z]

Day 82 (March 22, 2020 – 082)

Brooks has throughout his career as well as post career conducted signings in many different venues (I can’t count that high…). I have a few advertisements for these events and today we have a small poster type ad for an event sponsored by ScreenMates which is an apparel company. This signing occurred on January 22nd, but I’m not sure of the year since I didn’t personally attend and too lazy (I mean too busy) to try to find out.

MEET Brooks Robinson small poster ad

Day 82 a 1.jpg

[BaltOrioles]

Over the last week, the thread has highlighted the 1960 and 1962 Fox Cities teams. I thought I would fill in the gap today, with the 1961 Foxes.

1961 marked the last year that the Foxes played in the Class B Three-I League. The following year they would drop to Class D. They finished 67-62 and were again managed by Earl Weaver.

1961 Fox Cities Foxes.jpg


1961 Fox Cities Foxes 1.jpg

Several future Orioles would play for the Foxes, including Dave McNally, in his first year of pro ball. Others were Sam Bowens, John Miller, Herm Starrette and Dave Vineyard.

McNally, Dave 1.jpg

Bowens, Sam 1.jpg

Miller, John 1.jpg

Starrette, Herm 1.jpg

Vineyard, Dave 1.jpg

A couple others in the team photo included Jim Leggett and future Orioles trainer Ralph Salvon.

Liggett, Jim 1.jpg

Ralph Salvon with his mentor Eddie Weidner

Multi-Player (Weidner, Salvon).jpg

[roarfrom34]

Mark:

I took a peek at past calendars & noted that in 1993 January 22nd was on a Friday....Since Brooks is shown with Camden Yards in the background, it has to be post '92....Of course it could be '97, but I'd bet on 1993.

Here is a team photo of the 1963 Aberdeen (SD) Pheasants, which was a Class D team in the Northern League who finished 65-55.

The club was once again managed by Cal Ripken Sr. and other notables include both Eddie Watt & Andy Etchebarren (who had made his MLB debut the previous September):

[Mark70Z]

Originally Posted by BaltOrioles

Over the last week, the thread has highlighted the 1960 and 1962 Fox Cities teams. I thought I would fill in the gap today, with the 1961 Foxes.

1961 marked the last year that the Foxes played in the Class B Three-I League. The following year they would drop to Class D. They finished 67-62 and were again managed by Earl Weaver.

Several future Orioles would play for the Foxes, including Dave McNally, in his first year of pro ball.

The Foxes have some great looking programs and team photos. Are photos, with the minor league uniforms, hard to come by?

I’m a big fan of McNally.

[BaltOrioles]

Originally Posted by roarfrom34

Mark:

Here is a team photo/program from the 1962 Fox Cities club. That team now had Cal Ripken Sr. as a player/manager and included Eddie Watt. I love how someone colored in the program (dated inside as May 28th) cover....

Bill,

I love how I'm slowly converting you and Mark to minor league guys.

The 1962 Foxes moved from the Three-I League and Class B affiliation to the Midwest League and dropped to a Class D team. They finished 61-63 and along with Cal Ripken Sr and Eddie Watt featured another future Oriole. Tom Fisher appeared in 2 games for the 1967 Orioles.

Fisher, Tom 1.jpg

Fisher, Tom.jpg

Career minor leaguer, Steve Cosgrove, also pitched for the Foxes

Cosgrove, Steve 1.jpg

[Mark70Z]

Originally Posted by roarfrom34

Mark:

You're correct in that 1960 team photo the player on the top row on the right
was also photo shopped in.

Here is a team photo/program from the 1962 Fox Cities club. That team now had Cal Ripken Sr. as a player/manager and included Eddie Watt. I love how someone colored in the program (dated inside as May 28th) cover....

Awesome program! It has it all...

[Mark70Z]

Originally Posted by BaltOrioles

Mark,

As a 6 year old, 1964 was the first year I paid much interest to baseball. My dad loved baseball, but didn't cheer for any particular team. Growing up in Maine, I didn't realize I was supposed to be a Red Sox fan. I fell in love with the Orioles and Brooks Robinson. I don't remember really collecting anything until a couple years later when I discovered baseball cards.

Here are a few programs from that memorable 1964.

The regular season programs featured Brooks Robinson on one of the covers and I've always wondered if the batter silhouette on the other program isn't also Brooks. Looks like a shaved helmet to me.

Newspapers back then provided scorecards for their readers.

Several programs celebrated local business nights.

When a team is successful, they also attract the attention of local car dealers. Ford vs Chevy...

Thanks for a great background on your beginning of being an Orioles fan. Glad you didn’t go with the Red Sox.

Sure looks like a silhouette is of the same photo just reverse/inverted (you know what I mean). Gotta be Brooks (at least we’ll go with it).

Chevy wins!