Brooks Robinson and the Baltimore Orioles

[roarfrom34]

After a disastrous 1988 season there were a lot of new faces in Orioles camp the following spring & among those faces were two african american right handed pitchers by the identical name of Mike Smith. One hailed from Jackson, MS and the other from San Antonio, TX.

For identification purposes in Spring Training one was referred to as simply Mississippi Mike and the other as Texas Mike. To help aid the ID process, the Orioles placed a silhouette of their home state on the back of their jerseys.

Neither pitcher made the club out of ST and were both sent to AAA Rochester. Mississippi Mike was eventually dealt to Pittsburgh in June and Texas Mike did get recalled from the Orioles the same month and pitched in 13 games.

At Fan Fest in January 1990, Texas Mike was in attendance and while he was by that the time the only player in their system by that name, I did ask him if he would add the "Texas" moniker & while he didn't appear to be too thrilled about it, he did oblige.

I was able to obtain Texas Mike Smith's '89 ST jersey recently and I thought most people here would like to see how unique it was (now I need to find Mississippi Mike's lol):

[ksfarmboy]

Wow that’s cool Bill, never heard that story. Will keep my eyes open for you on that other jersey.

[Chstrite]

piece of “art” from the stadium.
Day 36 – 5 February 2024
Today’s sign is one of my favorites and took a while to get it hung given its size. The Concession Directory is made of plastic and measures 48 inches by 23 inches. The vendor at Memorial Stadium providing the different services provided this sign around the stadium as a map for the different concessions and stadium services. The vendor at the time is ARA. I believe this sign is from the late 1980s and early 1990s, but can’t tell exactly. My research is incomplete. The sign shows upper and lower deck concessionaires (hot dogs, popcorn, crabcakes, nachos, fries, burgers, pizza, yogurt, and pretzels. Interestingly, I do not see any booze being sold (where is Naty Boh sold?). A few stickers are on the sign covering up old vendors saying “Beers of the World.” I have included a small area of the sign with stickers advertising the Gift Shop, Beers of the World, and Memorial Stadium Memories (anyone remember what Memorial Stadium Memories included?). The sign has great detail of the stadium sections and gates. At the bottom, you can find a directory for all the different services (first aide, tickets, security, playground {I don’t remember a playground}, fan assistance but no cell phone charging stations).

[Mark70Z]

Originally Posted by Chstrite

piece of “art” from the stadium.
Day 36 – 5 February 2024
Today’s sign is one of my favorites and took a while to get it hung given its size. The Concession Directory is made of plastic and measures 48 inches by 23 inches. The vendor at Memorial Stadium providing the different services provided this sign around the stadium as a map for the different concessions and stadium services. The vendor at the time is ARA. I believe this sign is from the late 1980s and early 1990s, but can’t tell exactly. My research is incomplete. The sign shows upper and lower deck concessionaires (hot dogs, popcorn, crabcakes, nachos, fries, burgers, pizza, yogurt, and pretzels. Interestingly, I do not see any booze being sold (where is Naty Boh sold?). A few stickers are on the sign covering up old vendors saying “Beers of the World.” I have included a small area of the sign with stickers advertising the Gift Shop, Beers of the World, and Memorial Stadium Memories (anyone remember what Memorial Stadium Memories included?). The sign has great detail of the stadium sections and gates. At the bottom, you can find a directory for all the different services (first aide, tickets, security, playground {I don’t remember a playground}, fan assistance but no cell phone charging stations).

Very LARGE and COOL Memorial Stadium sign. Thanks for sharing your collection...

[ksfarmboy]

I really like that directory sign Charles. Thanks for sharing!

[Chstrite]

Day 37 – 6 February 2024
My next sign celebrates the 1966 WS sweep / championship of the Baltimore Orioles. It features the iconic “Air Brooks” celebrating with McNally and Etch as they won their first championship in 1966. This sign marks the 20th anniversary of the Orioles first WS championship. At the top, it says “Spirit of 1966” and describes a celebration all week starting on July 13th about Oriole Magic. The sign is orange, cardboard and measures 17 inches by 11 inches.

[Mark70Z]

Originally Posted by Chstrite

Day 37 – 6 February 2024
My next sign celebrates the 1966 WS sweep / championship of the Baltimore Orioles. It features the iconic “Air Brooks” celebrating with McNally and Etch as they won their first championship in 1966. This sign marks the 20th anniversary of the Orioles first WS championship. At the top, it says “Spirit of 1966” and describes a celebration all week starting on July 13th about Oriole Magic. The sign is orange, cardboard and measures 17 inches by 11 inches.

That’s a newspaper header, correct? It’s one of the nicer signs I’ve seen. Been looking for this example and the one with Brooks headshot only pictured for quite some time now.

[Mark70Z]

Originally Posted by roarfrom34

At Fan Fest in January 1990, Texas Mike was in attendance and while he was by that the time the only player in their system by that name, I did ask him if he would add the "Texas" moniker & while he didn't appear to be too thrilled about it, he did oblige.

I was able to obtain Texas Mike Smith's '89 ST jersey recently and I thought most people here would like to see how unique it was (now I need to find Mississippi Mike's lol):

Great piece Bill and thanks for the background since I didn't recall the monikers for these two players.