Near the entrance of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, you can grab a little cheat sheet (see picture above) telling you where to find all the exhibits and artifacts relevant to your favorite team. The folks in Cooperstown know that while many of their visitors come out of a broad love of the national pastime and its history, the majority of us are shameless homers. In that spirit of homerism, I have curated all of the Orioles-specific pictures from that day into this one post. (If you are a fan of another team, especially an American League East rival, you might want to skip this one.)
Fun fact: The team now known as the Baltimore Orioles is an original American League franchise. They started in 1901 as the Milwaukee Brewers, then moved to St. Louis where they spent a half-century as the Browns before relocating to Baltimore in 1954. I gotta say — that elf on the St. Louis banner looks a bit like the one that the Cleveland Browns use now.Who’s on first? Statistically, the best answer to that question would be Eddie Murray, the all-time MLB leader in games played at first base. He was also my favorite player when I was growing up. Speaking of Eddie Murray, here’s his bat (left) along with those belonging to Hank Aaron and Willie Mays. Pretty good company.Rick Dempsey’s cap.Dempsey was also a favorite of mine back in the day.A World Series ring from the team’s last championship in 1983. That was a long, long time ago.A display marking Cal Ripken’s consecutive games streak next to Lou Gehrig’s uniform.The famous/infamous Braille jersey that the Orioles wore in 2018. The jersey was worn to honor the Baltimore-based National Federation of the Blind. Some online wags mocked the jerseys for the fact that the Braille lettering wasn’t actually tactile. I wonder if the same people are also mad that the bird logo on the cap isn’t made out of feathers.Bobby Grich’s career as an Oriole was a little bit before my time. I remember him more as a California Angel. He had a great 1970s ballplayer ‘stache and “Bobby Grich” is just the perfect name for a scrappy second baseman.Bobbleheads aren’t my thing, but if I could get my hands on that one of the Oriole Bird holding a can of Old Bay, I’d absolutely buy it.
And now for the plaques…
Harold Baines had his best years with the White Sox, but he did play a few seasons with the Orioles and he’s a Maryland native to boot, so I’m including him in this post.Fanboy and fangirl.
Brownie seems to be a polarizing figure. People love him or hate him. Personally, I’m all for offbeat mascots and characters like Brownie, the Padres’ friar, Otto the Orange, et. al. Sports are best when they are a little eccentric.
Researcher. Marketer. Teacher. Father of adult children and dogs. 20th Century holdover. Central New York native. Long-suffering Buffalo Bills fan. History nerd. Traveler. Vintage advertising enthusiast. Hat wearer.
a.k.a. V.J. 
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