ORIOLES HISTORY

The Baltimore Orioles professional Major League baseball team has been very successful since their inception into the Minor western league as it was known back in 1893. In 1900 that league became the American League, which achieved Major League status in 1901. The Baltimore Orioles were formerly known as Milwaukee Brewers between 1894-1901, later they went by the name St Louis Browns between 1902 and 1953. The franchise moved to Baltimore at the end of the 1953 season and was renamed the Baltimore Orioles after the black-and-orange birds of that name. In July 1958, the team played its first ever All Star Game. The game attracted a crowd of 48,829. During his 17 seasons with the Orioles, Earl Sidney Weaver, a two-time American League manager of the year, became one of the most admired managers in American League history for his ability to develop players and build winning teams. In 1966 the team traded Milt Pappas and two others for Frank Robinson. Once Frank joined the team he helped the team defeat the favored L.A. Dodgers in the World Series with awe-inspiring pitching and timely power. One of the most popular players with the team included Cal Ripken Jr., who broke Lou Gehrig's consecutive games played streak and won two Most Valuable Player awards for Baltimore. The Baltimore Orioles Major League Baseball team are based in Baltimore, Maryland and play in the Eastern Division of the American League. The Orioles have won eight Division titles in, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1979, 1983, 1997. The orioles went ahead and captured seven American League Pennants in, 1944, 1966, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1979, 1983. The prized possession, the world series has been won thrice by the Baltimore Orioles in, 1966, 1970, and 1983. The Baltimore Orioles home ballpark is Oriole Park at Camden Yards which opened in 1992 and has a seating capacity of 48,262. The uniform colors for the Orioles jerseys are, Black and Orange. The logo design for the Baltimore Orioles is an oriole. The Baltimore Orioles have quite a number of players in the Baseball Hall Of Fame, they are George Kell, Eddie Murray, Jim Palmer, Branch Rickey, Earl Weaver, Frank Robinson, Brooks Robinson, Robin Roberts and Luis Aparicio. Carl Ripken, Jr. is expected to be inducted into the Hall Of Fame in 2007 on the first ballot. The following numbers have been retired by the Baltimore Orioles, #4 belonging to Earl Weaver, #8 worn by Cal Ripken, Jr, #5 belonging to Brooks Robinson, #20 worn by Frank Robinson, #22 belonging to Jim Palmer, #33 worn by Eddie Murray and lastly #42 a number which has been retired throughout baseball and was worn by Jackie Robinson. The Baltimore Orioles current stars are, Larry Bigbie, Eric Bedard, Dave Borkowski, Jay Gibbons, Javy Lopez, Miguel Tejada, Brian Roberts, Melvin Mora and David Newhan.