Orioles jersey question

[RickV]

Was perusing Ebay auctions and came across this oddity:

It's a Bowman 1955 baseball card. Did the AL Orioles ever wear such a jersey? I know the minor league Baltimore Orioles did, but have never seen a ML Orioles team jersey such as this one, not even in Okkonen's book.

[Audiodrama]

Hmm...well, if they did, talk about rippin off the Cards...

[leopard88]

Not to my knowledge. If I recall correctly (without checking Dressed to the Nines), the 1954 and 1955 Orioles were jerseys with black script and no birds-on-the-bat.

[Gothamite]

I don't know about ripping off the Cards (which one came first?) but I really like it. Those proud little orioles, sitting upright with heads held high.

In the mid-20th century there were many teams who perched their mascot on a bat:

It wasn't just birds, either:

[sj32]

When the Orioles were a minor league team, they did have some jerseys with the birds on a bat, but when the St. Louis Browns were transferred to Baltimore in 1954, the jerseys had just the script "Orioles" in black outlined in orange on the front.

[Gothamite]

You're right. As far as I know, the AL Orioles never wore birds on their chest.

Who was the top farm club of the Browns before they moved? Was it Baltimore? Dick Kryhoski came up to the Yanks in '49. Maybe he played for the minor league Orioles at one point?

This seems kind of elaborate to have been a Spring Training- only jersey, like the 1969 Pilots wore.

[bdugan14]

Baseball cards of the 1950s are notorious for "photoshopping" uniforms or cap logos. For instance, check out the Dodgers and Giants cards of 1958/59.

So it's also possible that the card company lifted the logo from the minor league jersey and pasted/painted it onto the photo used for the card.

[bulldogbarks55]

Two scenarios- First, the logo was applied over an airbrushed jersey (which it looks like). Or, if it is a real jersey, it could be the International League Orioles final set from 1953. This could have happened. I know that during their first year the Buffalo Sabres used the AHL Bisons "bottle cap" jerseys for practice. And why not, the Sabres first trainer/equipment manager was Frank Christie who had worked for the Bisons since the 1940s. He had access to all the Bisons equipment and used it when needed.