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| Baltimore Orioles | |
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| League titles | 10 (1908, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1944, 1950) |
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The city ofBaltimore, Maryland, has been home to twoMinor League Baseball teams called theBaltimore Orioles, in addition to the threeMajor League Baseball teams that have used the name (thefirst of which played in theAmerican Association in 1882 to 1891, then joined theNational League from 1892 to 1899, the second being theAmerican Leaguecharter franchise which played for two seasons in 1901 and 1902, and themodern AL team since April 1954.)
"Orioles" is a traditional name for baseball clubs in Baltimore, after thestate bird of Maryland, with the colors of black and orange/gold/yellow. It was used by major league teams representing the city from1882 through 1899 in the oldAmerican Association and the originalNational League two decades after its founding in 1876, and by acharter team franchise member of the newAmerican League from 1901 through 1902. The original American League franchise was replaced by a team in New York City in 1903 and eventually became known as theNew York Yankees.
In1903, an Oriole minor league team joined the Eastern League (renamed theInternational League in1911, and not to be confused with the present dayDouble-A level, minor leagueEastern League). This Orioles team stayed mediocre for the first few years of its existence, but after the arrival ofJack Dunn (1872–1928), as manager, it won the Eastern League pennant in1908. This E.L./I.L. Orioles team played at the old American League Park (a.k.a. Oriole Park) at the southwest corner of Greenmount Avenue and 29th Street in theWaverly neighborhood of northeast Baltimore.
The 1914 season featured the professional debut of local son,George Herman "Babe" Ruth, but competition from theBaltimore Terrapins of the newFederal League, which challenged the existing major league in status, with their more modern steel-beamed ballpark across the street, forced Dunn to sell Ruth (to theBoston Red Sox) later in the 1914 season and many of his other players, and eventually temporarily relocate the team toRichmond, Virginia, as theRichmond Climbers, for the 1915 and 1916 seasons.
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After the Federal League's demise, Dunn returned with an Orioles team in 1916. This team, later in the1919 I.L. Baseball Season won theInternational League pennant with 100 victories, the first team to win that many games and went on a championship spree, seldom seen in major or minor league baseball ever since. Featuring another futureHall-of-Famepitcher inLefty Grove, the Orioles improved on that in1920 by winning 110 games, including the last 25 of the season. In1921, the Orioles won 27 straight games (a record for consecutive victories by a minor league team that would stand until theSalt Lake City Trappers won 29 in1987). The Orioles won the League by 20 games over the second place team, and had a home record of 70 wins and 18 losses. Despite their impressive record, however, they lost the "Little World Series" to theAmerican Association's championLouisville Colonels, 4 games to 1. The Orioles actually led the fourth game, 12–4, but a riot broke out among the Louisville home crowd in the top of the 9th inning, and the game was forfeited to Baltimore, 9–0.[1] The I.L. Orioles continued to roll over International League opposition for several more seasons straight through to the1925 Baseball Season.
The team entered theGovernors' Cup playoffs in the International circuit in 1936, 1937, and 1940, but did not win another pennant until the "war year" of1944. The team was leading the League on July 4 of that year, when their home wooden and steel beamed stadium,Oriole Park (formerlyTerrapin Park of 1914), burned down. Even after relocating several blocks northwest to the old 1922 football bowl ofMunicipal Stadium on 33rd Street Boulevard (also known as "Baltimore Stadium"), the team seemed to have a hard time recovering from that loss, playing lackluster ball through the rest of the season and losing their last game, only to strangely "back into the championship" when the second place team, theNewark Bears, also lost their recent games. The Orioles, under managerAlphonse "Tommy" Thomas, went on to win the "Junior World Series" that year, four games to two, againstLouisville. Six years later, with the shackles of war-time baseball cast off, in 1950, under managerNick Cullop, Baltimore won the league championship again, only to lose the "Junior World Series" to theColumbus Red Birds of Ohio, four games to one. In 2001, the Orioles teams of 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, and 1924 were recognized as being among the100 greatest minor league teams of all time.[2]
After the1953 season, theSt. Louis Browns moved to Baltimore and took the name of the Baltimore Orioles. The last minor league/International League Orioles team (of 1916–1953) re-located to Richmond (coincidentally just as had the earlier Orioles team in 1914), this time as theRichmond Virginians from 1954 to 1964, later relocating as today'sToledo Mud Hens franchise in northwest Ohio since 1965.
The Orioles won theGovernors' Cup, the championship of the International League 2 times, and played in theLittle World Series 5 times.
