A little while back, I began running a series in which reader Brad Bierman, who has collected, mounted and framed every (or almost every) patch worn by every Major League franchise, has been periodically showing them off. (Click here to see the Athletics, Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants, Minnesota Twins, and New York Mets. Also multiple-team patches for MLB and the NFL).
Brad returns today with a look at the patch history of the Baltimore Orioles.
Baltimore Orioles Patches
by Brad Bierman
Welcome to the latest installment of reviewing my MLB team patch collection. It is an American League team in rotation this week, and minus the ad patch the team wears, I am happy to present a look at the history of the very colorful Baltimore Orioles commemorative patches, and some more respectful memorial patches.
One patch trend that has always jumped out to me is that the Orioles celebrated a lot of “Anniversaries,” and they have also had a menagerie of “Birds.”
Whether it was for the franchise and its world series championships, the great Camden Yards ballpark, or Cal Ripken Jr., there are many such anniversary patches over the years, and there has been the “Shoulder Patch Bird” (1955-1962), the “Walsh (Cartoon) Bird” (1966-1989, 2012-present), the Ornithologically Correct Bird (1989-1997) and even a “Baby Bird” (2002-03) among the team’s standard and commemorative jersey patches.
One of those Uni Watch-centric details that I noticed: Those birds, interestingly, had different colored tongues depending on the designer, and the seasons in which they appeared on the uniform.
One of those Baltimore anniversary patches is among my all-time favorites of any team, and I welcome your thoughts when we get to that patch on the list of 23 O’s patches.
Baltimore Orioles Patch Overview:
1964
Baltimore was one of only five teams to wear a commemorative patch in the 1960s (excluding the 1969 100th Anniversary patch). The Orioles joined the Mets (1964-65 World’s Fair), Cubs and White Sox (1968 Illinois Sesquicentennial), and Padres (1969 San Diego 200th Anniversary), by donning this patch in the ’64 season to honor the 250th birthday celebration of our National Anthem. A Maryland native, lawyer Frances Scott Key authored the poem “Defence of Fort McHenry” in 1814, after witnessing the British attack of Baltimore’s Fort McHenry (detailed in the patriotic patch). The poem produced the lyrics to the “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
1984
I cherish original 1980s patches like this one because they simply do not embroider patches like this anymore. Coming off a World Series title in 1983 coincidentally tied into the team’s 30th anniversary, the team capped off three championships in 18 seasons. The “Walsh Bird” was named after illustrious designer Stan Walsh, who worked at Disney and ad agencies creating such icons as Snap, Crackle & Pop for Kellogg’s Rice Krispies cereal. Walsh re-designed the Bird in 1966, with the team going on to sweep the Dodgers for its first title, setting off “A Tradition of Excellence.”
1991
Memorial Stadium was a great old-school, neighborhood ballpark during its heyday of the 1960s-70s, situated on an oversized city block along 33rd Street several miles north of the Inner Harbor. For its 38th and final season the team was set to wear this “A Season to Remember” patch on the left sleeve for all home games. But after dropping its first two home games of the season to the White Sox by 9-1 and 2-0 scores on April 8 and 10, the team thought the patch brought with it a superstitious jinx, so when the Birds returned home to face the Rangers on April 19, the patch was gone for good. Also of note, the team did not wear an inaugural season patch for Camden Yards in 1992.
1993
The star-shaped All Star Game patch was simple and to the point for the host team. This patch was manufactured by the R.J. Liebe Athletic Lettering Co. (Chesterfield, Mo.) in 1993, one of several companies that have had the license from Major League Baseball to produce the official on-field patches. The current licensee is Emblem Source (Addison, Tex.).
1997
The City of Baltimore celebrated its 200th Birthday in 1997 with a theme “Baltimore 200 – America’s City of Firsts.” The Orioles donned the celebratory “200” patch in all three jersey colors – white, gray, black, so the patch would blend in and showcase the logo on whichever jersey was worn.
1999
On March 28, 1999, the Orioles became the first major league team to play a game in Cuba in 40 years (Dodgers-Reds exhibition games in 1959), as the team defeated the Cuban National team 3-2 in an exhibition game in Havana. The back-end of the home and home series occurred May 3, 1999 at Camden Yards, and Baltimore wore these contrasting colors on a patch on the right sleeve of their home jerseys in a 12-6 loss.
2001
For the final two games of his legendary career, the Orioles wore this Cal Ripken Jr. retirement patch on the right sleeve of both their black and white jerseys in games against the Red Sox October 5-6, 2001. This is the official patch with an orange border around the black numbers in the years listed and the script “Orioles” and black trim around the orange number, as opposed to the all-black numbers and no trim color in the widely circulated “Catch a Legend” version of the patch, which was packaged with anti-allergy medicine Claritin in a 2001 promotion. Notice the comma in the name?
2002
On the one-year anniversary (9/11/2002) of the 9/11 attacks in a game against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium, the O’s wore this Pentagon Memorial patch to honor the 189 people who died when American Airlines Flight 77 was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon killing all 64 people on board and 125 people in the building.
2004
After adopting an ornithologically correct bird logo in 1989, a radical move at the time, the team slightly tweaked the bird for the ’04 season to be a “more lifelike interpretation of the actual live Oriole bird,” and was appropriately named the “Lifelike Bird,” according to the team’s website. This version was used in the 50th Anniversary patch which was also produced in gray and black for those jersey colors.
2005
Here is one of those “Anniversary” patches I alluded to up top. For games September 5-7, 2005 against the Blue Jays, the team wore this patch to acknowledge the consecutive games streak set by Ripken 10 years earlier, putting the numbers “2131” up on the warehouse on Sept. 6 as in 1995.
2008
This is a beautiful patch with the “Walsh Bird” that was only issued by the team to members of the 1983 World Series championship squad honoring its 25th Anniversary. The patch was sewn on the commemorative jerseys the returning members of the team wore during a pre-game ceremony on July 23, 2008.
2010
Did we mention this is a team that likes to remember its past successes? The “Cartoon Bird” (1966-1989) made a return appearance on this patch worn in a game against the Nationals on June 26, 2010 as the team donned 1970 throwback uniforms to honor the World Series champions of that season.
2012
Oriole Park at Camden Yards was such a hit when it opened in 1992, that ticket prices from what used to be known as scalpers, not the “secondary market,” resembled a mortgage payment. Heck, I could not get into the ballpark for a reasonable price until invited into a suite by a local business client in 1994. Twenty years after it opened, the team wore this patch on the right sleeve of all three jerseys.
2013
True story that I think of sometimes when I see this 2013 team patch: In 1979 just out of college, I was working in Miami for the minor league Miami Orioles, Baltimore’s then-Class A affiliate in the Florida State League (Cal Ripken Jr. was on that team), and the Miami Amigos of the short-lived Class AAA level Inter-American league. Davey Johnson was the Amigos manager, and he was staying at Earl Weaver’s house on a golf course in Miami Lakes with Weaver away managing in Baltimore. One day with the Amigos heading on a road trip, and as the low man in the small front office, I was tasked with going to Weaver’s house to get the keys inside and return Johnson’s rental car to the airport. It was eerie being alone inside Earl Weaver’s house, even for one minute.
2014
The team’s 60th Anniversary patch showcases the three World Series wins in gold stars, and two versions of the bird mascot – 1954’s “Lead-Off Bird” and 2014’s “New Cartoon Bird.” It was worn on the right sleeve of all four jerseys.
2016
Here it is! This is one of my all-time favorite team patches of any team. The gorgeous “Peacock Bird” in all its glorious splendor, “strutting his stuff by adding a cape and crown to his plumage,” as described by the team dating to the mascot’s 1967 origin after the Birds four game sweep of the Dodgers in the ’66 series. This was worn on the right sleeve of the gray road jersey for games July 5-6 at Dodger Stadium (Ouch!), and on the left sleeve of beautiful 1966 throwback unis in a home game against the Angels July 8, 2016. What do you think?
2017
Five seasons later, a more subdued version of saying “Happy Anniversary” to Camden Yards for its 25th celebration patch, than for the larger 20th Anniversary version. One commonality, the park’s signature brick featured in each patch.
2019
I had the pleasure of being introduced to Frank Robinson by family friend Rocky Colavito, who sadly passed away last December. This was in May 1976 when Rocky Sr. (I am longtime friends with his son Rocky Jr.) was the Indians first base coach in Robinson’s second season as the team’s skipper, a year after breaking the MLB managerial color barrier in April, 1975. The Orioles (and Reds and Indians) honored Hall of Famer Robinson with a No. 20 memorial patch worn on the right sleeve of jerseys during the 2019 season.
2020
On the 25th anniversary of Cal Ripken Jr. setting baseball’s consecutive games played record, the team continued its trend of celebrating the incredible achievement on major anniversaries by wearing this smaller-sized patch, again with Ripken’s ubiquitous signature (he never refused an autograph) and the number “2131.” And, guess what? The team has a circa-2025 co-promotion upcoming in a few weeks for the 30th Anniversary of the Ripken record, with a major global entertainment company. We also may have been provided a sneak peak at a potential patch to be worn on June 28.
2022
With just a little orange trim, this understated, large-sized Camden Yards 30th Anniversary patch again features plenty of brick. Will there be a 35th Anniversary patch in 2027?
2023
Nothing to dislike about this beauty. As with the 2016 patch, I like the use of a crowned “Walsh Bird” joined by the “Cartoon Bird” for this patch worn on the right sleeve of the home jersey for only one game – August 5, 2023 against the Mets. Members of the 1983 O’s championship team were honored in a pregame ceremony celebrating their 40th Anniversary.
2023
The day after the death of all-time Orioles great Brooks Robinson on September 26, 2023, the Birds wore an orange number 5 on the right sleeve of their black jerseys for a home game against the Nationals on September 27. The next day, September 28 through the rest of the regular season and postseason play, the team wore the black circular No. 5 patch in memory of the Hall of Fame third baseman.
Other patches the Orioles have worn in the regular season:
• 1988 – The letters “EBW” as a jersey sleeve memorial for owner Edward Bennett Williams, who died August 13, 1988.
• 1999 – Two versions of the No. 7 as a jersey sleeve memorial worn all season for former Birds coach and manager Cal Ripken Sr. who died March 25, 1999.
• 2006 – The numbers “44” as a jersey sleeve memorial worn all season for former Orioles catcher Elrod Hendricks who died December 21, 2005.
• 2011 – A black circular “FLANNY” memorial patch for former Baltimore pitcher Mike Flanagan who died August 24, 2011. The patch was worn August 26-end of the season.
• 2014 – After celebrity author and team minority owner Tom Clancy died in October 2013, the Orioles honored him the following ’14 season by wearing a small “TOM CLANCY” patch below the 60th Anniversary patch on the right sleeve of all jerseys, color-coordinated by jersey. In all, there were eight versions of the patch in two styles.
Hope you enjoyed a look at the Orioles patches.
Awesome stuff, and thanks for sharing. As with the Mets, that’s a LOT of patches!
And here is the full framed set for the Orioles:
Awesome collection! Sorry if I missed the part where he described how he obtained them all.
That 50th anniv patch is REGAL!
REGAL!
Thanks, Shawn. I have developed many sources over the years including official licensees, team equipment managers, longtime respected collectors, friends/professional colleagues, and, of course, online.
Definitely time consuming keeping up with the current (and future) patches, and spending time looking for the one’s that I have yet to acquire to fill in the collection from the past.
Enjoyed your O’s collection. Agree with you on the craftsmanship that on older patches. It is much more pleasing to the eyes.
Thanks, Rick. Yes, technology today is light years ahead to produce patches, making it unique to see the craftsmanship and embroidery of older patches, pre-1990.
Wow, the Orioles really have put on a lot of great patches. I love them all plus yout great stories about them. Just wonderful to read and to look at these little gems. The 50th WS win patch of 2016 with the Walsh bird in mantle and crown is indeed the very best one.