Everybody seems to be doing a good job of facing back towards home plate except Frank Robinson and Curt Blefary, who we can see looking off to their right towards the 3rd base dugout.
According to the information on the back, the picture was taken in May, 1968.
I like to see that the team and the photographer were having some fun with the shoot. Since this photo is coming from The Sporting News archives, I wonder if it was ever actually published.
UPDATE:
Thanks to Commishbob ('59 Topps) and Dan (11th and Washington) for more details behind the photographer and the "Lets Get Behind The Birds" promotion from 1968 that utilized this photo (with a bit of airbrushing) as we discover in this article that appeared in the December 14, 1968 issue of The Sporting News (Thanks Dan!) (click to see a larger version).
Thanks to both of you for the great information behind this interesting photo!
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6 comments:
That's a Mort Tadder shot and was used in a team promotion called 'Get Behind The Orioles' IIRC. The pic was featured on billboards and maybe in other print media. I have copies of it as it was used in the O's yearbook and game programs.
Mort Tadder was the O's team photographer and took tons of shots. The O's sold 8x10 black and white portrait prints back in the day. I have loads of them in binders. This Charlie Lau shot is a typical example of the stuff they had available.
Here's one of mine...Elrod Hendricks
I googled some of his stuff and found things I'd never seen like this lot of Mantle and Maris candids he shot in Memorial Stadium.
Commishbob - thanks for the background on the photo and the info on Mort Tadder. I'd seen the name on some of the Orioles photos that you've referenced, but didn't realize he was the team photographer.
There's another story behind it -- from the time the photo was taken in May to when the "Get Behind the Bird" initiative was launched, some of the personnel had changed -- most notably the manager. Here's the full story.
Dan - Thanks for the great link to The Sporting News story about the photo and the changes that were made to the photo due to the personnel changes!
That answers my question about whether or not the photo ever appeared!
Dan - Did you get a copy of this article from "Paper of Record" or from another source? I would love to browse old copies of The Sporting News, and see that it is available from that site, but just wanted to see where you were able to find it.
Thanks again for the article!
Yes, I did get it from Paper of Record. I just searched for the photographer's last name, starting the search in May 1968. Only two results came up.
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