Orioles All Orange Uniform Finally Appears on a Topps Card!

46 years after the Orioles first wore them, Topps has finally created a card showing the all orange uniform that was worn briefly in 1971 and 1972:

The 2017 Topps Stadium Club card of Brooks Robinson shows him in the all orange uniform.  Here is a look at the uncropped photo:

 

Here are the other photos that were taken that day: 

 

 

 

Its great to finally see the all orange uniform make an appearance on a Topps card.  

Topps - great work showing this rarely seen uniform.  If you are reading this, please consider using this photo for one of your next Brooks Robinson cards so that we can also have a card showing the 1968 - 1969 Orioles vests:

 

New Photos of the 1971-1972 Orioles All Orange Uniforms

A couple of new pictures have turned up showing the rarely seen all orange alternative uniforms the Orioles briefly wore  in 1971 and 1972.

First we have Brooks Robinson

whose sporting goods company supplied the uniforms:




And we have 2 shots of Merv Rettenmund:

I believe these shots are from the April 22, 1972 game in Cleveland.  Hopefully a few more color pictures will surface from this game.  We have shots of almost the entire lineup from this game, but unfortunately most of the shots are in B&W.  

More Rarely Seen 1968 - 1969 Baltimore Orioles Vests

I've recently come across some more pictures of the Orioles in their rarely seen vests which they wore occasionally during the 1968 and 1969 seasons.

The first set of pictures are from May 21, 1969 when the Orioles played the Twins at Memorial Stadium:

We can see from the scoreboard that the Orioles won 4-3 as Davey Johnson, Boog Powell, Pete Richert, and Andy Etchebarren are walking off the field.

Here is a shot of Davey Johnson running to first as Harmon Killebrew is waiting for the throw:

 And here is Paul Blair trying to lay down a bunt:

The second set of pictures was taken a few days later when the Orioles played the A's on May 24, 1969, in which both teams were wearing vests:

We have a nice shot of the back of Brooks Robinson's jersey as Dick Green is about to be tagged out at 3rd.

We get to see Earl Weaver wearing the vest while discussing a call with the ump:

While I've posted this picture of Mike Cuellar before, it is from the same game which the Orioles went on to win 2 to 1 as seen on the scoreboard as he is wrapping up his complete game (which only took 1 hour and 49 minutes!):

All of these pictures were taken by the great photographer Neil Leifer and can be found on Getty Images.

Finally, here are 2 other pictures for which I don't have a date, but which show Davey Johnson:

If you are interested in seeing other pictures of the Orioles wearing the vests, please see my previous post.

How I would love to see the Orioles bring back this look for one of their alternate jerseys next season.

New Color Photo of the 1969 Orioles Vest

I came across this fantastic picture of Mike Cuellar pitching in the rarely seen 1968 -1969 Orioles vest:

According to the Getty Images photo credits, this picture was taken by famed Sports Illustrated photographer Neil Leifer on May 24, 1969.

With the scoreboard in the background, we can confirm that this picture was taken on that date as according to Baseball-Reference.com, the Orioles faced the Oakland A's, and won 2-1 as Mike Cuellar battled Catfish Hunter.

Thanks to this picture, we now at least we have one confirmed date when the vests were worn.

I love that this picture captures the old Memorial Stadium scoreboard in the background along with the great shot of Cuellar pitching.  I had originally thought that the picture showed Dave Johnson at 2nd, but according to Baseball-Reference, Johnson started the game, but was replaced by Bobby Floyd in the top of the 3rd.

Reggie Jackson in the All Green A's Uniform

I came across this shot of Reggie Jackson in the rarely used green jersey & green pants combination worn by the Oakland A's:

The photo credit indicates the picture was taken on June 6, 1973 (http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/oakland-athletics-reggie-jackson-in-action-at-bat-vs-news-photo/108898985)

While SI did not use the Reggie Jackson photo, two pictures from that day were included in a Sports Illustrated article in the June 18, 1973 issue:

Here is an uncropped shot of the Gene Tennace photo which better shows the green pants

and here is a shot of Ray Fosse that was not previously published:

According to Dressed to the Nines, 1973 was the only year they wore this combination:

Along with the Orioles all orange uniforms

and the Indians all red combination

the 1970's provided some very memorable monochrome combinations that we rarely ever see today.  Love them or hate them, they definitely stand out.

More Pictures of the 1971 - 1972 Orioles All Orange Uniforms

Thanks to Ron, we've got 2 more pictures from the Baltimore Sun archives to add to the collection of the All Orange Orioles uniform worn at the end of 1971 and the beginning of 1972.

We've now got a picture of Bobby Grich


as well as an individual shot of Dave NcNally in the all orange uniforms:


According to Ron, these pictures are from the 2nd game of a double header against the Red Sox at Memorial Stadium on September 28, 1971.

Thanks Ron for passing along these 2 pictures, and for helping identify another game where these were worn!

Also, I recently come across this picture of Don Buford that I have been meaning to post:


And finally, here are better shots of the pictures of Jim Palmer and Boog Powell which originally appeared in The Sporting News that I had previously posted:




These last 3 pictures are all from April 22, 1972 in Cleveland.

Since these uniforms only made a few appearances, its always great to have new photos surface. Here's hoping there are a few more of these pictures still to be found in the Baltimore Sun archives!

Two More Orioles Spotted in the 1968-1969 Vests

I recently came across two pictures of the 1968 - 1969 Orioles vest with players I had not previously seen in this rare uniform - Boog Powell and Eddie Watt:




I've been able to find pictures of many of the Orioles from 1968 - 1969 in this alternate jersey, including Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Mike Cuellar, Paul Blair, Mark Belanger, Dave Johnson, and Elrod Hendricks. Adding Boog Powell to the list now leaves me with Jim Palmer, Dave McNally, and Earl Weaver as the last big Oriole names still to find.

Fortunately new pictures keep coming up for auction from The Baltimore Sun archives, so I'm hopeful that I can track down the remaining Orioles to have pictures of the entire starting lineup as well as the main starters from the pitching staff in this great looking uniform.

More Rare Orioles Uniform Pictures with Help From The Baltimore Sun Archives

Following up last month's posts on the Orioles all orange and vest uniforms, I've come across a few more pictures to add to the collection:


Here we have an odd picture of Brooks Robinson, Paul Blair, and a young girl's head on Andy Etchebarren's body. The picture comes from this blog where the young girl in the photo shares some of her other pictures taken with various Orioles players. Apparently this was a cardboard cutout for fans to have their picture taken as an Oriole at one of the annual Bethlehem Steel Family Nights that used to be held at Memorial Stadium. Its interesting that the cutout that was used for taking pictures was a uniform that the team rarely wore.

Turning to the all orange uniforms, we can add Earl Weaver to the list of Orioles that were photographed in the rarely seen uniform:


Here is the back of the photo, which shows it was taken from the same game as the Brooks Robinson photo that I previously found:


Here is another shot of Earl from the same game after finishing the argument pictured above:



Also from that game, we have Frank Robinson hitting home run # 501 and being congratulated by Brooks Robinson:


Here is an article on what the player's thought about the uniforms from the night they debuted:


Its interesting to note that apparently Boog Powell skipped infield practice and Frank Robinson also stayed out of sight after putting on the uniforms. By far the best quote is from Chico Salmon: "I like 'em...It brings out the blackness in me".


The last line of the article mentions that Brooks Robinson's Sporting Goods store filled the order for the uniforms. Here is a picture of Brooks looking at warehouse space for his company:



And finally, the all orange uniforms are making an appearance on TV this week. The MLB Network is airing a show called MLB Network Countdown - Top 40 Memorable Uniforms, and the Orioles all orange uniforms made the list. The hour long show is a fun look back at some of the classic and memorable uniforms from the past. It is airing a few more times this week, so I highly recommend the show if you get the MLB Network.

The Rarely Seen 1968 - 1969 Baltimore Orioles Vests

After MP34 recently pointed me to Getty Images to find some more pictures of the Orioles all orange uniforms, I came across this amazing picture:


This is the first picture I'd ever seen of Brooks Robinson in the rarely seen 1968-1969 Orioles vest. In fact, after seeing this, I realized I have not seen very many photos of this uniform which was only worn a few times and then retired.

Once I came across this picture, the search was on for more pictures of the Orioles vests. I found pictures from an auction of a Brooks Robinson vest


as well as a Curt Motton jersey:


I also asked Paul Lukas from Uni Watch if he had any pictures, and he put the word out to Rick Pearson who provided these shots (thanks Ricko!):



Since the caption under the Paul Blair photo looks like it was from Sports Illustrated, I checked out the SI Vault, and searched the 1968 - 1969 issues and found an additional shot of Brooks


as well as this great SI subscription ad featuring Brooks and Elrod Hendricks:


I was only able to find one other picture of the vest on Getty Images:


Since I have the 1969 Orioles ALCS and World Series programs, I checked those as well, and was able to come up with a few more pictures, including this shot of Frank Robinson:


another shot of Brooks:

a nice series of shots of Dave Johnson and Mark Belanger:


another shot of Dave Johnson:


and another shot of Paul Blair:


I really like the look of these vests, and would enjoy seeing the Orioles bring them back as an alternate. I'm not sure why the Orioles discontinued the vests, but I could have sworn that I read at one point years ago that the pitchers didn't like them so they stopped wearing them. Don't quote me on that, but I seem to remember reading that somewhere.

I'd like to say thanks to MP34 for directing me to Getty Images where I found the Brooks picture that started this search as well as the help from Paul Lukas and Rick Pearson that led me to check out the SI archives and find a few extra shots.

If anyone has any other shots of the Orioles in their vests from 1968-1969, please let me know, and I'll add them to this pictorial collection.

UPDATE: 2/2011

I came across another picture of the vests in which something doesn't look quite right:


This is picture of Brooks Robinson, Paul Blair, and a young girl's head on Andy Etchebarren's body. The picture comes from this blog where the young girl in the photo shares some of her other pictures taken with various Orioles players.

Apparently this was a cardboard cutout for fans to have their picture taken as an Oriole at one of the annual Bethlehem Steel Family Nights that used to be held at Memorial Stadium. Its interesting that the cutout that was used for taking pictures was a uniform that the team rarely wore.

UPDATE: 6/2011

Two more additions to the collection:

Boog Powell:


Eddie Watt:



 

UPDATE: 5/2012

Another addition to the collection:

What a great shot of Mike Cuellar with the original Memorial Stadium scoreboard in the background on May 24, 1969.

UPDATE: 7/2016

These pictures are from May 21, 1969 against the Twins:

These pictures are from a few days later against the A's on May 24, 1969:

And here are a few shots of Davey Johnson: