Baltimore Orioles (19th century)
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The Baltimore Orioles were a 19th century American Association and National League team from 1882 to 1899.
History
The team was founded in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association, which was then a major league. After several years of mediocrity, the team dropped out of the league in 1889, but re-joined in 1890 to replace a Brooklyn team which had dropped out. After the AA folded, they joined the National League in 1892 and played in the NL until the league dropped the team after the 1899 season.
Stars
The original Orioles were one of the most storied teams in the history of the game. Managed by Ned Hanlon, they won NL pennants in 1894, 1895 and 1896, and sported some of the most colorful players in history including John McGraw, Wee Willie Keeler, Hughie Jennings, Joe Kelley, Wilbert Robinson, and Dan Brouthers.
They were rough characters who practically invented "scientific" baseball, the form of baseball played before the home run became the norm in the 1920s. Like the style known today as "small ball", the Orioles featured tight pitching, hit and run tactics, stolen bases, and precise bunting. One such play, where the batter deliberately strikes the pitched ball downward onto the infield surface with sufficient force such that the ball rebounds skyward, allowing the batter to reach first base safely before the opposing team can field the ball, remains known as a Baltimore Chop.
Demise
After the 1898 season, Hanlon and most of the team's best players (though not McGraw or Robinson) jumped to the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Baltimore team folded after the 1899 season. Subsequent teams were placed in Baltimore in the American League and in the International League, but major league baseball would not return to Baltimore for good until a new Baltimore Orioles moved there in 1953.External links
- Excerpt from the book Where They Ain't - The Fabled Life And Untimely Death Of The Original Baltimore Orioles by Burt Solomon at [BaseballLibrary.com]
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