Brooks Robinson and the Baltimore Orioles

[BaltOrioles]

Happy 4th of July to everyone.

The Appalachian League is a short season rookie league that for over 50 years included an Orioles affiliate in Bluefield, West Virginia. In 1976, the Orioles also provided players to the Pulaski Phillies. The Phillies were located in Pulaski, Virginia and a co-op team between the Philadelphia Phillies and Orioles.

The 1976 Bluefield Orioles finished 42-28. The roster included a few future O's, but none that made big contributions. Kevin Kennedy, Mark Corey and Dallas Williams.

The Phillies didn't fare as well ending up 32-38. The Orioles provided 13 players to the team, but the only player I recognized was Jesus Alfaro, who played in the Orioles organization a few years and ended up being a coach for the Bluefield Orioles and Aberdeen Ironbirds in the middle 2000's. The Phillies did have a nice 4th of July themed program.

1982 Heroes Charlotte O's #2 - Copy.jpg


1976 Pulaski Phillies and Bluefield Orioles programs

1976 Pulaski Phillies - Copy.jpg 1976 Bluefield Orioles - Copy.jpg

[roarfrom34]

Brian Roberts signed/inscribed locker nameplate from July 4th 2004:



Happy 4th everyone!

[ksfarmboy]

Happy 4Th everyone! Keep all the goodies coming. Love the bat Mark and the jersey Bill.

[Mark70Z]

Day 187 (July 5, 2020 – 187)

1974 Topps Stamps

Day 187 b 1974 Stamps.jpg

1974 Topps Stamps Vault photo

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1974 Topps Stamp Album

Day 187 c 1974 Stamp Album.jpg
Day 187 d 1974 Stamp Album back.jpg

[Mark70Z]

Originally Posted by ksfarmboy

Happy 4Th everyone! Keep all the goodies coming. Love the bat Mark and the jersey Bill.

Thanks Clint. Hope you had a great 4th!

[BaltOrioles]

Most of you probably know that as Brooks Robinson was nearing the end of his playing career in 1977, the Orioles featured him on the cover of one of their programs that year. Some may not know that the program has two variations, the regular cover and one that was used Sept 18th for Thanks Brooks Day.

1977 Program #3.jpg

1977 Program #4.jpg

A "Gee Thanks Brooks" poster, reprinted from the iconic Norman Rockwell painting, was passed out to fans as part of the game on the 18th.

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FYI, the other two regular seasons programs from 1977 featured Lee May and Mark Belanger

1977 Program #1.jpg

1977 Program #2.jpg

[Mark70Z]

Day 188 (July 6, 2020 – 188)

Today I’m picturing a 1997 Topps contract accepted and agreed to by Brooks Robinson. Brooks was agreeing to autograph 1,000 reprints of his Topps Rookie card and of course allowing Topps to pretty much use the cards any way they please.

Day 188 a.jpg

[BaltOrioles]

In 1955, Robert Gould Company issued a set of All-Star statues. The company was located in New York, but I don't know much more about them. The series contained 28 player statues. The statues were made of hard white plastic. They measure up to 3 1/2" tall. They come with round bases and the player's names embossed on the front. The statues were sold attached by rubber band to a card that had a drawing of the player and stats. The cards seem to be much more difficult to find than the statues. There were several other sets of statues by Dairy Queen and Big League Stars in 1956, that have a similar look to the Robert Gould set, but I don't believe they included cards.

The only set to include an Oriole was the Robert Gould set.

1955 Robert Gould statue & card of Joe Coleman

DSCN2441.JPG 1955 Robert Gould.jpg

[BaltOrioles]

Originally Posted by Mark70Z

Day 188 (July 6, 2020 – 188)

Today I’m picturing a 1997 Topps contract accepted and agreed to by Brooks Robinson. Brooks was agreeing to autograph 1,000 reprints of his Topps Rookie card and of course allowing Topps to pretty much use the cards any way they please.

Mark,

Very interesting and cool piece. It leads me to a couple questions. It looks like part of the deal was to give Brooks 100 cards for himself. Does that me he received 10% of the autographed cards back for his own use or did he receive cards that weren't autographed.

When I had my "Pro Debut" with Aberdeen in 2014, I asked the Topps representative at the game if I could have 20-25 of my cards, when they were printed, for family and friends. I got zero... I had to pick them up off dealers to pass out to people.