Brooks Robinson and the Baltimore Orioles

[BaltOrioles]

Originally Posted by roarfrom34

Alan:

I forwarded the photo to Bill Stetka for his thoughts and his response was:

I've seen this photo in our archives. I’d have to access our files to see if the photo is ID’d - which won’t happen until January at the earliest.

He never played in the majors with us but I think he was a spring training invite.
Bill

Bill,

Thanks. I hope Bill Stetka can find it in the archives and doesn't remember the photo from the time I asked him about it a few years ago at a game in Baltimore. If I remember right, I showed it to Bill the same night Jackie Brandt was doing an Alumni signing. We both thought he never played for the Orioles during the regular season.

[BaltOrioles]

One of the easiest and most challenging sets of Orioles postcards are the team issues from 1967-1969. Postcard collectors group the years together, because the size, style and photos used, make it impossible to pinpoint them to a specific year, unless the player only played one year.

I love this set, because these are the Orioles of my childhood. If you just want a postcard example of a player or two, the 1967-69 postcards are the easiest B&W postcards to find, compared to the earlier issues. What makes the set so challenging is the size and scope of variations that have been found. To date, 148 different postcards have been discovered. Quite a few variations by me. Most postcard collectors are happy to find examples of each player/pose, but a couple of us have made it our mission to collect the whole set. I currently have 130/148 in my collection. The postcards with facsimile autographs are especially tough, along with Steve Barber, Sam Bowens, Mike Epstein, Jim Frey, Woodie Held, Bruce Howard and John Miller.

Over the next couple days, I'll post all the cards I have. Many of the variations involve name placement and the cropping of Tadder in the lower corner.

Here's the first group, minus the postcards I'm missing Steve Barber, Mark Belanger (facsimile), Paul Blair (facsimile), Don Buford (facsimile), Andy Etchebarren (variation)

196769 Postcards 01.jpg 196769 Postcards 02.jpg 196769 Postcards 03.jpg 196769 Postcards 04.jpg 196769 Postcards 05.jpg 196769 Postcards 06.jpg 196769 Postcards 07.jpg 196769 Postcards 08.jpg 196769 Postcards 09.jpg 196769 Postcards 10.jpg 196769 Postcards 11.jpg 196769 Postcards 12.JPG

[roarfrom34]

Great postcards Alan.....The first Oriole I ever met outside of a stadium/game setting was Bill Dillman who was a co-worker of my baseball coach in 1978 & we still correspond to this day

[Mark70Z]

Originally Posted by BaltOrioles

One of the easiest and most challenging sets of Orioles postcards are the team issues from 1967-1969. Postcard collectors group the years together, because the size, style and photos used, make it impossible to pinpoint them to a specific year, unless the player only played one year.

I currently have 130/148 in my collection. The postcards with facsimile autographs are especially tough, along with Steve Barber, Sam Bowens, Mike Epstein, Jim Frey, Woodie Held, Bruce Howard and John Miller.

Alan,

Those are some very nice O's postcards and tough to locate as well. Have you seen the postcards that you are missing?

[Mark70Z]

Day 324 (November 19, 2020 – 324)

An early example of a Sports Collectors Digest (SCD) from April 30, 1975 with Brooks featured on the cover.

Day 324 a Publication 1975 SCD April 30.jpg

This SCD is from August 10, 2012 and is a National Issue. SCD went with a smaller version of the publication which was about the same size as a regular magazine.

Day 324 b Publication 2012 SCD August 10 1.jpg

[BaltOrioles]

Originally Posted by Mark70Z

Alan,

Those are some very nice O's postcards and tough to locate as well. Have you seen the postcards that you are missing?

Yes, I know what I'm looking for. Probably 20 years ago, Ed Allan, an Orioles postcard collector from Maryland, put together an illustrated checklist of Orioles postcards. A variety of collectors contributed scans of their postcards to help put the checklist together. Some old time collectors had kept good records of the years they received certain postcards, which helped to date each issue. As new postcards have been printed by the Orioles and variations of older years discovered, Ed has been updating his checklist. Ed's book is considered the bible for Orioles team issued postcards.

His website usually has the last couple years shown on it.

http://edallan.atwebpages.com/

I'm not sure if he still sells his book, but here's an example to give you an idea.

1967-1969-01.jpg

[BaltOrioles]

Here's the second group of 1967-69 Orioles team issued postcards, from the post I started yesterday. As I mentioned, there are 148 different postcards, including variations, in the set. I have 130/148.

The postcards I'm missing from this group are Jim Frey, Woodie Held, Marcelino Lopez (variation), Dave McNally (variation) and John Miller.

196769 Postcards 13.jpg 196769 Postcards 14.jpg 196769 Postcards 15.jpg 196769 Postcards 16.jpg 196769 Postcards 17.jpg 196769 Postcards 18.jpg 196769 Postcards 19.jpg 196769 Postcards 20.jpg 196769 Postcards 21.jpg 196769 Postcards 22.jpg 196769 Postcards 23.jpg 196769 Postcards 24.jpg

[Mark70Z]

Day 325 (November 20, 2020 – 325)

Let’s do some snapshot photos from 1969 today. The first two snapshots are from July 23, 1969 at the All-Star Game in the nation’s capital at RFK Stadium.

Day 325 a Snapshot 1969 AS RFK Stadium AL NL.jpg
Day 325 b Snapshot 1969 AS RFK Stadium.jpg

This snapshot of Brooks was taken on October 11, 1969 at Memorial Stadium.

Day 325 c Snapshot 1969 October 11.jpg
Day 325 d Snapshot 1969 October 11 back.jpg

[BaltOrioles]

Here is the final group of 1967-69 Orioles team issued postcards, that I've been sharing the last couple days. This group have the big names, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Jim Palmer and Earl Weaver. Again, I have 130/148 known postcards.

The postcards I'm missing from this group include Jim Palmer (facsimile autograph), Merv Rettenmund (facsimile), Pete Richert (diff pose), Brooks Robinson (variation), Frank Robinson (variation), Frank Robinson (facsimile), Eddie Watt (variation) and Earl Weaver (facsimile)

196769 Postcards 25.jpg 196769 Postcards 26.jpg 196769 Postcards 27.jpg 196769 Postcards 28.jpg 196769 Postcards 29.jpg 196769 Postcards 30.jpg 196769 Postcards 31.jpg 196769 Postcards 32.jpg 196769 Postcards 33.jpg 196769 Postcards 34.jpg 196769 Postcards 35.jpg 196769 Postcards 36.jpg 196769 Postcards 37.jpg