Last season the Orioles brought back their traditional cartoon bird and made the postseason for the first time since 1997. We posted an awesome infographic that broke down the Orioles success by logo and it’s astounding how much better they’ve been with that traditional smiling bird we know and love.
My father has preached for years that the O’s need to wear a black hat with an orange “B” on the road with their Baltimore gray jerseys. Not the one they wore in 1963, that’s too plain. But their cursive/calligraphy/whatever you want to call it “B” hat that’s available in the Orioles online store. Honestly, I’m struggling to find what year that hat is from.
“All the good teams have their cities letters on their hats,” he says. And he’s right. Last season the Yankees, Tigers, Rangers, Braves, Nationals, Cardinals, Giants and Reds all made the postseason and proudly displayed their home town’s initials on the front of their caps. The Orioles and Athletics were the only two postseason teams without their cities letters on the hats.
In his video blog on MASNSports.com, Buck Showalter started the campaign for a new Orioles cap. The O’s skipper answered questions about the O’s upcoming homestand, the starting rotation and farm system while donning the age old cursive “B” cap.
What a trend setter.
In case you forgot, the angry bird made it’s return last season partially due to Buck showing it off. Perhaps this cap will be worked into the regular rotation too.
For my dad’s sake, I can only hope.
Some form of the “B” hat has to make a return. Can the “Os” hat, wear the black and orange with the black jerseys and the orange jerseys, white panel with the home whites, and the “B” on the road.
All the traditional teams sport their city’s initial(s) on their hat- Yankees, Dodgers, Phillies, Pirates, Cardinals, Tigers, Red Sox, I could go on and on.
And don’t give me the “people might confuse it for Boston”. First of all it’s black and orange, secondly Pittsburgh and Philly both have “P’s”, “NY” for the Yankees and Mets, the Twins and Brewers have “M’s” on some of their road hats, so it’s a dumb argument I’ve heard too many times.
Do it, Orioles.
I hate the “O’s” hat. I like the cartoon bird home and away hats so I wouldn’t want to see the B all the time, but if it replaced that damn hideous O’s hat I’d be fine with it.
Though I don’t like this particular B at all, it looks like they just went to Lids and had them embroider an olde English B on a hat.
Love the idea. Don’t care for the happy bird. The mascot takes care of that part.
I like the ‘B’ hat very much,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and I like Buck also,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,give the man what he wants , he deserves it , heck , he came to a team that was in a tailspin and turned it around,,,,,,,did I say I like Buck……………..give him the damn hat with the B on it ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
The “B” first made its apperance in the NL Orioles in 1901. Twin47 use to make a replica, but I can’t find it for shit.
Terrapins link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore_Terrapins
It only seems like “All the good team use a city initial” because only 6 teams in the majors don’t use a city initial. The Diamondbacks and Angels use the team name initial, the A’s and White Sox use a written team name and the Orioles and Blue Jays use a logo. Stay unique and stick with the bird.
I think it’s that the “traditional” teams use the city initial. Boston, New York, Cubs, Phillies, Pirates…Most of the old school teams.
Most of the traditional teams use the city initial, but so do most modern teams. Of the 6 that don’t use a city initial only 1 came into existence after 1977. Only 1 out 5 teams in baseball don’t use the city initial. Incidentally, 1 out of 5 playoff teams from last year didn’t use the city initial, including the O’s.
I want the “B” hat on the road. No question.
Great emphasis has been given to “BALTIMORE” on the jersey and the inclusion of the Maryland flag…next step is to put the “B” on the road hat.
Keep the cartoon bird for home games.
I’m all for the Script B on a road hat but the Logo on the Rangers hat is not a City- the Blue Jays no longer have a city initial. Good teams have nothing to do with looking good- It’s about being good.
You’re right, the Rangers has a “T” for the state of Texas, but it IS representative of an area, rather than a symbol or mascot. Similar to when the Marlins were the “Florida” Marlins and had an “F” on their caps.
I like the happy bird … on the road hat. I just hate the white panel on the home hat. …reminds me of those cheap foam-paneled trucker hats.
The hat he is wearing was supposed to be worn in 1955, but it never made the field. I say go with the block “B” from 1963′ it is a good looking hat…..
I’ve seen a photo from ’55 with Hal Smith wearing a batting helmet with that design. It looks like a posed shot, so I don’t know if it ever saw game action.