A Study of the Baltimore Orioles Cartoon Bird Cap Logos

[Cartoon Brid]

Hey everyone,

I originally created this thread over at Chris Creamer's Sports Logos site, but I thought I'd post highlights of it here, to see if anyone has any extra info to add.

Here's the link to the original thread:

http://boards.sportslogos.net/index....pic=81874&st=0

One more thing to add, I learned a few things as I was adding to the original thread, so there is info in the first post that is corrected in later posts. I'm too lazy to re-organize everything, so I'm just going to post the main posts here, in the order that they were posted.

[Cartoon Brid]

My favorite team, the Baltimore Orioles, haven't had a winning season since 1997, so lately I've shifted my attention to my favorite logo of all time, The Cartoon Bird. That friendly, smiling, feathered character that perched atop the caps of the Orioles from 1966-1988. But don't let his friendly smirk and soft feathers fool you, he will show no mercy.

During The Birds 23 year tenure, the O's had 19 winning seasons, including 8 Playoff and 6 World Series appearances. The Orioles were the winningest team in all of baseball during the span that The Cartoon Bird donned their caps. If they weren't in it, they were damn close.

OK, enough with Baltimore's long gone winning baseball history, lets get to the actual cap and it's famous logo:

There are actually 3 different versions of The Cartoon Bird cap logo. There are only 2 posted on this site, which is what prompted me to write this post.

First, the 1966 cap:



Classic Cartoon Bird logo on black hat, with orange bill. They used this cap from 1966-1974. It is represented on this site with this beautiful rendition:



The only difference I notice between the actual cap logo and this image, is the button on top of the cap is rounded off at the top. On the actual cap, the button is angular, almost a triangle shape.

I've seen this bird used on past replica hats, but for some reason the button on the birds cap was left black and not colored orange. Here is a KM Pro/Mitchel & Ness replica of this cap:




In 1975, the Orioles added white panels to the front of the hat and introduced a new bird. The forgotten Cartoon Bird:



The birds beak is tilted higher upward and there are slight differences in the eyes, button and logo on his cap. There is also black stitching around the white panels.

They also used this bird on an orange paneled cap that was used as an alternate from 1975-1976:




I've never seen this bird represented correctly on any replica caps. He's represented on this site with this image, which is not also not correct:




Moving onto 1977, they continued with the white panels (minus the black stitching) and reduced the size of the bird:



The O's would wear this cap through the 1988 season.

Here's the image from the site:



Everything looks good, except for the logo on the birds cap, which is supposed to be orange, not white. I often see replicas, with the white logo instead of orange, as well.

This is the bird we see on all replica caps and merchandise today. It has taken the place of the '66-'74 bird, as illustrated by this recent, authentic, on-field, turn back the clock model:



It's also used on the '75-'76 orange panel replica:

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...artoon75-1.jpg

Well, there you have it, everything I know about the 3 variations of The Cartoon Bird. Rumor has it that the Orioles will bring him back on the caps officially next year. I wonder which version they will use?

[Cartoon Brid]

[Cartoon Brid]

[Cartoon Brid]

[quote name='NDwas' timestamp='1312482354' post='1607884']
As a die-hard Orioles fan since birth, I've always wondered why there were so many inconsistencies between the bird logos.[/quote]
Good post, NDwas. I never noticed those details in the swinging bird. With the current cartoon cap logo, I figured they were trying to standardize and just narrow it down to one bird face, but then you see the bird they release officially, on the new, authentic/on-fild, TBTC cap and it's different still.

Furthering my research on the actual cap logos, I came across an auction site that has a ton of game used O's gear from the '50's through present:

http://www.parkwaypastimes.com/search.php

Just type 'orioles' or 'orioles hat' into their search engine and a bunch of stuff will come up.

Of the 22 '66-'74 caps, 21 are made by Wilson and 1 is made by KM Pro.

The hats are all uniform and consistent with this logo:



Except for this one:



Notice it's the '75 logo, but his beak isn't turned up. This cap is made by Wilson.

And this one:



What's the late '70's bird doing on the '66 cap?! Maybe you could say the new TBTC cap isn't incorrect after all? It's listed as belonging to George Staller. He was the 1st base coach. This one is also made by Wilson.

So we have all 3 Cartoon Bird logos making their appearance on the '66-'74 cap!

[Cartoon Brid]

The '75-'76 caps were made by a company called AJD. Here are two different versions of the same logo:




The first one looks like a patch sewn on, while the second one is much smoother and refined, although that might be a patch too.

In a quick Google search, the only info I could find about AJD is that it was based in Richmond, Virginia, at one time:



Notice the tag inside the cap,"100% Nylon". Looks like they were 30 years ahead of New Era in using all synthetic fabric for their caps.


All the '77-'88 caps are made by New Era, and everything seems pretty consistent with this example:



Except for Jim Palmer's cap:




Notice the material that makes up the white panels is smoother and looks more natural. He's also got a leather headband in his cap, while the rest of the caps have cloth. The question is, did New Era custom make Palmer's cap with the leather headband, or did a different company make them?

I once found a Sports Specialties version of this cap. Sports Specialties made pro cap models for at least a dozen or so teams in the eighties and nineties, but I'm not sure if the O's actually wore them on the field:




Here's another oddball cap that is listed as belonging to Doug Decinces 1977-78:




It's made by Roman Pro. Notice that it's the '66 bird logo, but with the black button on top of the birds hat, instead of orange one. In my first post, I mentioned that the early Cooperstown Collection '66 cap replicas were correct, except for the black button on the birds cap. Well here's that same logo, but on the the '70's cap! What the hell!?

[33rd st]

Great thread. I'm looking for a 1963 Orioles game used or issued hat. It is black with a reddish orange "B" on it. If you hear of someone who has one please let me know.

Thanks!

33rd st

[frikativ54]

Here are some Cartoon Bird License Plates on MLB.com Auctions. Cal Ripken's #8 is going for a pretty penny: http://auction.mlb.com/cgi-bin/ncomm...unbr=180792226.