A Study of the Baltimore Orioles Cartoon Bird Cap Logos

[Cartoon Brid]

Here's a pretty good video by Tom Davis on O's hat history:
http://www.masnsports.com/ml/video.php?show_id=40418
It's pretty comprehensive, but I'm not sure this logo:

Was used from '76 on.

Going by my Topps Orioles book, I don't see that hat come up until the 1979('78 season)set, and it's only on two cards that I can tell. It's not until the 1980('79 season) set on, that you see every single player with that logo.

This one isn't even mentioned in the video, but in The Orioles Encyclopedia, there is one picture with this logo:

It's worn by Don Stanhouse, who was on the team '78-'79, and '82.

There are a few cards in the '79('78 season) Topps set, that look like they might have that logo, but it's hard to tell.

The logo that Tom says was used in '75 only, can be seen on caps through the '79('78 season) set.

There seems to be some possible overlap in the late '70's, which makes trying to figure this out a little confusing.

All this information leads me to believe that the following could possibly be the correct chronology for the the Orioles on-field Cartoon Bird logo:

L-R:
1. 1966-1974 - This is the only logo I've seen the players wear in pictures. Made by Wilson Sporting Goods.
2. 1975-1978 - Logo used on both white and orange panel('75-'76 only)alternate. Made by AJD.
3. 1975-1976 - Logo used on both white and orange panel alternate. Made by AJD.
4. 1978 - Made by Roman Pro.
5. 1979-1988 - Made by New Era(possibly Sports Specialties as well)

Well there it is, if anyone can add to this with player or team photos for more clarification, it would be great!

[Cartoon Brid]

...and just for fun, the whole dang family!!!

[Cartoon Brid]

[quote name='Gothamite' timestamp='1312856005' post='1610986']
One thing that might be worth considering is that some players might have continued to wear old caps after the team changed suppliers. That's a problem I had doing my Brooklyn Dodger research - maddening.

Great job on the recap! I never realized that there were so many variations of this logo.
[/quote]
Thanks Gothamite. I did that into consideration. Also, most of the baseball card pictures were taken during Spring Training back then, so that's another thing to consider when using them as a reference.

Your Brooklyn Dodger "B" thread was sort of an inspiration for this thread. I share your frustrations on wishing New Era/Cooperstown would get these throwbacks right!

Here's a cool pic of Reggie Jackson sportin' the '75-'76 alternate orange panel AJD cap:

And here's the crappy remake by New Era/Cooperstown:

I wouldn't expect New Era to reproduce a 100% Nylon version of this cap to exact specifications, as it was originally made, but like I said earlier, at least get the logo right.

Here's an American Needle version that's even worse!

From the description:
"Own a little piece of history with American Needle's Baltimore Orioles 1975-76 Alternate Cooperstown Cap, a precise replica of what the legendary pros once wore."
Haha! Yeah right!

[Cartoon Brid]

[quote name='Jungle Jim' timestamp='1312464800' post='1607694']
When you consider the batting helmet logos the Orioles used during that era, there are even more differences. Eddie Murray's 1978 Topps card shows him wearing a helmet where the bird has a white line in its beak rather than a black line. Also, the size of the white panel on the helmets changed at some point (although that's not really logo related.)

Rather than repeating myself, I'll link to a post I made about it back in April...

http://boards.sports...dpost&p=1526945
[/quote]
Aw man.. the helmets are a whole other mess, but in my research, I think I may have found out why. It's because some of the helmet logos are hand painted, while others were affixed with a decal.

The painted logos ranged from really good:



To really bad:



And here's a helmet with the decal:

[Cartoon Brid]

[quote name='phutmasterflex' timestamp='1312471846' post='1607746']

This is a New Era re-release that I bought. It doesn't have that New Era logo on the side and the back doesn't have the MLB logo. It's my favorite Orioles cap. This is the 1983 World Series one if I recall.
[/quote]
That's the one cartoon cap repro out there that is pretty much an exact replica.
Here's the actual game worn version, also made by New Era:

[Dolphins23]

Why does the new era hat logo look like the beanie baby CAW who keep in mind is a CROW lol

[Cartoon Brid]

Well, I guess that Orioles baseball card book I have to reference, with the 1/4 size pics, really isn't detailed enough to tell which logo is being worn. I just checked out a few actual cards from a dealer friend of mine and discovered this on a couple '75('74 season) cards:

It's Jim Palmer with the bird that would later be seen next year with the up turned beak against the white panels.

So maybe they used this logo for the last year of the black crowned caps and in '75, AJD used it in the transition to their white and orange panel caps?

Checked a couple cards from the '74('73 season)set, and it appears to be the more common '66 bird:

[Doodles]

Great job guys...bring back the cartoon bird!!