The Baltimore Orioles might not necessarily have the greatest record in the world over the past decade plus. However at least now they’ll look better win or lose. Changes to the Orioles’ uniforms were unveiled yesterday 8on orioles.com, and speaking for myself I think they look great. In effect there’s no change to the traditional home uniform, which will remain white with orange numbering and lettering (other than the fact that all versions of the Oriole uniform will have a patch on the right sleeve commemorating the 20th anniversary of Oriole Park at Camden Yards). The road uniform will also effectively be the same aside from the fact that the script BALTIMORE writing is now more level as opposed to tailing off. The Birds will also bring back the orange in-game jerseys, which haven’t been seen since 1992. The writing and numbers on the orange jerseys will be black. According to masnsports.com’s Roch Kubatko, the plan at the moment is for the O’s to wear the orange jerseys for Saturday home games. (The Orioles will continue to sport their black jerseys with orange numbering and lettering and the alternate caps with the O’s on the front for Friday games.)
The big change for 2012 and onward will be in the caps. The cartoon bird is back! The Orioles took the 1970 and 1983 versions of the logo (both teams being world champions) and melded them together to create a new cartoon bird. The home version of the caps will be the traditional black hats with the white panel front and the cartoon bird logo in the center. The road version will be the same except for the fact that the hat will be black (no white panel on the front). Both caps will have orange bills. I will say that I'm not really a fan of having a different cap for home and away. You might remember that years ago the O's wore all black caps on the road, and the caps with orange bills at home. I prefer the team to have the same hats for home and away, but does it really matter?!
Based upon what I've seen on message boards, this change is being received well by the fan base. Many people, myself included, remember the last go-around with the cartoon bird, and for us this is somewhat nostalgic, I can remember watching the likes of Cal and Eddie as a young child at my grandparents' farm in Rising Sun, MD; they wore the cartoon bird. However there are some who say that it means nothing unless the players that wear the hats and that personify the logo actually win games. Right they are! One can only hope that the current Orioles can channel the moxie of those who wore the cartoon bird years ago in order to play better on the field. When I first heard that they were going to make an entirely new cartoon bird, I was disappointed. I wished they'd simply bring back the old 1980's version of it. However at first glance there's very little difference, and furthermore now I kind of dig the idea of a new logo. It adds a modern touch to an old favorite, bringing the O's back to the future in a sense. All I can say is that when I saw the cartoon bird unveiled yesterday, I was really happy to see him again!
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